How are Whitestick and DLHansen?
- Thread starter shoe
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whitestick
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Sorry, I have been off doing some other stuff, and haven't checked in here for awhile. Appreciate the check request.
Latest update is, for me, I ended up thinking I was getting close to the wire to get myself back together, Illeostomy reversed, and such, while at the mid-point for my chemo/radiation, when they found an abscess due to an infected suture from the original surgery and had to reopen the whole thing, and put in/on something called a wound vacuum system. Another 6 weeks of wearing a small suitcase around. It is healing well though, and they expect it to finish by end of March. Just in time to restart the chemo, which according to the tests, there doesn't appear to be any cancer, so that's a good thing.
Also the timing is right as the latter half of March is when DW goes under the knife for her procedure, which is a 10-14 hour surgery, AKA MOAS or Mother of All Surgeries. Her attitude is good, but she is getting very anxious about enduring the pain of recovery. I'm afraid the DEA is coming after me, as she wants me to try and score her some morphine on the street to help with the pain. She told the doctor that if he cut off her morphine in the hospital, even if it was in ICU, that she was getting up and leaving, as she saw no further reason for her to stay around. The nurse said that once they had the IV in her, that they would keep her restricted, and she said she saw them rip those IV's out on TV, and get up and chase the bad guys, and she wasn't staying around if they didn't give her the drugs. See what I have to put up with. My adult daughter is going with us, so we can watch DW and make sure she doesn't try and leave. I think
? she is joking, but with her, you're never quite sure.
And just to make it interesting, the hospital is in the middle of another winter cold snap - temperature made it up to 1 degree today. I don't even own a winter coat that goes that low. That's why I left the North in the first place. I heard they might even get some more snow.
DW and I have decided that once we both get out of this recovery stage, we are going to worship at the altar of Jimmy Buffet, and see if we can possibly make more Margaritas on the the beach then we can drink. We'll probably get attacked by a tuna fish or something, since we'll both be too drunk to see it coming!
Market, what market. We don't need no stinking market. Just finished my taxes, and apparently I lost so much money in the market last year, that Uncle Sam even wants to give me a rebate. Now where did I put that bottle of rum?
Thanks for asking shoe.
Keep the faith!
whitestick
Latest update is, for me, I ended up thinking I was getting close to the wire to get myself back together, Illeostomy reversed, and such, while at the mid-point for my chemo/radiation, when they found an abscess due to an infected suture from the original surgery and had to reopen the whole thing, and put in/on something called a wound vacuum system. Another 6 weeks of wearing a small suitcase around. It is healing well though, and they expect it to finish by end of March. Just in time to restart the chemo, which according to the tests, there doesn't appear to be any cancer, so that's a good thing.
Also the timing is right as the latter half of March is when DW goes under the knife for her procedure, which is a 10-14 hour surgery, AKA MOAS or Mother of All Surgeries. Her attitude is good, but she is getting very anxious about enduring the pain of recovery. I'm afraid the DEA is coming after me, as she wants me to try and score her some morphine on the street to help with the pain. She told the doctor that if he cut off her morphine in the hospital, even if it was in ICU, that she was getting up and leaving, as she saw no further reason for her to stay around. The nurse said that once they had the IV in her, that they would keep her restricted, and she said she saw them rip those IV's out on TV, and get up and chase the bad guys, and she wasn't staying around if they didn't give her the drugs. See what I have to put up with. My adult daughter is going with us, so we can watch DW and make sure she doesn't try and leave. I think
? she is joking, but with her, you're never quite sure.And just to make it interesting, the hospital is in the middle of another winter cold snap - temperature made it up to 1 degree today. I don't even own a winter coat that goes that low. That's why I left the North in the first place. I heard they might even get some more snow.
DW and I have decided that once we both get out of this recovery stage, we are going to worship at the altar of Jimmy Buffet, and see if we can possibly make more Margaritas on the the beach then we can drink. We'll probably get attacked by a tuna fish or something, since we'll both be too drunk to see it coming!
Market, what market. We don't need no stinking market. Just finished my taxes, and apparently I lost so much money in the market last year, that Uncle Sam even wants to give me a rebate. Now where did I put that bottle of rum?
