Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Almost Not with Deb on Her Birthday

During the week leading up to DebbieLynne's birthday, one day we had a stuffed baked potato from a cart on the Greenway in Boston, then a canoli from Mike's Bakery in the North End. On another day we took a Freedom Trail walk, had lunch together in a nice restaurant, and I bought her a pretty skirt she saw that she liked.

Her actual birthday is on the 30th, which this year is a Sunday, so we made plans to go to a Mexican restaurant after church, inviting a couple from church to double date with us. Sunday was also the day I planned to give her a double dvd set of one of her favorite movies, Citizen Kane. It was going to be such a nice day.

Well, the day before her birthday things went downhill for me. DebbieLynne noticed I was somewhat bloated that morning, but I felt OK and had breakfast as usual. But by lunchtime I was more bloated and didn't feel up to eating anything.

As the day progressed things weren't going well for me and, at DebbieLynne's suggestion, I called my primary care doctor's phone number and talked with the doctor covering for her. He told me to call back if things got worse, which by evening I had to make the call. He said he would notify the emergency room and that I should get in there as soon as I could.

While waiting for the ambulance to arrive I told DebbieLynne about the Citizen Kane DVD set since it was very unlikely I'd be able to give it to her the next day. The last time I had similar symptoms I was in the hospital for 6 days. It was even possible that this could be more serious than last time if they decided it was necessary to go in and find out if whether it is something other than an ulcer in my intestine that is showing up on CAT scans.

The ambulance came and took me to the Emergency Room, and that's where I spent the night, getting prepped for and then having another CAT scan, answering questions, discussing the situation, and letting staff members know that my wife's birthday was that day (by then it was after midnight so Sunday had begun).

The scan showed that there was a blockage but that it was further down than the last one and might be treatable with a heavy duty enema. The two glasses of solution that I'd drunk to prepare for the scan also have a laxative effect, so things progressed along with the recommended treatment and I got to feeling a lot better.

The heavy duty enema worked extremely well, and they said if I could drink a large glass of water without any adverse reaction I should be OK to go back home. I never wanted to a glass of water so much since it would mean getting to spend DebbieLynne's birthday with her.

When the water caused no problems the call for my transportation home was made. When I arrived back at our apartment I got to wish my darling DebbieLynne a Happy Birthday in person. My being there to spend the day with her was the best birthday present I could give her.

An extended birthday and every day gift to her will be if I can keep out of the hospital. My nurse in the Emergency Room recommended I add a certain kind of yogurt to my diet to help keep things moving successfully through my intestines. That will be in addition to all the other things I'm doing that are recommended by my doctors and learned from researching things and discussing them with my doctors.

I thank you for your prayers for us. Doing all the right things to guard my health isn't enough. We need God to sustain us. So I very much appreciate your going to Him to look after us.

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