It's been a rather bumpy road lately.
I had a colonoscopy a week ago this past Thursday. They did remove a couple of pre-cancerous polyps. But that's no big deal. Drinking the vile pre-procedure prep solution was really the worst part—especially since I had to chug-a-lug the second half-gallon starting at 3:00 a.m.
On Saturday night, a violent thunderstorm came through. The next morning we arose to find a power surge had zipped up the cable and fried both the modem and router. No TV or Internet. Bummer.
Sunday, Myladylove did a Women's Wellness Walk for breast cancer awareness, I bought mulch, and later we worked in the yard. The daytime high approached 80˚F! I fixed steaks on the grill for supper and we ate on the deck and watched the river, birds and sunset.
Monday morning I began bleeding. A lot. I called my gastro doc who'd done the colonoscopy. He suggested I go to a nearby lab and have blood levels checked. If the bleeding didn't stop, another colonoscopy was in the offing.
Oh, joy.
Tuesday, still bleeding. Another blood check. Levels definitely dropping. Because I take blood thinners, which I'd been off before the surgery, but restarted after, my doc wanted to give me two days off again before the now definite surgery, scheduled for Thursday morning.
Tuesday evening, still bleeding, feeling pretty weak, I have another blood levels check—down another point!—and after again conferring with my doc, decide I'd better check into the hospital. Myladylove drives and we head to the E.R. There, I have a new blood levels check, a CAT scan, and a few other things. Not quite to the point of needing a transfusion, but heading that way. "You can spend tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night here, we'll monitor your blood levels, and you can have your procedure…or you can spend the time at home, pay attention to how you feel, do your prep tomorrow, and always head back here if you get to feeling worse—lightheaded, trouble thinking—or if the bleeding increases. A bit of a risk, but not much. Your call."
In spite of the fact it was midnight, Myladylove and I returned home, which is only a very short drive from the hospital.
Wednesday I sat around, read, bled, drank clear liquids, didn't watch TV or browse the Internet, and choked down another gallon of disgusting prep concoction.
Thursday I had another colonoscopy. Bleeder was located and cauterized. Everything went fine. I understand why Michael Jackson liked propofol, it is a delightful—albeit potentially deadly—anesthesia.
Bottom line (nope, no pun intended) I'm doing fine. No further bleeding, though I haven't yet restarted blood thinners. But I feel great and yesterday I traded the old fried modem for a replacement, bought the latest and greatest AirPort Extreme router from the local Apple store as my new Wi-Fi base, rerouted the cable line, installed and set up the hardware, and…ta-da!…have returned to the digital folds. About time, too, as Myladylove was exhibiting worrisome withdrawal symptoms.
A bumpy road, for sure—but not all bad.
In spite of the fact it was midnight, Myladylove and I returned home, which is only a very short drive from the hospital.
Wednesday I sat around, read, bled, drank clear liquids, didn't watch TV or browse the Internet, and choked down another gallon of disgusting prep concoction.
Thursday I had another colonoscopy. Bleeder was located and cauterized. Everything went fine. I understand why Michael Jackson liked propofol, it is a delightful—albeit potentially deadly—anesthesia.
Bottom line (nope, no pun intended) I'm doing fine. No further bleeding, though I haven't yet restarted blood thinners. But I feel great and yesterday I traded the old fried modem for a replacement, bought the latest and greatest AirPort Extreme router from the local Apple store as my new Wi-Fi base, rerouted the cable line, installed and set up the hardware, and…ta-da!…have returned to the digital folds. About time, too, as Myladylove was exhibiting worrisome withdrawal symptoms.
A bumpy road, for sure—but not all bad.
17 comments:
Oh help, sounds definitely bumpy. Glad you are now more or less back to normal. Keep well.
Penny…
Thank you. Wasn't really a big deal—just one of those messes with complications we all have to go through from time to time. I'm feeling good and seem to be doing fine. Just grateful for the care and concern, and glad I could work my Internet issues out. Guess I'm again as "normal" as ever.
Hi Grizz - oh my, I am so sorry to hear of all you had to go through. scary stuff. I am relieved you are ok, but my goodness - quite an ordeal. Yiu are very brave. Sending prayers for continued and sustained healing.
Love Gail
peace.....
I understand the thing for propofol as well. My last colonoscopy, I drifted off feeling pret-t-t-t-t-y doggone good. Then I woke up and wondered when they were going to get started...of course, they were done and waiting for me to wake up, Not much fun! Glad you are back into the cyber world...
Gail...
Not so much brave as a realist...a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. More acceptance than choice. Get-r-dun and move on. But it was a for sure ordeal. I'll gladly welcome and appreciate every prayer, always. Thank you. And don't worry, I seem to be fine now.
