hehehe Not MY wreath-
(Taken at Kelli and Tims place).
Good Morning All;
My apologies for visiting and not replying to your many entries. I am just not feeling the greatest.
Must have caught a lil bug while at the hospital for Casey.
Casey will be needing more surgery.
She had her EGD, (esophagogastroduodenoscopy).
Her anastamotic ulcers are still there. The surgeon here in town has upped her meds, changing one to a liquid as perhaps that may work for her pain a bit better.
These types of ulcers are directly caused by surgery- (The other, more common ulcer is caused by a bacteria, h~pylori).
re456q45y
The amount of pain that this young lady has learned to live with on a daily basis, for the past 6+ years just moves me.
Still, she has more chutzpah than most of her peers- or any other group. Not in a rude or impertinent sort of way, just with her ability to look at everything and still say, "so what?"
Makes a mama real proud.
My son in law William called on Thursday- All is well in Alabama, save for the fact that the poor guy has been freezing half to death. (I chuckle at that always).
Lawrence is quite well, although with the heart thing, he is limited to non-contact sports. So, much like Casey, he has dealt with that too. He is on the swim team and is loving every minute of that. He will be 11 this coming February- and is already almost 5' tall. That physique means he can swim like a fish!
When the phone rang again last night, and it was William, I got a bit panicked- Two days in a row is almost unheard of unless something is happening.
He stated that he and Lawrence were just leaving the hospital. His oldest son, Blaine, is now in the hospital, -with pancreatitis.
Lordy, I didn't even know of this until Casey's problems started. Then I didn't know anyone else with it. Then Uncle Chum had one attack a few years back. Now Blaine. Now I know 3 people.
Odd, isn't it?
Blaine is 21. He will be hospitalized until this bout passes.
They have also found a growth on the outside of his small intestine. Not yet sure exactly what it is attached to, but that will have to be dealt with too.
I wish him the very best of diagnosis and prognosis.
William did tell me that where the growth is, is very very rare that this sort of thing would be malignant. That is good to know. Still hard for these kids to be in such pain.
... If it's not one thing...
I sewed until about 3AM then stole a few hours of sleep.
Some things are coming together. Some, not so much. Oh well. hehehe
Punk must surely hate me for being so busy without her.
She lays on the foot pedal...
Or, Worse, ...
~ She lays on my nicely ironed ready to use patches...
(Casey had to iron more than a few, again, the other day).
And I save almost everything. 3 shots of patches too small to use.
Too small? Wanna bet?
These are NOT my quilts, so I can post these pictures. hehehe
I only wish I had more thread and fabric...
I'd better close and get on with my day.
Casey and Greg will be here shortly- Brian called yesterday and her car is ready to be picked up. YAY! Happy it is done.
I hope all is well with everyone! That you are enjoying these last two weeks of the year!
Must fly for now- My love to all.
XOXO
Me
A quick comment here. I did finally hear from Bonnie regarding the email I sent for her daughter, Janet. All she said was she was glad I re-sent the email and that she thought she'd lost it again. She's been out of town (they're hardly at home anymore) and will get back with me. Knowing her it might take a while. Since Casey has her blog open (or so I think), I'm going to tell Bonnie to go directly to her page to see if what Janet has is the same or similar to Casey. Hope I've not been too confusing, my mouth is hurting and I can't concentrate right now.
ReplyDeleteSweet Annie,
ReplyDeleteUlcers are never fun. I hope the new meds work better.
I'm very happy that Master Lawrence is doing so well. Swimming will be good for him. Have they settled on the Marfan's Syndrome diagnosis then??
Make that 5 people you know that have had Pancreatitis. Rick had a bout 3 years ago and found the only thing that gave him any relief was Dalaudid. Morphine sends him back into combat and demerol does nothing for the pain. My Daughter Jessica had a bout earlier this year. She prays she never has another.
The quilt pieces are a feast for the eye. Poor Miss Punk. To take second place to some material, LOLOLOL Fabric I could probably help you with. I have clothes that are not going with me. Wouldn't take that much to cut them into squares for you, lol.
Much love to you,
oxox,
snotball
yep Casey is a rock!!! Add my pancreatitis to the list and thats now four people.....Ive been having attacks about every six weeks, owie.....I was in the hospital for a day on an i.v. I think mostly to starve me...lmao so the pain would lessen.
ReplyDeletebeautiful photos...
ReplyDeleteI've had my share of ulcers....painful, nauseating things....I feel so bad for her.
