I think that I will start this post with some quotes I found about learning. I'll catch you up on all that has transpired in the last 11 days but my current state is one of learning. I am up to my eye balls in new terms and new procedures and new experiences. And it's only going to get worse (or better depending on your love of learning) over the next couple of weeks. So to psych myself up for all of my upcoming new knowledge I dug up some quotes for myself that I though were profound to my situation.
This first one speaks to my situation directly: "I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught." ~Winston Churchill. What I am learning is interesting but my preference is to not have to learn it at all.
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty." ~Henry Ford. I have felt pretty old in the last few days with all the aches and pains. I have also noticed that most of those people that I run into lately have been ... well there's no soft way to say it ... they've been pretty old. I guess I'm exceptional in that I didn't want to wait until I was eighty to learn what I'm learning at 45. So I guess I'm prolonging old age with all of my new learning. I'm going to think about it that way to make myself feel better.
"Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back." ~Chinese Proverb. Lastly, I thought this quote was profound in that at times lately it has seemed like I was being swept away without control by the speed at which things were all of the sudden happening. While in reality my doctors were trying to be proactive and 'row upstream' so as not to get in a bad situation that we would have a harder time dealing with. In fact, in a conversation with my doctor today he mentioned another of his patients who went in the same time last week to have the same surgery I did and chose not to have it, but then became ill. He's still in the hospital having his work done.
Okay, enough deep thinking ... I know you just want the gory details. Much has happened since my last post so try to keep up. I will throw in some random 'Did you knows' along the way when I think of something I learned.
Thursday (11/29) afternoon: I had some good distraction from my nervousness on Thursday night since Ben had a basketball game at school. They/he played awesome and beat our across-town rivals Ridgeroad. Right before I got to the game I got my call from my resident doctor that we met with on Tuesday and he said to show up around 10:00 the next morning but wasn't sure on the details and suggested we just wait on the official word from someone else at UAMS. In the middle of the game Dana got the 'official' call from UAMS and bless her heart she has some hearing loss so she was fairly confident at what she heard which was to show up at 7:00 the next morning because we had to talk to the anesthesiologist which apparently might take 3 hours (insert sarcastic look here)? Oh well, we are obedient people so Dana got to work getting rides to school for the boys and pickups from school in case we were late getting done (thank goodness she did). So, that evening I got a little emotional (I get it from my Dad, who right this second is crying). You have to understand that a procedure very similar to what I was about to have done, triggered the complications that would cause my Mother to pass away. So that made me nervous. Also I had attended two funerals in the past 6 days, one for a friend and co-worker who lost his battle with Leukemia and one for a co-worker who lost his wife during what was supposed to be a simple surgery. So that made me nervous. So I made a point to catch each of my boys to tell them I loved them and how proud I was of each of them. That's all I said and in my mind I figured if anything bad happened then that would make them feel better. I told Dana what I did and she got mad at me and told me that I wasn't allowed to give her 'the goodbye' speech as I'm being rolled away to surgery. Sorry I was emotional, give me a break. It all seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Well Thursday was over and I was spent so I went to bed and surprisingly slept better than normal. I give credit to my prayer warriors out there helping calm my nerves.
Friday morning: So in order to get to the hospital by 7:00 we had to get up early. I couldn't eat or drink (this will be important for later) so all I had to do was take my last real hot shower for what I would learn will be two weeks. Dana is quick to get ready in the morning so we were out the door in plenty of time. We had our iPads for entertainment and Dana had scheduled a friend to come sit with her during surgery. It also just happened that my sister who lives in Van Buren was scheduled at UAMS that same morning for a checkup with her doctors, so we would end up visiting with her and Rich (I don't believe on coincidences). I'm going to preface this next section saying that I love my wife very much but I am the one with more patience. We are both pretty laid back but Dana has a hard time just sitting still waiting on pretty much anything. Think about that when I tell you that we waited in our little curtain room for 7 hours before any activity toward surgery. We showed up at 7:00 as told. They prepped us and you could tell they were surprised that we were already here. After getting changed into my awesome hospital gown the nurse came in and asked why we were here 3 hours early. We said that someone called and told us that, this is where Dana starts doubting that she heard correctly, I'm sure she heard right but they just told us wrong. So we got permission to get up and walk around the hospital which we did for a while eventually getting back onto my bed by 10:00. We talked with anesthesiology which took all of about 15 minutes (see reference to sarcastic look in previous paragraph). Then we waited for 4 more hours. We had a good visit from Dr. Shaddox and soon after that my sister and brother-in-law showed up to help distract us/Dana. They stood there with us for a few hours but eventually had to head home. The doctors did eventually come around 2:00 and added something to my IV ba ...........(3 hours pass) ........ then I remember Dana coming in and dressing me and helping me fall into a wheelchair. I remember the person in the elevator coughing on me and how cold it was outside waiting for Dana to come up with the car. I vividly remember Dana hitting the mother of all potholes (it had to be 2 feet deep) and from then on I remember only when I was asked to move which hurt a bunch. I remember Paul waiting at home to help me up the stairs, and mentioning that we should be video taping this. I'm curious why he would want to relive me staggering up the stairs. I was more awake than I thought I would be, it could be partly because my gut hurt and it could be that my legs would cramp up anytime I tried to use them (that's what happens when you don't drink for 20 hours straight). So there you go, it was a long day of waiting and when it was all done I brought home a souvenir of a rubber tube and some good pain pills.
