Saturday, March 9, 2019

Fragile

AJ, AZ   High 81 or 62 (depends on the day) 

Fragile – (of a person) not strong or sturdy; delicate and vulnerable. weak, delicate, frail, debilitated, tottery, shaky, trembly, ill, unwell, ailing, poorly, sickly, infirm, feeble, enfeebled, unsound

This is how the Emergency Room doctor described my husband a week ago. My strong, protective, able to do anything, defender. The man who has always been there for me when I am falling apart. The man who’s eyes light up when I walk into the room.

Fragile – when the doctor said that, I looked at Jim and realized that he was in so much pain and wasn’t able to be the strong one right now and it shook me to my core.

We have been through so much together – two heart bypass surgeries, lung cancer, femoral artery bypasses, a pacemaker as well as my broken ankle and ruptured Achilles tendon. He’s always been strong and never once has anyone ever called him fragile. Age does catch up to us.

He had his pacemaker put in Tuesday morning, Tuesday afternoon he started having terrible stomach cramps. We all thought it was the surgery, the sedation, the pain medication – something like that. So Wednesday I brought him home. He was in terrible pain but it seemed to get to be getting better and on Saturday he felt good enough to walk across the street to visit with friends. But Sunday morning he was in so much pain he couldn’t stand up straight and we headed for the ER here in AJ.

They took some scans, did some blood work and finally decided that he needed a GI doctor. Banner Goldfield is a very small hospital and they do not have any specialists so they transported him to Banner Ironwood. For three days they ran tests, took x-rays, more scans, ekgs, and put him on antibiotics and morphine.

They finally decided that they needed to do a colonoscopy to find out what was going on inside. Thursday the GI doc (Dr. Wang) finally did the colonoscopy but they could only do a partial one. Jim’s colon was severely ulcerated and they were unable to go any further. The inflammation of the colon was probably caused by a lack of blood flow to the colon. They sent a couple of samples off for a biopsy and we should get those results in a few days. The good news is that the colon will heal itself with medications and a low fiber diet. May take a few months but no more pain makes it all worth while.

The colonoscopy was able to relieve a lot of the gas that had built up in his colon and with the antibiotics in his system, he actually started to feel better. Friday I got to bring him home. He’s really weak from laying in bed for five days. And he went almost 10 days with no solid food. We have to work on getting his strength back and figuring out what he can and can’t eat.

We have follow up appointments with the GI doctor, his cardiologist, his primary care doctor, and his electrician for his pacemaker.

I document all of this information so that I have it to refresh my memory. I needed information from his previous medical issues when we were in the ER and being able to access my blog gave me the information I needed.

16 comments:

  1. Wow Sandie, let us know if we can help in any way. We are a car ride away. I know how scary it is looking at a strong person and seeing them struggle.

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  2. Sending our love Jim and Sandie.

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  3. Here is to a speedy recovery and healing...

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  4. Thank goodness they have found a cause for the pain and he is being treated. good luck with building his strength up again.

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  5. Oh Sandy--it's so hard when we age and our health begins to deteriorate! Will keep you and Jim in my prayers as you get him on the right track again.

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  6. I'm sure every day since getting out of the hospital he should be getting stronger. We'll be up to visit when he's strong enough.

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  7. Thankfully they found the problem and figured out how to treat it but what was the cause? We'll be keeping you both in our Prayers for Jim's speedy recovery.

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  8. So sorry to hear about what you & Jim are going through. It sounds like the Docs are making progress toward getting him on the road to recovery. We will say an extra prayer for him.

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  9. I'm am so sorry to hear this. Just awful but sounds like Jim might be on the up side of things. I would share one bit of knowledge learned from my doctoring experiences. Use your cell phone to record what the doctor says. That is the easiest way to have all the info at hand. When you get home you can relisten and even make notes if you want. You can also record your own notes as soon as you get in the car. I find I go into shock mode while the doctor is talking and don't get home with all the info. Hope this helps.

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  10. Wow, poor Jim (and you) having to suffer so much. Hopefully now that you are aware of what the problem is that the treatments will get Jim back on his feet. We'll remember you both in our prayers.

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  11. Fragile, but still very strong.

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  12. How worrisome! Sending good wishes your way for both of you.

    Campbells Chicken Noodle soup undiluted gets lots of good stuff inside easily. Also Boost or Ensure are easy to drink to help recovery.

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  13. Oh I am so sorry to read this. My heart just goes out to both of you. I hope Jim will be feeling better quickly and that you can return to your lives.

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  14. Sorry to read this but sending my deepest wishes for a speedy recover now that you at least know the cause. I will keep you also in my deepest thoughts. You will need to be the rock for a bit now.

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  15. Wishing for a speedy recovery and healing.

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Thanks for visiting today. I look forward to reading your comments. Have a beautiful day.