LOL! Larssen is terrified of the pedal! If it is even sticking out from under the sewing table a teeny bit she shoots straight up in the air and runs!
ReplyDeleteLove the quilts... I have another star of david all cut out and ready to sew but have lost my rountoit.
Sorry to hear about all the kidlets.... but glad to know Lawrence is doing so well in swimming...
Poor Casey..... I am sure they will fix it up. Baby steps. Look at where she was even just three years ago..... SO MUCH better now than then....
Sweet Shar;
ReplyDeleteI am glad you heard from Bonnie. I know what she is going through.
Casey has posted lots, Some is for everyone, some not.
But there's lots more here under "Caseysick" tag. (She was generally too sick to post, or has needed her energy to recuperate, than blog.
Best of luck with your mouth- I do know how that goes.
XOXO
Me
Sweet Snotball;
ReplyDeleteHAHAHA-
A feast for your eyes? Those are closeup shots. Those pieces are maybe only an inch or two at most. Both you and Casey (for some twisted reason) think those itty bitty quiltie things are a feast. I really do giggle at that-
I had started piecing those leftovers together just for the heck of it. Dad used to say that women were silly creatures who took perfectly good material and cut it up, just to sew it back together. Using that as incentive, doing this has now become a habit.
As for the Marfans diagnosis, you must have missed the blog where they said he doesn't have it. The cardiologist did say Lawrence has a mitral valve problem. William just told me when Lawrence goes back to the cardio, but I have forgotten when. They are keeping a real close eye on that.
As for Blaine, count him out of the pancreatitis dx. The doctors retracted that today.
*** I honestly can't remember how many times that Casey's own diagnosis was given, then retracted. Going to guess about 3 or 4 times, dependent upon which doctor was looking at her charts etc.
But Blaine's growth has to be dealt with. They haven't even figured out how to do a biopsy on it yet.
Then, if they are incapable, or unwilling, to effectively deal with it in Montgomery, Blaine will then go to UAB. (Birmingham).
This is about an hour north of where they are. But a great place to be if one needs top notch medical care too.
Dilaudid (hydromorphone) is all that works for Casey too. And to think I was afraid of her relief- more of the disease. How pathetic of me.
I get an injection of 50 mg demerol for my migraines, with some added (50 mg) phenergan to stop the nausea, (which I swear is sometimes worse than the migraine pain itself).
Morphine can be notorious for recreating PTSD for some people. Glad they caught that before anything really bad happened.
XOXO
Me
Sweet Pamela;
ReplyDeleteOops. I forgot. I am sorry about that...
How come you were only in the hospital for one day? Casey is going to be real jealous when she reads that.
Lots of times she couldn't eat, or drink, anything, for the better part of a week either. At one point she was down to 89 pounds. She is now at 115.
The textbook trick is to give the pancreas a break, so no food or water is all that will help. But we all know that none of us fit into every textbook either. Getting the doctors to believe that is always a major hindrance to patients, unless you find one to listen.
Then with pancreatitis, when she said she didn't drink, she was either a liar or a drug seeker. Many times I chose to leave the room so she could repeat that in private too. Kids will say one thing in front of parents, and another when they are not around. Taking that into consideration, I would just leave.
hehehe Funny how her story didn't change at all?
Oh well. It made me feel better to do that anyway.
The bottom line is that *less than* 1/3rd of full blown true pancreatitis bouts are truly caused by alcohol. Yet the doctors recall this from their own textbooks, so it must be that... And we all know how that goes.
XOXO
Me
ReplyDeleteThank you Sweet Jen.
I had an ulcer back when Casey was a Jr or Sr in high school. It was a wretched thing. The treatment was even worse.
Of course, not ever having any surgery on my tummy, mine was just a normal run-of-the-mill h~pylori ulcer. There were 3 different kinds of antibiotics, and other pills I had to take about 4 times a day to get that taken care of. Whatever happened to a shot of penicillin? hehehe
XOXO
Me
ReplyDeleteSweet Pea;
I am SO laughing at Lars! Too funny!!!
Not Punk. Wherever my legs and feet are is where she will be.
She has lain on the pedal two or three times as I get up to iron a seam, and my machine will start going... Now I try to remember just to shut the switch off if I am getting up while she is under there.
You must post the pic of the Star of David! How beautiful it must be!
Of course you are right about Casey. She was so much worse off then, than now. (Hard for me to always keep that in perspective sometimes, when all I want is my kid back).