Happy Mother's Day!
Moonmuser...
On my two recent propofol trips, I didn't drift off to sleep...I plummeted! Fell off the cliff with the speed of a light switch being flipped. No pre-feeling whatsoever. In went the i.v. and 20 seconds later, without a hint, off I went to the land of dreamless sleep...and next I knew I woke up back in my little curtained cubicle. And five minutes later I was dressed, talking to the doc, and after that ready to head home. Lovely stuff! Thank God you can't just walk into Kroger's and buy it or there'd be bodies of o.d. insoninacs scattered everywhere. It's so deceptively seductive, and would be too easy to come to foolishly decide it was harmless.
I missed my internet connection even though we're cord cutters and don't have cable TV. Roku, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Pandora, all need that digital feed. So I shelled out $200 for Apple's AirPort Extreme. Clambered around in the attic awhile amid the spiderwebs and stink bugs. Rerouted my wiring. Installed my new gear and the modem I'd traded in for at Time-Warner. And...well, here I am, reconnected! Piece of cake. 😎
Haha..easy for you to say,since you know what you are doing!
Why don't you like Netflix?.
The orange teenage kitten who sneaked inside when I brought his sickly brother inside, is like a good pointer (dog) and alerts for stink bugs. He stops suddenly, goes rigid and stares directly at it until I scoop it up in a very large glass vase and take it outside, It is hilarious to watch...he is very good at it! I don't know if he trained me or I trained him..but we developed the procedure together. His name is Jake Hummietoes (long story!). They are attractively designed bugs, but sure don't wan them to stink!
I feel the same as you do about propofol...good thing it isn't available..or we would for sure have people with a "propofolics problem!" :) Very nice, falling asleep in the middle of a conversation with the nurses. I have never been a druggie, but one time when I went in to have my esophagus stretched, I thought I was alone in the room pre-procedure and started singing Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb. ("Just a little pinprick...etc." "Is anybody on there?") Then I saw the doc across the room looking at me kinda funny! Stopped immediately, of course!.
Moonmuser…
Now why in the world would you think I don't like Netflix? PerhapsI didn't make myself clear—but you have certainly misinterpreted what I meant, for sure. When we dumped Time-Warner cable—not for internet, we still kept our high-speed internet hookup, just got rid of the entertainment package—I bought a Roku, which is a way of having apps that, via internet over wi-fi, feed programs—movies, TV shows, music—to your screen. Most of it is absolutely free. A few require a very modest monthly subscription. I pay for Amazon Prime (which additionally gives me fast, 1-2 day free shipping on most of my online orders, free unlimited photo storage, free music, and free Kindle books, among other perks) Acorn, Netflix, and Pandora…and they provide us with plenty of excellent programming for about $25 per month. That's more than a thousand bucks savings a year over cable—and way better programming. We only pay for the sort of stuff we want to watch!
So, I absolutely do LOVE Netflix, Amazon Prime, Acorn, and Pandora!
I am most definitely NOT a technical whiz when it comes to computers, wi-fi, modems, routers, wiring, etc. A persistent muddler at best. But at some point bits of logic seep into my brain if I doggedly keep at things, and the blind-hog-finding-an-acorn syndrome makes up for any remaining shortcomings. I ask questions, ask them again, and eventually managed to get done what needs doing.
There were a great many—like HUNDREDS!—of stinkbugs in the attic, having apparently found their way in through the roof vents. Your embarrassingly named cat would have had a blast. 😎
Don't think I stooped to singing while on my little propofol trip, but who knows? I might have done a few bars of something delightfully inappropriate.
Jake has a very strong sense of who he is and therefore having his middle name be Hummietoes bothers him not in the least! He answers to either name, but not to his brother's name, which is Howie. LOL He is also a momma's boy and is very loving! He is always up for a good time and smiles a lot.
Eye doc exam was not what I expected at all. My glasses need a slight new prescription, but doc is having me get an ultrasound on one eye to rule out a beginning of glaucoma. Chances are very small, but I still am a tiny bit uneasy about it.
I will have to look into Amazon Prime..however, I do have Netflix and don't use it enough.
Later, see you soon.
