Playing Doctor
Umm, now that I have your attention….
Get your head out of the gutter. I don’t mean playing Doctor like that…really, I don’t.
For those of you who don’t understand the above well good for you, for the others well…. we shall leave it at that.
They, being the Medical Professionals of Sinai Hospital, have sent me home with a PICC line. Hold up you say!!! What is a PICC line? Let me educate you with a brief interlude of definition.
* A PICC (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) is a special catheter placed in
a vein through which medications, blood products and fluids can be given.
The PICC is long, thin catheter (16-24 inches long) made of polyurethane. It is inserted in a large vein in your arm ,near the bend of the elbow, and then advanced to the superior vena cava, a large blood vessel that leads to your heart. A PICC is inserted in persons requiring intravenous (IV) infusions over an extended period of time. It prevents the need for frequent needle sticks for IV insertion since the PICC line can stay in for up to six months.* (taken from Patients and Family Education NYU Medical Center)*
Do you feel so educated now? I know I do!
Yes indeed they have basically entrusted me with open vein access straight to my heart! That may be a little dramatic, well a lot dramatic but you get the idea. Frankly this thing (PICC Line) makes me nervous. I feel like at any moment I may rip the darn thing out. I know I have to be careful with it but still. It also serves as an awful reminder of all that is going on.
The reasoning for the PICC line is that I need two more weeks of I.V. antibiotics for the lovely infection that ruined my shunt and caused it to have to be removed. Meningitis is nothing to play around with so a pill form of anything will not do. On a positive note I do have a Home Health Nurse that comes four days a week and does the I.V. treatments for me and she also taught me how to do them myself. She is just wonderful!
If you could have only been here the first time I administered the I.V. medication myself. Well, I take that back. The first time Wes and I administered the medication. What an absolute riot and intense hour that was. I think that beads of sweat poured down both of our heads as we read and re-read the instruction sheets on how to administer I.V. medications.
Now let’s stop for a moment and see the irony in this situation. Can you believe that they actually make instruction sheets on this? Hmmm neither can I, but they do.
We did get it done though and I am still alive to tell about it so that must say something. As Wes said they should not let people like us play Doctor with things like this….hmmm I might agree but there are still seven days in a week and the nurse only come four so you do the math.
Showing posts with label Humor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humor. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Fred Flintstone
Fred Flintstone
Welcome to Bedrock!!!
Well my ankles are welcoming you that is. They are more like cankles at this point. They are swollen and hideous. It’s a good thing it is summer and I can wear flip flops because there is no way these puppies would fit into a pair of shoes.
I woke up on Thursday and right away noticed how swollen both of my ankles and legs were. Of course I was panicked by this. After a couple of phone calls, off to my PCP it was. Considering that I had just had major surgery and the swelling was severe he was concerned that I may have developed a blood clot in my legs. The only thing that made him think it may not be that, was the fact that both ankles and legs were involved. He sent me off to the hospital to have an ultrasound done on both legs to rule this out. While I was going to be there he went ahead and ordered the CT head scan and X-ray of the abdomen. (one less trip to radiology works for me)
The results can back pretty quickly from the ultrasound…no blood clot…that’s good! Now what is causing all the swelling? After looking at all the meds I was taking we think we may have found the culprit, a muscle relaxer. One of its rare side effects (like less than 1%) is swelling. So no more of that for me…easy enough right? Wrong!!
BTW- The CT of the head showed that the bleed in the head was still there but it had not become any larger.
You would think that simply stopping that medicine would solve the problem, yeah me too. Well the problem is still here and it is now causing my hands to swell!! My poor feet almost look square they are so swollen. As of this evening my calves are swollen and very sore. None of this can be good. I may not hold a medical degree but I do know that something is not right. It goes without saying that tomorrow I will be headed to the Doctor…again
For everything else well…..I had a horrible headache most of today, my side is killing me, and the whooshing has come back in my ears sporadically. Wes goes into work tomorrow for a three day trip and the girls are with there Dad until next Sunday.
Sounds really gloomy but on a positive note…the sun rose this morning and so did I.
Welcome to Bedrock!!!
Well my ankles are welcoming you that is. They are more like cankles at this point. They are swollen and hideous. It’s a good thing it is summer and I can wear flip flops because there is no way these puppies would fit into a pair of shoes.
