Brent's had a rough week. He actually thought he had food poisoning earlier in the week but then it just didn't get better. And then there was the whole symptom of extreme pain in his abdomen. He finally went into the doc today and when the doc pressed on his belly Brent kinda came unglued. The doc sent him over to the hospital for a CT scan and at that point they just admitted him. He's back in surgery right now.
The way I look at it, his appendix is entirely to blame. Brent's a pretty patient guy. He's put up with me for 11+ years so that should show you that Brent has the patience of Job. So it's really saying something if he takes extreme measures. Brent doesn't just go from "oh, you're my appendix? Nice to meet you! I've heard about you but it's nice to put a face with the name" to "this relationship isn't working for me" to "you are dead to me. It will be as if you never existed" in such a short time frame for no reason.
He's a pretty reasonable guy. He would have tried counseling. He would have worked out some sort of schedule I'm sure. But no... suddenly EVERYTHING is about Appendix. Appendix has to be all "look at me! look at me!" and becomes such an attention-whore that Brent can't even think straight. It all boils down to Appendix being needy, self-centered and shallow. It's really like the Paris Hilton of internal organs.
Think about it... Brent's given Appendix food and shelter for all these years, taken Appendix on trips, and camping and all sorts of things, and do you think Appendix has ever once thanked Brent? No! Not once in 38 years! Not even a card! Then, out of the blue, Appendix stabs Brent in the back (or belly as the case may be). I mean, what's Appendix ever done for Brent REALLY. You give, and you give, and you give, and you get nothing back. Sometimes relationships are so one sided that they aren't worth the investment.
I don't blame Brent. I would have done the same thing if I were in his position (that position being "doubled over in pain").
Brent's gall bladder should consider this post a warning.
Showing posts with label Hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hospital. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2009
Friday, February 22, 2008
"...Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig..."
Back in my own bed and resting. The incision is about 5-6" long so my belly's pretty tender. I walk with the beautiful posture of the letter "C" ... or stork with intestinal problems... or something like that.
Brent's taking good care of me. Thank you for all the good wishes and kind thoughts.
We've also been notified that we won't be going to Haiti in April. They're trying to reschedule a trip before September. It's hard to miss this time with them, particularly while Nathan is at such a fun stage, but laws are what they are and we have to comply. As Brent said, "A Haitian hotel was bad enough... I don't need to see a Haitian Jail!"
Brent's taking good care of me. Thank you for all the good wishes and kind thoughts.
We've also been notified that we won't be going to Haiti in April. They're trying to reschedule a trip before September. It's hard to miss this time with them, particularly while Nathan is at such a fun stage, but laws are what they are and we have to comply. As Brent said, "A Haitian hotel was bad enough... I don't need to see a Haitian Jail!"
Thursday, February 21, 2008
"Oophorectomy. O-O-P-H-O-R-E-C-T-O-M-Y. Oophorectomy."
Yeah... I couldn't spell it either.
They deported the Beatles and sent one ovary with it. On one side, the cysts were removable without issue. On the other side they had adhered themselves to the ovary like a bad wig on Britney Spears, so that one had to be removed.
Overnight in the hospital - I think I get to go home tomorrow.
They deported the Beatles and sent one ovary with it. On one side, the cysts were removable without issue. On the other side they had adhered themselves to the ovary like a bad wig on Britney Spears, so that one had to be removed.
Overnight in the hospital - I think I get to go home tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Of Cysts and Surgeries
So I had my pre-op visit with the MD today. They'll plan on going in with the scope to remove all the cysts, but if they get in there and the cysts are too big to take out through scope then they'll put me under deeper and cut me open to get them out. The latter option will require a couple of nights in the hospital.
The human body is fascinating. It can also be disgusting. They're not sure what type of cysts I have - although they do know they're different types of cysts on each side, based on the ultrasound. The one side may be what they call a dermoid cyst.
I also highly recommend that you never, never, never, never look up pictures of dermoid cysts on the internet. See, these are cysts that are made from the cells on the ovary that contribute hair, teeth and skin in an embryo. So that's what the cysts are filled with: hair or teeth or skin. Nasty to the infinite power.
Dr. Lind said he once removed two cysts from a woman that each had part of a mandible (jawbone) growing in them! Just these little cells in there, doing what they do best, which is dividing and creating whatever structure they were designed to create. ("Look, Ma! I'm a jawbone!!")
So, here's to hoping that they're all "scope-able" and that the "cysts of nastiness" are soon no longer invading my abdomen. It's time to deport the ovaric Beatles!