Saturday, Sunday: Saturday and Sunday were a blur of sleeping, drinking (trying to avoid cramping) and avoiding anything that requires the use of my ABs. It's very hard to describe, but, it literally felt like I did 10,000 sit-ups and my ABs just couldn't do anymore. Did you know that you use your ABs for almost every single body movement?! This was the beginning of my new learning experience. I have come a long way in a week but I still can't bend over to tie my shoes. I have to bring my foot to my hands. Did you know that when Doctors say they will use camera's to do the surgery that it doesn't mean there will be less pain afterwards, it just means they won't stick their whole arm in your stomach. I ended up with 4 holes, 3 for the instruments (camera, light, vacuum cleaner, cup holder, etc.) and one for the tube. They all go straight through my ABs which account for how sore I am. By Sunday evening I had figured out how to roll out of bed and how to use the bathroom and was generally self supportive. By this time the dressing around my holes was grossing Dana out and she wanted to pop the protective plastic and drain all the fluid that had pooled up. I held her off of that bad idea, but it just so happened that the fluid found a leak hole on it's own and it got drained after all.
Monday: I had good intentions of going to work on Monday but with needing to get my dressing changed and the thought of putting on a seat belt making me cringe I decided to work from home. That afternoon I got to meet Fred, my new dialysis nurse, and get my bandages changed. I like Fred a lot and he will be the source of much of my learning. Did you know that it takes 27 hours of training to learn how to safely hook up a dialysis drain and fill bag at home? Dana and I want to reduce that down since that translates to 9 out of the next 10 days for 3 hours each day. My brain will be full when we are done.
Tuesday-Friday. Did you know that when you have surgery around your lower digestive tract they generally just shut down? I'll spare you the details but I'll just give a shout-out to Davi for the delivery of Pear Juice. I'm generally back to normal now. I went to work on Thursday and today for as long as I could stand and then I just have to lay flat and rest my ABs because they are worn out. The worst part is the jostling on the drive to and from work.
Friday Morning. I want back to see Fred at the home dialysis clinic this morning. He removed my dressing and said that everything is looking good. The exit point for the tube is still red but that's to be expected. I have one hole that looks to have broken open that we will be doctoring with neosporin and a bandaid during tonight's dressing change (yes daily). Dana, my beautiful caretaker, learned how to patch me back up and she did awesome, she looked like she was having second thoughts but she did great. We also learned today that mostly what we though home dialysis meant was incorrect. We thought that we would do dialysis while I was asleep. That is one type but that's not where we start. We are learning that I will do 'Manual Peritoneal Dialysis' 4 times a day, awake, sitting up at home or wherever I want to drag all of our supplies. We also learned that we need a storage shed in our bedroom to house all of these supplies. So we get to do some redecorating to make up my little dialysis corner. I'm looking for a spot at work where I can do my 'exchange', so I'll let you know if I find one. I might just have to drive home for lunch.
So what's next? Starting on Tuesday we visit every day with Fred for 3 hours at a time learning how to do our home dialysis. The goal being that we are trained and approved after our home visit to do our own dialysis by Christmas.
Thanks to everyone for all of you cards and emails and texts and prayers, they all make a huge difference.
Stay Tuned ...
Love and prayers coming your way! Love you and your family. God bless you all and care for you!
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