I woke up on Thursday and right away noticed how swollen both of my ankles and legs were. Of course I was panicked by this. After a couple of phone calls, off to my PCP it was. Considering that I had just had major surgery and the swelling was severe he was concerned that I may have developed a blood clot in my legs. The only thing that made him think it may not be that, was the fact that both ankles and legs were involved. He sent me off to the hospital to have an ultrasound done on both legs to rule this out. While I was going to be there he went ahead and ordered the CT head scan and X-ray of the abdomen. (one less trip to radiology works for me)
The results can back pretty quickly from the ultrasound…no blood clot…that’s good! Now what is causing all the swelling? After looking at all the meds I was taking we think we may have found the culprit, a muscle relaxer. One of its rare side effects (like less than 1%) is swelling. So no more of that for me…easy enough right? Wrong!!
BTW- The CT of the head showed that the bleed in the head was still there but it had not become any larger.
You would think that simply stopping that medicine would solve the problem, yeah me too. Well the problem is still here and it is now causing my hands to swell!! My poor feet almost look square they are so swollen. As of this evening my calves are swollen and very sore. None of this can be good. I may not hold a medical degree but I do know that something is not right. It goes without saying that tomorrow I will be headed to the Doctor…again
For everything else well…..I had a horrible headache most of today, my side is killing me, and the whooshing has come back in my ears sporadically. Wes goes into work tomorrow for a three day trip and the girls are with there Dad until next Sunday.
Sounds really gloomy but on a positive note…the sun rose this morning and so did I.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
A Graying Matter and Why We Love Disney
On the list of things to do today there is one thing that is circled in red and underlined several, several times.
BUY HAIR COLOR!!!!
I have gray hairs popping up everywhere!!!! For the love of Pete what is this all about!!
I am only thirty!! Now really should this be happening?
I know, I know. It does. But it still very traumatic.
They have been slowy creeping into my life for sometime now and I have been ignoring them and plucking them in a show of resistance.
Last night I stood in front of the mirror for a good thirty minutes just examining my hair. In that time period I started counting the gray hairs.....I lost count at 25.
So hair color it is. Now I have always colored my hair but never for any purpose other than becuase I wanted to. I don't have time before I leave for Baltimore for my hairdresser to color it and my head will have stiches and be way to tender when I get back to tolerate hair coloring, so I must do it myself. Let's hope it turns out okay and not some weird or funky color.
Fantasies in our Recession
In our house we love all things Disney. It is quite an obsession and that's alright by me.
I found this great article and thougt I would share it .
This is taken directly from the Times & Transcript
WALT DISNEY WORLD, FLA. - The Magic Kingdom is awash with rain on a weekday in July. It liquidates the rockets of the Astro Orbiter and pours so much brine into Ariel's Grotto that even a mermaid could drown.
Still, the hordes press on. The crowds are so oppressive, despite the weather, that we have to park all the way out at Minnie Mouse, row 34, and wait for two long trams to pass before we can score four seats. I am with my wife, our four-year-old daughter, and my father-in-law, who has just flown to Main Street, U.S.A. from Moscow, Russia. It is hard to tell who is more excited, the pre-schooler or the 70-year-old.
Where is the Great Recession? I wonder. Not here, "Where Dreams Come True." The shops are crammed, the Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant is overflowing, the sidewalks are like Shanghai at spring festival. Minnows in a monsoon of humanity, we pay our $307 and swim toward Fantasyland.
The queue for the flying Dumbo ride is a python that encircles the tent, then doubles back and swallows itself. Undaunted, little Lizzie and I wait it out in our seven-dollar Mickey Mouse ponchos, spun from a penny's worth of plastic. To fly this flight is her sacred quest, the baby elephant with the big, floppy ears the most beloved icon of her young life. A little rain is not going to stop us now.
"Those boys made fun of Dumbo so his Mom got mad and hit them and the ringmaster put her in Time Out," she explains to the young family behind us, benighted souls who have never seen the film.
After nearly an hour, as we mount the final ramp, we hear thunder in the distance, not that it could come down any harder. Lizzie's mother and grandfather stand under cover at a picnic area and cry to me in two languages, "Allen! She's getting wet!"
"They'll close the ride if there's lightning," someone ahead of us says. But I have brought the Magic Feather with me -- it is invisible, but powerful -- and the storm stands back in awe.