The human body is fascinating. It can also be disgusting. They're not sure what type of cysts I have - although they do know they're different types of cysts on each side, based on the ultrasound. The one side may be what they call a dermoid cyst.
I also highly recommend that you never, never, never, never look up pictures of dermoid cysts on the internet. See, these are cysts that are made from the cells on the ovary that contribute hair, teeth and skin in an embryo. So that's what the cysts are filled with: hair or teeth or skin. Nasty to the infinite power.
Dr. Lind said he once removed two cysts from a woman that each had part of a mandible (jawbone) growing in them! Just these little cells in there, doing what they do best, which is dividing and creating whatever structure they were designed to create. ("Look, Ma! I'm a jawbone!!")
So, here's to hoping that they're all "scope-able" and that the "cysts of nastiness" are soon no longer invading my abdomen. It's time to deport the ovaric Beatles!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Where Everybody Knows Your Name
It's more than a little sad when you walk back into the ER and the nurses know your name. It's like our own warped version of "Cheers" but with kidney stones and Brent's the only one drunk (and that's only after the pain medicine finally kicks in).
Similarly, when we ended up being admitted to the MedSurg floor again (third time in 8 days), all I could say to the nurses was "We're Baa-ack". He's had very good care from the nurses and the doctors here. That's at least a plus.
He's got a kidney infection and that caused some pretty severe pain that we couldn't keep in check with the oral pain medication he's had. When they figured out the pain was caused by an infection, they decided to admit him. With the stint and stone they said, "These things can go from bad to worse really quickly". So, once again, he's got a beautiful view of the AF Hospital doctor's parking lot. I think that's what that is.
The big picture - at least we're together. At least we only have 15 days until we go to see our kids. At least we're able to get medical help for Brent in this time of pain. I can't imagine how the pilgrims or the pioneers dealt with kidney stones or the like. Bring on the pain mediciations!
We'd planned on having a very quiet Christmas this year, given that all our non-work energies have been focused on Haiti. I don't know why I bother planning things. :) Quiet and calm are two things we haven't had. Maybe next Christmas we'll have the kids with us. And then we'll have a better kind of loud and busy.
15 days
Similarly, when we ended up being admitted to the MedSurg floor again (third time in 8 days), all I could say to the nurses was "We're Baa-ack". He's had very good care from the nurses and the doctors here. That's at least a plus.
He's got a kidney infection and that caused some pretty severe pain that we couldn't keep in check with the oral pain medication he's had. When they figured out the pain was caused by an infection, they decided to admit him. With the stint and stone they said, "These things can go from bad to worse really quickly". So, once again, he's got a beautiful view of the AF Hospital doctor's parking lot. I think that's what that is.
The big picture - at least we're together. At least we only have 15 days until we go to see our kids. At least we're able to get medical help for Brent in this time of pain. I can't imagine how the pilgrims or the pioneers dealt with kidney stones or the like. Bring on the pain mediciations!
We'd planned on having a very quiet Christmas this year, given that all our non-work energies have been focused on Haiti. I don't know why I bother planning things. :) Quiet and calm are two things we haven't had. Maybe next Christmas we'll have the kids with us. And then we'll have a better kind of loud and busy.
15 days
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Stone Search 2007
Brent had his 2nd surgery today. They weren't exactly sure what they were going to do when they took him down to surgery. The consent form we signed gave them "permission to do procedure A, B, C or D".
They did try several things and we learned some things as well. The doctor discovered that Brent's urerter has a section where it narrows significantly. It's called a stricture - it's probably scar tissue from a previous stone. It gets so narrow that there's no way a stone like this could pass. They couldn't even move the scopes up to where they needed to because of this stricture.
One thing that comes up when people hear about kidney stones is they have to start sharing what they've had relatives experience or gone through themselves.
"I had a 6 mm stone for 3 months in 1998 and barely felt a thing..."
"My Aunt Edna's cousin had a stone and you wouldn't believe where it got stuck!"
"I'll tell you, I've never wished I could die except for the time I had that kidney stone"
(which, by the way, isn't helpful to tell someone agonizing in pain from a kidney stone at the moment).
The thing that you don't think about is whether it's physically possible for your body to rid itself of a stone of a certain size. And for Brent, all those people who kept telling him it was a "small stone" were only looking at half the picture.
Now we know. And, as GI Joe would say, "Knowing is half the battle".
