* Nurses Eva (from Jamaica) and Vickie and Joy (from the Philippines) and Penny (from Kenya) and Matt;
* Nursing Techs Lillian (from Kenya, Luo tribe), Cleo (from Kenya, Kikuyu tribe), Juliet (from Bangladesh), and Jamie;
* Lab Techs Vincent and Jamie (a different one) and Lindsey and Pam and Melissa (about to be a grandmother for the first time -- twins, a boy and a girl);
* The whole crew in the GI lab including two Nicoles and two anesthesiologists (Doctors H. and B.) and a few others I didn’t have time to get to know;
* Doctors K. and H. and M. and another Dr. K. (from India) and his physician’s assistant Dennis;
* All the volunteers who wheeled me around.
I’m sure I have left out some names.
I knew I was going to have a grand adventure the first night I arrived when I was greeted with the following board on the wall of my room:
I am not even kidding. That is an unretouched, non-photoshopped, original photograph.
Yes.
My nurse was Thelma and my tech was Louise.
I decided not to give them my car keys.
Thelma didn’t need car keys as she was a trip all by herself. Seventy-two years old and come out of retirement to do some more nursing two nights a week. Wife of a retired Wesleyan Methodist minister. Sharper than a tack.
I went to the Emergency Room at noon on Sunday, Sep. 22, was admitted a few hours later, and was discharged in mid-afternoon on Saturday, Sep 28. I had lost a lot of blood before I was admitted and more afterward. I had an endoscopy, a colonoscopy, and a CT angiogram; and I received two units of blood while there. The diagnosis was gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining), duodenitis (inflammation of the duodenum or small intestine), diverticulosis (not -itis, but -osis) in the lower intestine.
I also have anemia temporarily while my hemoglobin levels return, it is hoped, to normal (the hemoglobin should be 14 and mine is 8.7).
They say I will be fine; I just have to stop having so much fun.
Have they repaired the damage or treated the cause.
ReplyDeleteLive every day, I hope you do.
Aren't you tired?
My gosh, that is a mouthful of ailments which all sound rather life threatening if you ask me. I must say you blog about it so casually when I am sure what lead to your admission was not. Hoping you are on the mend and you continue to recover. Also hoping Mrs RWP is well through all of that.
ReplyDeleteADRIAN, why are you shouting at me? They put me on a high-fiber, low-fat, low-sodium diet, that's all, and encouraged more activity. Basically it's the cardiac diet that I learned about 18 years ago when I had a heart attack (anterior myocardial infarction it was). I had just stopped observing it religiously in recent years.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about your digestive problems. That ain't no fun (as we say here in the South). I hope getting back on your diet will help the problems. Glad you had such good medical care - both in the hospital and at home (as I assume Mrs. RWP will treat you with all the respect you've earned and deserve).
ReplyDeleteARE YOU THELMA OR LOUISE IN THAT PICTURE??????and yes like adrian i was shouting, but i have stopped now and i am glad you had a good experience at hospital><>prayears are with you and since i have read j.s. smith by bushman ,i am qualified to do that<><>pray i mean<><>i get now what you mean by middle of third blog so you can disregard the comment made on your comment on my blog refering to your past blogs at the time<><>follow????
ReplyDeleteI'm so relieved you've come through that ok. Mrs RWP, my thoughts are with her, it's often those watching the drama play out that have the worst time I think. Basically, you need to stop larking about, get out and about and stick to your diet. That's so much better than being given a job lot of medication on top of any you might already be on. Terrible shock though all the same. I'm glad to have you back *smiles.
ReplyDeleteADRIAN, you're still shouting. It's a little strange, but a A healthy, high-fiber, low-fat, low-sodium diet is the best treatment. They don't know the cause or a cure for diverticulosis, though. And yes, I am tired. Didn't I answer this question already? (After searching, found that I did and am too lazy to erase this one.)
ReplyDeleteCarol in Cairns, the ailments are not life-threatening, but they are a bit of a bother to have to live with. Mrs. RWP, as always, is magnificent through it all, day after day, month after month, year after year.