We strap ourselves in and fly so high that only elephants can see us. When our flight ends, and we are dizzy with vertigo and joy, Lizzie climbs out and kisses Dumbo on the ear and bows to him with gratitude.
Wife Natasha and father-in-law Valery want to see everything, ride everything, buy everything, to drink Walt Disney's fictional, fabulous America like rainwater. There is nothing like Disney World in Russia, which is not, in my experience at least, "The Happiest Place on Earth," or even a close runner-up. But we have only this one day.
Abandoning outdoor adventures, I herd everyone into the Carousel of Progress. For this ancient attraction there is no line at all. It is a relic of my own childhood epiphany: the 1964 New York World's Fair. There, it was the General Electric corporate pavilion, long before short sellers were hammering the value of a share of GE down to a couple of bucks. Preserved intact for more than 40 years, first in California and here in Florida since 1975, it is a window on the history of the future that I was meant to live.
The show is set in American homes of 1904, 1927 and the 1940s -- these are unchanged from the World's Fair -- and was updated sometime in the 1990s to highlight virtual reality headsets and laser discs and other short-lived, now laughable marvels.
The theme is a song I haven't heard in decades, but it bursts back into my memory and I sing it as loud as I dare:
"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
"Shining at the end of every day
"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
"And tomorrow's just a dream away"
"I want to be fourteen again," I whimper, tearing up.
I am not the only one transported. My father-in-law, the former Communist Party member and Soviet diplomat, tells me how, when he was seven years old in post-war Moscow, he saw Snow White and other Disney fantasies on reels captured from the fleeing Germans.
"I remember the joy and kindness of Mickey Mouse," he says, "but I don't remember Lenin."
We leave the Carousel and slog our way back toward the Seven Seas Lagoon. "It's Cinderella's castle!" my daughter shouts, tugging me through the deluge. Even in the rain, even in recession, we trade our dollars for a firm faith in fairies, and the certainty that elephants can fly.
* Allen Abel is a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen who after more than 25 years of journalism in Canada moved to Washington, D.C. He has been a reporter, foreign correspondent, documentary film producer, columnist and author. His column appears here every Monday.
What a nice news article. That's something you don't see everyday!!
BUY HAIR COLOR!!!!
I have gray hairs popping up everywhere!!!! For the love of Pete what is this all about!!
I am only thirty!! Now really should this be happening?
I know, I know. It does. But it still very traumatic.
They have been slowy creeping into my life for sometime now and I have been ignoring them and plucking them in a show of resistance.
Last night I stood in front of the mirror for a good thirty minutes just examining my hair. In that time period I started counting the gray hairs.....I lost count at 25.
So hair color it is. Now I have always colored my hair but never for any purpose other than becuase I wanted to. I don't have time before I leave for Baltimore for my hairdresser to color it and my head will have stiches and be way to tender when I get back to tolerate hair coloring, so I must do it myself. Let's hope it turns out okay and not some weird or funky color.
Fantasies in our Recession
In our house we love all things Disney. It is quite an obsession and that's alright by me.
I found this great article and thougt I would share it .
This is taken directly from the Times & Transcript
WALT DISNEY WORLD, FLA. - The Magic Kingdom is awash with rain on a weekday in July. It liquidates the rockets of the Astro Orbiter and pours so much brine into Ariel's Grotto that even a mermaid could drown.
Still, the hordes press on. The crowds are so oppressive, despite the weather, that we have to park all the way out at Minnie Mouse, row 34, and wait for two long trams to pass before we can score four seats. I am with my wife, our four-year-old daughter, and my father-in-law, who has just flown to Main Street, U.S.A. from Moscow, Russia. It is hard to tell who is more excited, the pre-schooler or the 70-year-old.
Where is the Great Recession? I wonder. Not here, "Where Dreams Come True." The shops are crammed, the Pinocchio Village Haus restaurant is overflowing, the sidewalks are like Shanghai at spring festival. Minnows in a monsoon of humanity, we pay our $307 and swim toward Fantasyland.
The queue for the flying Dumbo ride is a python that encircles the tent, then doubles back and swallows itself. Undaunted, little Lizzie and I wait it out in our seven-dollar Mickey Mouse ponchos, spun from a penny's worth of plastic. To fly this flight is her sacred quest, the baby elephant with the big, floppy ears the most beloved icon of her young life. A little rain is not going to stop us now.