They put a stint in to try to help expand the area where the stone can't pass. The part I don't get is how the stone is supposed to pass if you're filling up the area with this device, but what do I know.
The other strange physiology thing we learned today was that Brent's kidneys aren't laid out normally. You're supposed to have an area where the ureter meets the different sections of the kidney - where all the areas of the kidney flow into each other. They call this area the "renal pelvis". I prefer to think of it as the "kidney foyer". The business end of the stint is supposed to sit in this "foyer" and wait patiently for someone come calling and take it out. Brent doesn't have a renal pelvis/kidney foyer to speak of. (there's a comment in there somewhere about how even Brent's kidneys aren't very social....) The doctor was quite frustrated because it limited what they were able to do and where they could work. And since Brent's kidneys aren't welcoming enough to have a foyer, the doctors had to wrap the wire end of the stint down into one of the portions of his kidney. The doctor said, 'That might be why the stint hurts him so much." MIGHT be?? Fabulous.
As a note, it's not a good idea to have your mother-in-law only hear the portion of the doctor's post-op consult where he says "Brent doesn't have a pelvis". All sorts of things start to conjure up and she starts to wonder exactly what they were doing in that operating room!
At any rate, we're still in the hospital, and we're trying to keep the pain under control and the other issues that accompany a stint contained and we're trying to get Brent feeling better. He's staying the night again. We'll know more tomorrow how bad it's going to be. The stint was the kiss of death for Brent last time.
If only he'd had the foresight to build a foyer in his kidney....
They did try several things and we learned some things as well. The doctor discovered that Brent's urerter has a section where it narrows significantly. It's called a stricture - it's probably scar tissue from a previous stone. It gets so narrow that there's no way a stone like this could pass. They couldn't even move the scopes up to where they needed to because of this stricture.
One thing that comes up when people hear about kidney stones is they have to start sharing what they've had relatives experience or gone through themselves.
"I had a 6 mm stone for 3 months in 1998 and barely felt a thing..."
"My Aunt Edna's cousin had a stone and you wouldn't believe where it got stuck!"
"I'll tell you, I've never wished I could die except for the time I had that kidney stone"
(which, by the way, isn't helpful to tell someone agonizing in pain from a kidney stone at the moment).
The thing that you don't think about is whether it's physically possible for your body to rid itself of a stone of a certain size. And for Brent, all those people who kept telling him it was a "small stone" were only looking at half the picture.
Now we know. And, as GI Joe would say, "Knowing is half the battle".
They put a stint in to try to help expand the area where the stone can't pass. The part I don't get is how the stone is supposed to pass if you're filling up the area with this device, but what do I know.
The other strange physiology thing we learned today was that Brent's kidneys aren't laid out normally. You're supposed to have an area where the ureter meets the different sections of the kidney - where all the areas of the kidney flow into each other. They call this area the "renal pelvis". I prefer to think of it as the "kidney foyer". The business end of the stint is supposed to sit in this "foyer" and wait patiently for someone come calling and take it out. Brent doesn't have a renal pelvis/kidney foyer to speak of. (there's a comment in there somewhere about how even Brent's kidneys aren't very social....) The doctor was quite frustrated because it limited what they were able to do and where they could work. And since Brent's kidneys aren't welcoming enough to have a foyer, the doctors had to wrap the wire end of the stint down into one of the portions of his kidney. The doctor said, 'That might be why the stint hurts him so much." MIGHT be?? Fabulous.
As a note, it's not a good idea to have your mother-in-law only hear the portion of the doctor's post-op consult where he says "Brent doesn't have a pelvis". All sorts of things start to conjure up and she starts to wonder exactly what they were doing in that operating room!
At any rate, we're still in the hospital, and we're trying to keep the pain under control and the other issues that accompany a stint contained and we're trying to get Brent feeling better. He's staying the night again. We'll know more tomorrow how bad it's going to be. The stint was the kiss of death for Brent last time.
If only he'd had the foresight to build a foyer in his kidney....
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before...
Brent's been admitted to the hospital with a kidney stone. Yeah... he was just discharged today. And yes, we're back in the hospital. Turns out the reason that he's continued to have problems with the pain is that one of the stones was NOT pulverized by the lithotriptor as previously thought. When we came back to the ER today they did a CT scan and it showed the stone, sitting and smiling in the exact same painful spot that it was in on Monday. It didn't show up on any of the X-rays, so they didn't know what was causing his pain previously. And apparently the little bugger didn't move much between Wednesday and this afternoon because Brent felt fairly good.