Mary Z, not only ain't it no fun, it's pure-dee H*LL. My advice to anyone who ever needs to be emptied out prior to a colonoscopy is to use MoviPrep and avoid golightly at all costs. That stuff is not pleasant. I was throwing up more than I was taking in. (Sorry to those of you with delicate sensibilities. Mary is from Tennessee so she can take it.)
Putz, (A) I am neither Thelma nor Louise. They are the ones who took care of me in the hospital. (B) I don't understand why you weren't qualified to pray until you had read those books. I bet God would have listened to you anyway. And (C) I do understand what you mean about third blog, past blogs, and so forth. That is what scares me most.
All Consuming, Mrs. RWP told our daughter that she would be fine until this whole thing was over, and then she would have a meltdown. And it occurred just that way. We are both now recovering and trying to make up for all the lost sleep.
Oh dear. I am shuddering over here. This is rather too close to the round of medical mayhem that began here a little over two years ago when the smaller portion's bowel ruptured due to diverticulitis (which we didn't know he had). He is now, finally, in recovery mode. I am waiting for the chance to have that melt down. Soon. Very soon.
ReplyDeleteI do hope that things improve - for both of you.
Elephant's Child, right off the bat there is a difference between your smaller portion's problem and mine. I don't have diverticulitis (inflammation of the diverticulae); I have diverticulosis (a condition in which one or more, sometimes several or many, of the diverticulae bleed. It has nothing to do with a rupture that I am aware of. I was not told that. My doctors said if they spot one or more individual diverticulae bleeding they can go in an cauterize it (or them). The problem is when there is a lot of blood present the doctors have difficulty detecting which individual ones are causing the problem, and they cannot cauterize all of them, because we apparently need them for something. (I really must read up on this subject.)
ReplyDeleteI am expected to recover rather quickly, I am told. Of course, there is always the possibility of a flare-up happening again, but a change in my diet plus the dreaded "more activity" that they recommend are supposed to go a long way toward insuring that a re-occurrence doesn't happen.
I wouldn't want anything I am saying to cause you worry. And I certainly am speaking as a layperson without much knowledge at this point. The best thing to do, probably, is to speak to the smaller portion's doctors.
I am sorry. I wasn't making myself clear. I did and do appreciate the difference in your condition and in his - but it is still too close to the bone. Different - but too many similarities just the same.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am very pleased for both you and Mrs RWP that your recovery is expected to be quick. We have been told the opposite.
You are putting on a brave face Bob but medical stuff like this is never nice to meet. I wish you a speedy recovery and hope that you are - to use an old English expression - as right as rain before too long. If you were a woman I would send you flowers by Interflora but as you are a man I shall save my money.
ReplyDeleteThought I'd commented but apparently not !! Must have just said it all in my head. That's a worry !!!
ReplyDeleteAnyhow I'm glad you are home and on the mend and hope that all continues to improve.
Glad to know you are well ~ I've been missing you and I have prayed for you. I look forward to a few anecdotes from your week off from blogging!
ReplyDeleteYours in Him...
Re Yorkshire Pudding - I have been known to give men flowers, (friends, so keep in my good books folks),it's worth it for the utterly befuddled look upon their faces as they stand there holding a large bunch of Sweet William. And secretly.....on the side....they like flowers too. Hahahaha.
ReplyDeleteEeek. Oh you have been through the mill, you poor dear(s). Fancy having all those things together. 'House' would have been interested, even.
ReplyDeleteTake good care of you both, and wishing you more energy and more health as each day goes by.
Atheists that they probably were (given how they behaved) they too must have prayed as their car plummeted into the Grand Canyon, but who to--or should that be, to whom?
ReplyDeleteEveryone, my apologies, I have been derelict in the replying to comments department. I think there are too many now to go back and respond individually to. Just know, all, that I deeply appreciate the caring expressed by each one of you.
ReplyDeleteSpecial note to Snowbrush: It's "to whom"....