"Those boys made fun of Dumbo so his Mom got mad and hit them and the ringmaster put her in Time Out," she explains to the young family behind us, benighted souls who have never seen the film.
After nearly an hour, as we mount the final ramp, we hear thunder in the distance, not that it could come down any harder. Lizzie's mother and grandfather stand under cover at a picnic area and cry to me in two languages, "Allen! She's getting wet!"
"They'll close the ride if there's lightning," someone ahead of us says. But I have brought the Magic Feather with me -- it is invisible, but powerful -- and the storm stands back in awe.
We strap ourselves in and fly so high that only elephants can see us. When our flight ends, and we are dizzy with vertigo and joy, Lizzie climbs out and kisses Dumbo on the ear and bows to him with gratitude.
Wife Natasha and father-in-law Valery want to see everything, ride everything, buy everything, to drink Walt Disney's fictional, fabulous America like rainwater. There is nothing like Disney World in Russia, which is not, in my experience at least, "The Happiest Place on Earth," or even a close runner-up. But we have only this one day.
Abandoning outdoor adventures, I herd everyone into the Carousel of Progress. For this ancient attraction there is no line at all. It is a relic of my own childhood epiphany: the 1964 New York World's Fair. There, it was the General Electric corporate pavilion, long before short sellers were hammering the value of a share of GE down to a couple of bucks. Preserved intact for more than 40 years, first in California and here in Florida since 1975, it is a window on the history of the future that I was meant to live.
The show is set in American homes of 1904, 1927 and the 1940s -- these are unchanged from the World's Fair -- and was updated sometime in the 1990s to highlight virtual reality headsets and laser discs and other short-lived, now laughable marvels.
The theme is a song I haven't heard in decades, but it bursts back into my memory and I sing it as loud as I dare:
"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
"Shining at the end of every day
"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
"And tomorrow's just a dream away"
"I want to be fourteen again," I whimper, tearing up.
I am not the only one transported. My father-in-law, the former Communist Party member and Soviet diplomat, tells me how, when he was seven years old in post-war Moscow, he saw Snow White and other Disney fantasies on reels captured from the fleeing Germans.
"I remember the joy and kindness of Mickey Mouse," he says, "but I don't remember Lenin."
We leave the Carousel and slog our way back toward the Seven Seas Lagoon. "It's Cinderella's castle!" my daughter shouts, tugging me through the deluge. Even in the rain, even in recession, we trade our dollars for a firm faith in fairies, and the certainty that elephants can fly.
* Allen Abel is a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen who after more than 25 years of journalism in Canada moved to Washington, D.C. He has been a reporter, foreign correspondent, documentary film producer, columnist and author. His column appears here every Monday.
What a nice news article. That's something you don't see everyday!!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Random Thoughts
Random Thoughts
Random Thoughts…You know you have them. We all do.
I like the saying “I’m not Cruel, I just say what everyone else is thinking”
LOL!!!
It’s the strange things in life that make you have those random thoughts.
For instance…
Just because they make it in your size, does not mean you should buy it.
God gave man knowledge and with that knowledge he made nail polish…look into it for your toes….your fellow neighbors will thank you.
If when you lift up your arms your shirt rises almost up to your chest…its time to retire the shirt.
Ahmmmm…I’m just sayin.
Caterpillers..Those suckers apparently will turn up anywhere. Wonder why?
Why is it that we associate Wine and Cheese together? Why not Wine and sausage dogs?
We drive on a parkway and park on a driveway…..Why o Why…that makes no sense at all!!!!
Whats the difference between normal ketchup and fancy ketchup?
How can something be "new" and "improved"? if it's new, what was it improving on?
If parents say, "Never take candy from strangers" then why do we celebrate Halloween?
If K.F.C Stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Why do they play sweet home Alabama on the commercials?
If there's an exception to every rule, is there an exception to that rule?
Why Does Pluto Live in a dog house, eat dog food, etc. but Goofy, who is also a dog, lives in a condo and drives a car?
See there are tons of random thoughts and random questions. Granted some are not so nice and some are just plain, well weird.
It’s a crazy world out there folks…somebody ought to sell tickets….heck, I’d buy one!!!!
By the way….I will update tomorrow night about my Baltimore trip and the lasted about my battle with IH. Just had to drop some humor for the time being.
Random Thoughts…You know you have them. We all do.
I like the saying “I’m not Cruel, I just say what everyone else is thinking”
LOL!!!