Thanks for asking shoe.
Keep the faith!
whitestick
Koolau
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Whitestick,
Sorry for your issues but glad things seem on a good track.
I can tell you from experience that you may well have to be your DWs advocate - to get enough pain meds (don't take "no" for an answer), to get nursing attention, to get things done right.
Hey, when you two are mended, let's all meet up in Margaritaville!
Sorry for your issues but glad things seem on a good track.
I can tell you from experience that you may well have to be your DWs advocate - to get enough pain meds (don't take "no" for an answer), to get nursing attention, to get things done right.
Hey, when you two are mended, let's all meet up in Margaritaville!
REWahoo
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give
W2R
Moderator Emeritus
Whitestick, if I were your DW's doctor, I wouldn't cut her off of pain meds! Sounds like she has made her opinion clear.
I just can't resist relating a hospital story. I haven't been hospitalized since 1993, when I went in through the emergency room and had my gall bladder removed. I was in the hospital for two days before they did the surgery. But my problem was more with too much pain meds than with not enough.
At one point I had a nagging headache and asked for Tylenol, and the night nurse said, "Nope! Doesn't say anything on your chart about Tylenol. It says that for pain you need a SHOT." Since I was not in the middle of a gall bladder attack I told her never mind, I didn't need a shot, but she insisted and gave it to me anyway. Guess she figured I'd be less of a PITA if I was drugged up for a while. Whatever I got was really strong stuff, too. Whooeeee!!
Sorry for the hospital story!! Just couldn't resist. I hope you and your DW get through this fine and are relaxing on the beach together before too long.
Sounds like she has made her opinion clear.I just can't resist relating a hospital story. I haven't been hospitalized since 1993, when I went in through the emergency room and had my gall bladder removed. I was in the hospital for two days before they did the surgery. But my problem was more with too much pain meds than with not enough.
At one point I had a nagging headache and asked for Tylenol, and the night nurse said, "Nope! Doesn't say anything on your chart about Tylenol. It says that for pain you need a SHOT." Since I was not in the middle of a gall bladder attack I told her never mind, I didn't need a shot, but she insisted and gave it to me anyway. Guess she figured I'd be less of a PITA if I was drugged up for a while.
Whatever I got was really strong stuff, too. Whooeeee!! Sorry for the hospital story!! Just couldn't resist. I hope you and your DW get through this fine and are relaxing on the beach together before too long.
bbbamI
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
That's great because I lost mine.I'll bring the shaker of salt...
Whitestick...thanks for checkin' in......
unclemick
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
whitestick
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Hey, when you two are mended, let's all meet up in Margaritaville!
Sounds great, please send mapsco coordinates, so we will be sure to get there. I think I smell boiling shrimp
Just to clear up the confusion, I think that DW might be trying to get a bit too much of the pain meds. Last time she was in, she was obviously feeling no pain, nor much of anything else, yet she would tell me to be sure and push the button for her, as she was too groggy and sleepy to wake up to push the button. When I asked if she was hurting, she said no, but she wanted to make sure that she didn't start to hurt, so for me to keep pushing the button when she was out of it.
Of course it is a bit hard for me as she gets mad at me, because when I was recovering from my surgery (supposedly worse then her past one, but nothing like the one she has upcoming, I only took two pushs of the button the four days I was in there, when they decided to just disconnect it from me, as I wasn't using it. I think it was the belly band they gave me, which made it much easier. They wrapped it tight around the abdomen, and the movements and getting up and down, seemed to be much easier, as everything was squeezed together. She's taking mine this time, and see if that helps her as well.
Sorry for the ramble, but I'll probably not be on for a couple of weeks, if I can't get decent wifi access and screen display in the hospital. I'm taking one of the eee pc net books with me, to see how it does. Small screen and a little cramped to touch type, but doesn't weigh anything, so it travels easy.
Will update everyone when we return.
And thanks again for all your support.
freebird5825
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Your courage and positive attitude just blows me away. Wow!
Best of luck to both of you.
Best of luck to both of you.
2soon2tell
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Whitestick,
My best wishes and prayers for you and DW's cancer treatment and quick recovery.