XOXO
Me
You are fortunate to still have your "kid".... and soon she will be perfectly healthy again.
ReplyDeleteThe first one I made my dad has. It is shades of brown. I think there is a shot with it in it on facebook.
The new one will be shades of red. I cut it out to make one for my mom but she told me she didn't want it so I never put it together.
Larssen is funny... She will roll over there when I am in the office wake up and see how near she is to the pedal and will run.
Sorry to hear about the troubles there Anna, I do hope Casey is OK and was drinking soon after having the endoscope inserted down her throat, it's not nice, however what ever it takes hey, personally I hate those fasting over night things. I do hope you come good as well Anna. Nice to see some of your sewing
ReplyDeleteAnna does Casey and Greg have broadband or anyone near you that you know of ?
Sweet Sister Anne,
ReplyDeleteI guess maybe I do remember the change in dx. Sorry I've slept (or not) since then. A Mitral Valve problem would definitely be something to keep a close eye on.
Poor Blaine. Seems Drs can't make up their minds sometimes. Hope they figure out how to do the biopsy and it comes back odd but not C. Birmingham is a little over an hour south of Sister Donna. That's where TJ goes to the VA. With Rick's pancreatitis, they tried to blame it on alcohol also because we all "know" that all VN Veterans are drunks and drug addicts.
You are a caring informed Mother and to see some of the possible side effects of the Dalaudid would make anyone think twice on top of all of Casey's other problems. The Demerol/Phenergan cocktail sounds like a good kicker for the migraines. They didn't catch the Morphine side effects until after he had chocked a nurse, twisted another's breasts and threatened to kill the DON. He lived in VN for over a year at his Mother's house until they were able to get his toes amputated and get a venous bypass done in his left leg to restore circulation to his left foot. He was an emaciated wreck by the time he was ready to start healing. He was blessed to be able to walk away from the Morphine shots and the Phentanol patches cold turkey. They also had him on Oxycodone and an 8 oz water glass of whiskey at night to make the drugs work well enough for him to sleep. Thank God he never seriously hurt anyone when he was on the Morphine. We have it in his chart now that he has an adverse reaction to it.
oxox,
snotball
Whoever those quilts belong to, they're lovely. I wish I had the patience!!! xxxx
ReplyDeleteUgh. Next time William calls tell him to send Blaine my love. Wow! 21?! Really?
ReplyDeleteMr Lester-
ReplyDeleteThe tube in her throat is nothing after all she's been through- But she sure as heck doeasn't ever wish to wake up again in the middle of it, like she did in Minnesota in Sept.
Telling her doctor this, he must have really doped her up. It took almost an hour to wake her up after.
Scary that.
She only has to fast 6 hours before, so depending on surgery time, it is hardly ever overnight anymore. Mostly it's just a pain in the neck to have to wait- Then again, she doesn't want to be mssing with those little islet cells either.
Timing, and when to sleep is critical with the fasting thing.
No broadband out here in the middle of BF Egypt.
XOXO
Me
Tell Rick not to feel bad. Casey was never in 'Nam and that's what they (tried to) blame her pancreratitis on too.
ReplyDeleteFacts are that LESS THAN 30% of all pancreatitis, (whether necrotizing, chronic, acute, or even the "minimal~change" pancreatitis), are from drinking.
But that is what these doctors learn in medical school, so that is all they know. Even the GI's don't know this! I was shocked to have to show proof of that. (But I did). hehehe
Blaines 'growth' was a pocket of blood and infection. (I forgot what they call it).
They put him on antibiotics and sent him home with those. It DOES have a big chance of returning, but he did go back to work yesterday.
XOXO
Me
hehehe
ReplyDeleteSweet Val;
What started out as a bit of fun, has turned into over 30 yards of "material" for quilting.
Oh my!
I didn't even finish the ones I started and worked on for the past months here- But I am getting there- Slowly but surely.
Have brought the 2nd one back downstairs to try to get the batting and back sewn on today. I tried yesterday, but my back would not hear of it.
It lays in wait on one of the couches. Grrr...
I don't have an overabundance of patience. And I do not use a seam ripper on quilts. Never did, and never will.
I do however have plenty of time on my hands... That is not always a good thing.
hehehe
XOXO
Me
Sweet SD;
ReplyDeleteWOW! is right.
Blaine went back to work yesterday- A lot of recovery, and it will probably come back.
Wish I could remember what the heck it was called...
XOXO
Me
Send me a private note if you want William's cell phone.