It’s the strange things in life that make you have those random thoughts.
For instance…
Just because they make it in your size, does not mean you should buy it.
God gave man knowledge and with that knowledge he made nail polish…look into it for your toes….your fellow neighbors will thank you.
If when you lift up your arms your shirt rises almost up to your chest…its time to retire the shirt.
Ahmmmm…I’m just sayin.
Caterpillers..Those suckers apparently will turn up anywhere. Wonder why?
Why is it that we associate Wine and Cheese together? Why not Wine and sausage dogs?
We drive on a parkway and park on a driveway…..Why o Why…that makes no sense at all!!!!
Whats the difference between normal ketchup and fancy ketchup?
How can something be "new" and "improved"? if it's new, what was it improving on?
If parents say, "Never take candy from strangers" then why do we celebrate Halloween?
If K.F.C Stands for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Why do they play sweet home Alabama on the commercials?
If there's an exception to every rule, is there an exception to that rule?
Why Does Pluto Live in a dog house, eat dog food, etc. but Goofy, who is also a dog, lives in a condo and drives a car?
See there are tons of random thoughts and random questions. Granted some are not so nice and some are just plain, well weird.
It’s a crazy world out there folks…somebody ought to sell tickets….heck, I’d buy one!!!!
By the way….I will update tomorrow night about my Baltimore trip and the lasted about my battle with IH. Just had to drop some humor for the time being.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The Buffet Line of Life
The Buffet Line of Life….
Ummm yea….too many choices
Which one to choose… the fish, chicken, meat, liver…?
Life is like a buffet line..no really it is….let me tell you why.
When you go to a buffet there are a zillion choices of food items. They all look wonderful. Right?
From the salad bar to the dessert bar your tongue starts watering…come on you know it does. You know you just want to grab a huge spoon and start dipping into everything right there with wild abandon..opps that’s my gluttoness dream and not yours…
Well how the sam hill is life like a buffet? Well its all about options and choices and having to choose. It’s nice to say you want everything on the buffet (life) but in actuality we have to choose bits and pieces off the buffet (life) and pray to God that we make the right choices and don’t get heartburn in the process….
Sigh…sometimes…I think I look too deep into things. This may be one of them.
So this is going to be a long blog entry so grab your vodka, beer or coffee…whatever your drink of choice is and settle in and don’t say I did not warn you…OK? OK
So my Neurosurgeon visit….OMG what Drama….
Let me say that I do love my Neurosurgeon…he is wonderful and very honest. He comes in and basically says that he does not really know what to do with me. He has only treated 4 patients with my disease and I am the 4th. He also says that he is so sorry for all the pain I am in. (Yea, me too) He says that the only thing he can do is to place an lumbar peritonerial shunt (LP) . At the same time he cannot guarantee that this will do any good. He cannot say that this will rid me of the daily pain I am in. OK then…
Pause for dramatic effect…
So……What does he say…. He says that if I want he will do the surgery.
Yes, you read that right it was not a typo. He will do the surgery if I want.
Wooooo….Hold on here..You have got to be kidding me. My Neurosurgeon is telling me that if I want he will do surgery. Hmmmm. No pressure.
So, we leave and discussion begins.
Lets face it people, I am a Purchasing Manger. I deal with China and Germany not Medical lingo..what the hell do I know….
I will save you all the details and cut to the chase.
I have decided to have the surgery. After much debate and consideration the benefit outweighs the risks. Also, if I don’t have the surgery I will always wonder if that would have been the “fix” for me.
As of now surgery is scheduled for Wednesday at Wake Med. I will be having this shunt placed in my back and will spend at least one night in the hospital.
HOLD UP>>> WAIT A MINUTE>>>>>>
That’s way to easy….Right?……Right.
Life is a Buffet…and it’s all about choices….
Texas Toast or Muffin…you choose.
Life is never easy and why in the Sam hill did you think this would be a smooth operation? No pun intended.
What you don’t see is the back story (per say) that is going on in my life…..
I have a great friend, Michelle that I have never met in person. LOL. We met on a chat board for Intracranial Hypertension and then became friends on Face book.
She posted a link for an upcoming talk show on Intracranial Hypertension on www.blogtalkradio.com with Dr. Tanne. who is the founder of the Intracranial Hypertension foundation. I, in turn also posted the link. My wonderful mother listened to his show and decided what the hay, I will call him.
