This is the illness that won’t go away. Just when Anna got better Becky decided to step up to the plate and get it worse.

So lets check the scoreboard:

1. Anna, still coughing but otherwise ok.
2. Becky, down for the count.
3. Desi, root canal girl, whining more than usual.
4. Me, well I’m just me!

I have been playing nurse so long now I almost feel like I should be wearing some nice squeaky shoes and waking people up to take sleeping pills!

Well between all the stormy goodness and a vicious case of stomach flu it has been up and down over the last several days. The storms I have talked about already, lets talk about the “STOMACH FLU”. This was no ordinary bug, I’ve handled that before, this bug kicked my butt. 2 days I was down, I actually had to ask for help with some things, thats a lot too considering how stubborn I am about not asking for help. I think it even caught Becky off guard. She rallied and delt with the girls and my whiny butt. Anna even got in on the action coming up to check on me every few hours. Bringing me drinks and making me smile, she would be a great nurse.

That said, I haven’t done much in the way of photos other than the lightning photos the other day. I hope to remedy that very soon. The fair is coming up and I still haven’t decided on what I want to shoot and enter for that. I may just do some more portraits as those seem to go over the best.

OK, going to sleep now, yeah right.

Ileocolic resection= removal of a small section of the small intestine and reattachment of small intestine to colon. (at least in my case)

I felt horrid when I finally woke up. Though I had informed them that I was claustrophobic they still has to put an oxygen mask on me due to the difficulties they were having waking me up. A nurse was standing right there waiting and as soon as I opened my eyes she was there to remove it and put on the nasal cannula. As I awoke I noticed dull throb in my abdominal area and my brain was pretty foggy as well. The nurses that were attending to me were very thorough, as soon as I was coherent enough to stop babbling they gave me The Button to deliver my Morphine! I considered this a bonus! My only instructions were that I can push the button every 10 minutes and I was not to let anyone else touch my button, not a problem.

After a little while in the recovery room, they finally moved me to my room. It was a single bed room, I was in heaven. A morphine pump and a private room, in one day, I almost exploded with joy. As I started to get comfortable in my room I noticed that there was actually another tube in my nose, pumping stuff out of my stomach, yes it was annoying but they told me that until my system started working on its own again that I was stuck with it.

Day two in the hospital was when they informed me that the room I was in was temporary! I was actually in a different area than where they normally would put me. They were remodeling the other rooms, crap. Not too much further into the day they moved me into my regular room. There was no one else in there yet so at least I got the bed by the window. The view of the other side of the building didn’t do much for me, but it was better than nothing. Too bad I was going to have a roommate soon.

Ileocolic resection= removal of a small section of the small intestine and reattachment of small intestine to colon. (at least in my case)

This is going to recount the days that I spent in the hospital, including the moments up to surgery, it isn’t terrible exciting, but may prove useful for someone someday. I will be doing it in parts so as not to have one long rambling post.

12-26-08
The alarm started blaring at 4am, I was starving and still very tired. Becky and I got up, got dressed and set about the task of getting to the hospital. My surgery was scheduled for 7:30am and you are required to be there two hours early for check in and getting prepped. After check in we were sent to the waiting room where we, guess what, waited!  The wait wasn’t very long but it was unpleasant for me. I hadn’t eaten anything since the 24th and I tend to get cranky when I am hungry. They took us to a little room with a very small bed like chair and a few regular chairs. I got to put on my sexy robe at that time and lay down for a bit. Thankfully for Becky, there was a small TV in the room as I wasn’t much company.

People came and went for the next few hours. I saw nurses and anesthesiologists and more nurses and I believe a surgeon, although I have to admit I was a bit out of it from being tired and hungry. When the time finaly came for me to go to surgery, they asked me if I would be able to walk or if I needed a wheelchair, I walked. I remember walking into the very brightly lit room, I remember the pure abject terror that I was feeling. As I was lying on the table they were busy searching for veins for the I.V.  Soon they put me on oxygen, they were talking to me the whole while, telling me to relax. My heart rate was showing my panicked state. Then I was out.

I have another test tomorrow. It sounds pleasant enough, not really. I am getting an Enteroclysis Thursday. I guess in some small way, I am looking forward to it as it is the last invasive test they have for me! Maybe I will take my camera and see if one of the nurses will take a shot of me with a tube in my nose, maybe not.

I start an clear fluid diet at noon today, about an hour and ten minutes from when I started writing this(time stamp on the blog is off a bit). I have my green jello all ready and plenty of green tea, so at least I am set there. Oh and I have my bottle of Magnesium Citrate too, woohoo, I guess we all know what I am going to be doing later!

Well, I am off to go eat something solid while I am still allowed to!

p.s. Enjoy the links, I sure did!

I have not been at work at all this week. Instead I have spent the majority of the time either in bed or wishing I was in bed. At the moment I cannot stand for more than 15 minutes before the nausea becomes overwhelming. So here is the symptom count at the moment:

• Abdominal pain
• nausea
• exhaustion
• dia*****

No it is not very pleasant. On the plus side, in a major coup, I was able to secure an emergency consult with the best Doctor in the state when it comes to Chrones. She agreed to see me this coming Monday. I couldn’t even get in to see my regular gastro until the end of August.

I did manage to see a nurse practitioner yesterday that was able to prescribe something for the nausea and pain. The medicines do work somewhat, I still get nauseous after standing for a bit but it is now as overwhelming and it goes away if I sit for a few minutes. Unfortunate side effects of the meds= even more exhausted than I was, but I will take it over the other problems any day.

I am hoping to resume a regular posting schedule here soon and post something that isn’t whining about my illness!

God bless,
Jeff A

Do you think I would be able to blog from prison? I mean would I be able to post to my blog and read all your blogs? Seriously, I am ready to take this USB cable and wrap it around my orthopedists neck and throw ‘em both out a window.

I told you in a previous post that the nurse said she would not be in Thursday. So anyway, I call today and talk to her and she tells me that he has reviewed the notes from my last operation and will discuss it with me at my appointment on the “15th”. I see where this is going and stop her to remind her that the point of my call was the fact that the pain is worse and I am having some difficulty when walking, I can walk just not real gracefully! I tell her that the medication he gave me is no longer taking care of the pain. This is when she decides to tell me, wait for it, he is not in the office today and cannot be contacted where he is. He will be back Monday! MONDAY she said.

Maybe I could just go there and whack him in the knee with my little bat and see how quick he can come up with some medication for himself.

Alright, I am done whining for the moment. I need to go get some sleep!