I don't know if you've seen "Independence Day", but there's a scene where they think they've destroyed the alien ship and then, when the dust clears, it's still sitting there unharmed. I thought of that today when they told us the stone was still present and accounted for. "The target remains. I repeat, the target remains."
On the good side, this means Brent isn't losing his mind - he has been in kidney stone pain this entire time. He was starting to get a lot of skeptical looks from the well-meaning staff. Can't say as I blame them - it should have been pulverized.
On the other good side, at least we found out that there's still a straggling stone NOW instead of in a couple of weeks when we're in Haiti. I shutter to think of what THAT would have been like.
Which reminds me... Brent's first kidney stone came when he was serving an LDS mission in the Philippines. During a typhoon. With no electricity. They did finally get him to a hospital, but once there it took the poor doctors awhile to figure out that their "normal" dose of morphine was "Filipino-sized" and that this large 6' 4" guy MIGHT need a little more than their average patient.
So, hopefully we get this cleared up in time for the trip to Haiti to go off without a hitch.
Hopefully the urologists will have an idea on how to help him.
Hopefully he'll be able to sleep and they'll be able to keep his pain under control.
Thank you to Nate and Al (and John) as well as to our friends at both our jobs for their help and support. I know it hasn't been easy covering for us. We appreciate your help.
I don't know if you've seen "Independence Day", but there's a scene where they think they've destroyed the alien ship and then, when the dust clears, it's still sitting there unharmed. I thought of that today when they told us the stone was still present and accounted for. "The target remains. I repeat, the target remains."
On the good side, this means Brent isn't losing his mind - he has been in kidney stone pain this entire time. He was starting to get a lot of skeptical looks from the well-meaning staff. Can't say as I blame them - it should have been pulverized.
On the other good side, at least we found out that there's still a straggling stone NOW instead of in a couple of weeks when we're in Haiti. I shutter to think of what THAT would have been like.
Which reminds me... Brent's first kidney stone came when he was serving an LDS mission in the Philippines. During a typhoon. With no electricity. They did finally get him to a hospital, but once there it took the poor doctors awhile to figure out that their "normal" dose of morphine was "Filipino-sized" and that this large 6' 4" guy MIGHT need a little more than their average patient.
So, hopefully we get this cleared up in time for the trip to Haiti to go off without a hitch.
Hopefully the urologists will have an idea on how to help him.
Hopefully he'll be able to sleep and they'll be able to keep his pain under control.
Thank you to Nate and Al (and John) as well as to our friends at both our jobs for their help and support. I know it hasn't been easy covering for us. We appreciate your help.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
How to Deal...
Brent's done with surgery. They brought the lithotripsy machine down to this hospital for him and did a lithotripsy this afternoon. They were able to "pulverize" (doctor's words) both stones. He's still in a fair amount of pain, as they were expecting. They're going to keep him overnight again. Hopefully we'll have a happy Brent again soon. Thank you, Amy and Andrea, for taking such good care of him today.
The doctor that did rounds on the floor last night shared an interesting story. He has a colleague who has adopted two children from China. His daughter was 2 when they brought her home from the orphanage. He said when she got her she started refusing to interact with people who tried to speak to her in Chinese. To this day, she won't speak to Asian people unless they speak English to her. He said they figure it was her young mind's way of dealing with the difficulties of being in an orphanage and the massive change of being brought to the USA.
I've wondered for sometime what Lexi will deal with as she tries to make the transition to her new home. I'm still terribly optimistic that Nathan will be young enough that it will be easier for him. There's still no way to know how long we're going to have to wait to bring them home. I just hope and pray that we're able to help them get through the current wait and the next transition and help them to grow to be strong, productive, confident people.
The doctor that did rounds on the floor last night shared an interesting story. He has a colleague who has adopted two children from China. His daughter was 2 when they brought her home from the orphanage. He said when she got her she started refusing to interact with people who tried to speak to her in Chinese. To this day, she won't speak to Asian people unless they speak English to her. He said they figure it was her young mind's way of dealing with the difficulties of being in an orphanage and the massive change of being brought to the USA.
I've wondered for sometime what Lexi will deal with as she tries to make the transition to her new home. I'm still terribly optimistic that Nathan will be young enough that it will be easier for him. There's still no way to know how long we're going to have to wait to bring them home. I just hope and pray that we're able to help them get through the current wait and the next transition and help them to grow to be strong, productive, confident people.
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