Guess what? She spent about an hour on the phone with him.
He recommended a Doctor in Baltimore that specializes in Intracranial Hypertension. Dr. Michael Williams. He is with Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. She called, talked to his nurse; she said send your record and we will see if he accepts you.
So, I, the ever pessimistic person hold no faith in this. After the Cleveland Clinic disaster and being turned down by the Mayo Clinic who could blame me.
But as I am preparing for surgery, I get word that Dr. Williams wants to talk to me via phone on Monday. Mind you that on this day at twelve o’clock I had my pre op phone call with Wake Med. I was all set to go with surgery.
Long…long story short and 45 minutes later talking with Dr. Williams he wants to accept me into his practice. But he will not come right out and say that I do not need to have the surgery that is planned. He does however; place a lot of doubt in my mind.
So after much thought, agony and tears…. I decided to cancel the surgery at Wake Med…. Was it the right choice…I don’t know.
What I do know is this.
On June 11th I will meet with Dr. Williams in Baltimore for a clinical assessment.
The following Tuesday I will head back to Baltimore for a Shunt Patency test. (This is where they inject die into the shunt reservoir and watch the flow to see if there is a blockage)
Following that, I will admit to Sinai Hospital for a two night stay and have an ICP monitor placed ( this is placed into the current shunt/brain) to measure the pressure for 48 hours.
After that…I just don’t know.
It has been a crazy ride so far and to tell you the truth, I want a break!! I am all for adventure but I don’t think this is what I had in mind.
But I will say this. Never give up trying to find information. You just never know where you will find it. I signed up on a great website/chat forum and found a wonderful group a people going through the same thing as me. I may have never met any of them in person but it feels as if they are always right there with a shoulder to lean on.
And never be afraid to call the experts in the medical field. What’s the worst that can happen? They don’t call you back? But there are those times were medical professionals like Dr. Tanne really care to help everyone they come in contact with. His last words with my Mother were for either of us to call back if we had any questions, and I believe he sincerely meant it.
Lastly, I wrote once about Great Expectations and how I got burnt on them…Sigh. I am really hoping and praying that Sinai and Life Bridge Health do not turn out to be another Cleveland Clinic. But the difference this time is he saw all my records before hand and had to except me as a patient.
So I just have to have a little faith and trust. Not necessarily Great Expectations, because I have now realized that for now those can never be met as there is no cure for Intracranial Hypertension. Maybe one day but for know I just need to learn how to deal with what has been handed to me.
I will try to up date a little better and after each appointment.
So may we all smile a little bigger, laugh a little longer and hug a little tighter….
Life is a journey that takes us many places. Life is an unexpected blessing.
Life can throw you a curve ball and it can happen in a second and it can change your life forever.
Life is short…Pray Hard.
Ummm yea….too many choices
Which one to choose… the fish, chicken, meat, liver…?
Life is like a buffet line..no really it is….let me tell you why.
When you go to a buffet there are a zillion choices of food items. They all look wonderful. Right?
From the salad bar to the dessert bar your tongue starts watering…come on you know it does. You know you just want to grab a huge spoon and start dipping into everything right there with wild abandon..opps that’s my gluttoness dream and not yours…
Well how the sam hill is life like a buffet? Well its all about options and choices and having to choose. It’s nice to say you want everything on the buffet (life) but in actuality we have to choose bits and pieces off the buffet (life) and pray to God that we make the right choices and don’t get heartburn in the process….
Sigh…sometimes…I think I look too deep into things. This may be one of them.
So this is going to be a long blog entry so grab your vodka, beer or coffee…whatever your drink of choice is and settle in and don’t say I did not warn you…OK? OK
So my Neurosurgeon visit….OMG what Drama….
Let me say that I do love my Neurosurgeon…he is wonderful and very honest. He comes in and basically says that he does not really know what to do with me. He has only treated 4 patients with my disease and I am the 4th. He also says that he is so sorry for all the pain I am in. (Yea, me too) He says that the only thing he can do is to place an lumbar peritonerial shunt (LP) . At the same time he cannot guarantee that this will do any good. He cannot say that this will rid me of the daily pain I am in. OK then…
Pause for dramatic effect…
So……What does he say…. He says that if I want he will do the surgery.
Yes, you read that right it was not a typo. He will do the surgery if I want.