2soon2tell
Pancreatic cancer survivor
My best wishes and prayers for you and DW's cancer treatment and quick recovery.
2soon2tell
Pancreatic cancer survivor
2soon2tell
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Martha,
Thanks for asking. Its been a little over two years since my diagnosis. After surgery (whipple procedure), chemo and radiation treatments I am cancer free. I go in every four months for checkups.
They tell me I am in the top 10% of patients with this disease. I believe God had a reason to keep me on earth a while longer.
2soon2tell
Thanks for asking. Its been a little over two years since my diagnosis. After surgery (whipple procedure), chemo and radiation treatments I am cancer free. I go in every four months for checkups.
They tell me I am in the top 10% of patients with this disease. I believe God had a reason to keep me on earth a while longer.
2soon2tell
whitestick
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Checking in with an update.
DW came through just great. She got some pain meds that was even stronger then Morphine, and even she couldn't handle it, made her groggy and "spacy". Finally got that changed to Morphine, then she asked the doctor why he was keeping her in the hospital (mind you this was 6 days after an operation that lasted 7 hours, and was as previously described), and he told her that it was only because she was still on the Morphine - she told them to yank it out at 6:00 AM and was discharged by 10:00 AM that day. Lot of folks are commenting on her quick discharge, but she is able to move around and get up and down, with a little assist. And she sleeps a lot, since it is impossible to get any uninterrupted sleep in a hospital. Youl'd think that doctors would recoginize the healthful effects of sleeping, but apparently not in a hospital, and certainly not when you are sick and trying to heal and recover from a major operation.
Anyway, the operation was, in the doctor's words, "he acheived everything he was intending to do". Trying to decipher his words that follow, seem to take the tact of - he's not sure of how the prognosis for the future will flow, and he won't place her in any of the statistics, 'cause she's an individual and effectively could fall any place along the range of 0 - 100, and still be in the statistical average. And he's supposedly one of the top two experts in this field in the country, surgeons seem to carve off a specialty, and don't do the full patient care, even though he has this following by his patients. Seems like we must ask questions that no one else does, 'cause every time we do, they always act like the've never been asked that before. As you may notice, I'm a bit agitated by the future discussions of what we can look forward to.
Anyway, for now, we are heading for home, driving slow, so I don't hit bumps in the road. Will check in later when we figure out what the h@#&l we have been told.
Sorry to the medical folks on this forum, but right now, I think some of you must take some of the same classes that the legal folks take, on discussions with your client.
Later!
DW came through just great. She got some pain meds that was even stronger then Morphine, and even she couldn't handle it, made her groggy and "spacy". Finally got that changed to Morphine, then she asked the doctor why he was keeping her in the hospital (mind you this was 6 days after an operation that lasted 7 hours, and was as previously described), and he told her that it was only because she was still on the Morphine - she told them to yank it out at 6:00 AM and was discharged by 10:00 AM that day. Lot of folks are commenting on her quick discharge, but she is able to move around and get up and down, with a little assist. And she sleeps a lot, since it is impossible to get any uninterrupted sleep in a hospital. Youl'd think that doctors would recoginize the healthful effects of sleeping, but apparently not in a hospital, and certainly not when you are sick and trying to heal and recover from a major operation.
Anyway, the operation was, in the doctor's words, "he acheived everything he was intending to do". Trying to decipher his words that follow, seem to take the tact of - he's not sure of how the prognosis for the future will flow, and he won't place her in any of the statistics, 'cause she's an individual and effectively could fall any place along the range of 0 - 100, and still be in the statistical average. And he's supposedly one of the top two experts in this field in the country, surgeons seem to carve off a specialty, and don't do the full patient care, even though he has this following by his patients. Seems like we must ask questions that no one else does, 'cause every time we do, they always act like the've never been asked that before. As you may notice, I'm a bit agitated by the future discussions of what we can look forward to.
Anyway, for now, we are heading for home, driving slow, so I don't hit bumps in the road. Will check in later when we figure out what the h@#&l we have been told.
Sorry to the medical folks on this forum, but right now, I think some of you must take some of the same classes that the legal folks take, on discussions with your client.
Later!