Wooooo….Hold on here..You have got to be kidding me. My Neurosurgeon is telling me that if I want he will do surgery. Hmmmm. No pressure.
So, we leave and discussion begins.
Lets face it people, I am a Purchasing Manger. I deal with China and Germany not Medical lingo..what the hell do I know….
I will save you all the details and cut to the chase.
I have decided to have the surgery. After much debate and consideration the benefit outweighs the risks. Also, if I don’t have the surgery I will always wonder if that would have been the “fix” for me.
As of now surgery is scheduled for Wednesday at Wake Med. I will be having this shunt placed in my back and will spend at least one night in the hospital.
HOLD UP>>> WAIT A MINUTE>>>>>>
That’s way to easy….Right?……Right.
Life is a Buffet…and it’s all about choices….
Texas Toast or Muffin…you choose.
Life is never easy and why in the Sam hill did you think this would be a smooth operation? No pun intended.
What you don’t see is the back story (per say) that is going on in my life…..
I have a great friend, Michelle that I have never met in person. LOL. We met on a chat board for Intracranial Hypertension and then became friends on Face book.
She posted a link for an upcoming talk show on Intracranial Hypertension on www.blogtalkradio.com with Dr. Tanne. who is the founder of the Intracranial Hypertension foundation. I, in turn also posted the link. My wonderful mother listened to his show and decided what the hay, I will call him.
Guess what? She spent about an hour on the phone with him.
He recommended a Doctor in Baltimore that specializes in Intracranial Hypertension. Dr. Michael Williams. He is with Sinai Hospital in Baltimore. She called, talked to his nurse; she said send your record and we will see if he accepts you.
So, I, the ever pessimistic person hold no faith in this. After the Cleveland Clinic disaster and being turned down by the Mayo Clinic who could blame me.
But as I am preparing for surgery, I get word that Dr. Williams wants to talk to me via phone on Monday. Mind you that on this day at twelve o’clock I had my pre op phone call with Wake Med. I was all set to go with surgery.
Long…long story short and 45 minutes later talking with Dr. Williams he wants to accept me into his practice. But he will not come right out and say that I do not need to have the surgery that is planned. He does however; place a lot of doubt in my mind.
So after much thought, agony and tears…. I decided to cancel the surgery at Wake Med…. Was it the right choice…I don’t know.
What I do know is this.
On June 11th I will meet with Dr. Williams in Baltimore for a clinical assessment.
The following Tuesday I will head back to Baltimore for a Shunt Patency test. (This is where they inject die into the shunt reservoir and watch the flow to see if there is a blockage)
Following that, I will admit to Sinai Hospital for a two night stay and have an ICP monitor placed ( this is placed into the current shunt/brain) to measure the pressure for 48 hours.
After that…I just don’t know.
It has been a crazy ride so far and to tell you the truth, I want a break!! I am all for adventure but I don’t think this is what I had in mind.
But I will say this. Never give up trying to find information. You just never know where you will find it. I signed up on a great website/chat forum and found a wonderful group a people going through the same thing as me. I may have never met any of them in person but it feels as if they are always right there with a shoulder to lean on.
And never be afraid to call the experts in the medical field. What’s the worst that can happen? They don’t call you back? But there are those times were medical professionals like Dr. Tanne really care to help everyone they come in contact with. His last words with my Mother were for either of us to call back if we had any questions, and I believe he sincerely meant it.
Lastly, I wrote once about Great Expectations and how I got burnt on them…Sigh. I am really hoping and praying that Sinai and Life Bridge Health do not turn out to be another Cleveland Clinic. But the difference this time is he saw all my records before hand and had to except me as a patient.
So I just have to have a little faith and trust. Not necessarily Great Expectations, because I have now realized that for now those can never be met as there is no cure for Intracranial Hypertension. Maybe one day but for know I just need to learn how to deal with what has been handed to me.
I will try to up date a little better and after each appointment.
So may we all smile a little bigger, laugh a little longer and hug a little tighter….
Life is a journey that takes us many places. Life is an unexpected blessing.
Life can throw you a curve ball and it can happen in a second and it can change your life forever.
Life is short…Pray Hard.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Pop Rocks and Dogs
We have a miniature Dachshund.....
His name is Ub.....
He is very Cute.....
As Sydney says he is very naughty....
He is not the brightest light bulb in the pack
He found the girls old Pop Rocks Today.....
I wish you could have seen the results....
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