Moonmuser…
Never heard of an ultrasound being used to diagnose glaucoma, though maybe I'm just not understanding something. But I've certainly had my share of glaucoma tests. Generally, ophthalmoscopy is the primary tool, which directly examines the optic nerve. A tonometry test measures pressures within the eye; a perimetry test maps the vision field; a gonioscopy checks the meeting point of iris and cornea; and a pachymetry test measures the thickness of your cornea. I've also had some newer things done—scanning laser tomography, laser polarimetry, ocular coherence tomography, and a spectral-domain OCT, which gives cross-sectional and 3D images of the eye. You want to determine IF you have glaucoma, or if you MIGHT DEVELOP glaucoma. You need to know the physical situation and state of your eyes—optic nerve, cornea thickness, etc.— and your pressures. You can have great (lower) pressures and still develop glaucoma, or high pressures and never do so. So drops alone aren't necessarily a preventative…nor is anything else, including various types of surgeries. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. But you do want to start doing all you can as early as possible. If you even think you might be heading toward developing glaucoma, you might want to discuss starting an every-other-day regime of drops for their possible prophylactic effect. They're cheap and safe and no bother really to apply.
We watch lots of things on Netflix, maybe less on Amazon Prime (though all the other perks make it well worth the cost even without the video stuff—but then we order a lot of things online, so Amazon's fast shipping, great guarantee and terrific return policy means a lot) and a bunch of British and foreign dramas and mystery series on Acorn. Wouldn't want to give up any one of the three. And their total monthly cost is no more than the price of a modest meal for two at a cheap restaurant.
A cat with a middle name? Wow! That's…uh, indicative.
I'm sure your use of the word indicative is not a positive thing, but you are entitled to your opinion I guess. Most of the critters have a middle name..Tiger Lily, Rita Mae, etc. The eye doc in Troy said he just spied a spot and wants the other one to test it out.
There has not been time for anything the last few days, so that is why I am writing short messages.. Gotta hit the hay!
Later, O Knowledgeable One (or is it knowledge-a-bull? LOL!!
Moonmuser…
Hmmmm…I believe your suggested "Knowledge-A-Bull" appellation presents a latent dubiety regarding the recidivistic imposition of middle-naming any feline whose immediate lineage is not demonstrably Southern. Yankee cats are simply not equipped psychologically to handle such a nominative overload, and there's apparently a suppressed level of understanding somewhere in your psyche trying to sound the alarm. It is admirable that you welcome strays into your home—though strays begetting strays can lead to certain habitation problems. However, the very nature of their uncharted past means you have no idea of their heritage, therefore a healthy degree of caution when it comes time to naming an individual member of this mewing horde is mandatory.
In fact, given the current issues regarding adaptive sexuality, wherein one's self-concept of the male/female conundrum remains in a constant state of flux—and at the risk of being labeled a bigot—I'd strongly advise against assigning any name which might force a poor kitten to make a choice when climbing into the litterbox. Rita Mae, for example, should be instantly abandoned—first because that is, as we now know, two cats worth of names—and second because it is decidedly feminine in designation. The Tiger part is okay, and I suppose the Lily half could be argued. But I'd say discard them both. Most juries would vote Lily as being feminine. Tiger is less obviously a male-projecting name. And while Tiger Woods does come to mind, he doesn't strike me as being particularly masculine and I wouldn't be surprised to learn he shops at Target. But do you really want to name a cat after a golfer? After all, if it wasn't for the letter "L" golf would be goof.
I trust we've now laid these troublesome issues to rest. In summation, I have nothing whatsoever against middle names. I have one myself which I like and use. But then, I qualify by possessing the necessary DNA to handle it safely. There are any number of additional aspects we could get into regarding this matter, but I trust a word to the wise will prove sufficient.
(Yes, I just called you wise; don't be shocked. You publish my column, after all…a wise editorial decision if ever there was one.)
Grizz...
Just one question ...
...just where do you think baby tigers come from?
Moonmuser
P.S. Had a gret birthday party
today at the officer's house ..played two board games and ate too much, of course!
Moonmuser x2...
1) Not from vegan progenitors who spend their days whacking little white inedible balls around amongst manicured lawns.
2) Sounds like an enjoyable birthday. We're heading over to the daughter's later today for a belated dinner--chicken and dumplings, skillet apple pie and ice cream, and I don't care what else because the first two make a perfect meal. Plus I'll get to play with the granddaughter. And additionally, the daughter and I will repair the wood frame stringer on the dinning table lchair which the new labradoodle chewed.
Wow--sounds like quite scare. Colonoscopies are one of the "joys" of aging. But a complication--that is NOT what one expects.
Glad everything has settled down. And also glad colonoscopies are only every ten years.
KGMom…
Can't say a colonoscopy is fun, though the procedure is really nothing, on the order of a teeth cleaning, while the prep is awful.
When you do blood thinners, post bleeding complications can always happen. Scary because, depending on your medication, there might not be an antidote to control the bleeding—just transfusions if it's not too bad, and waiting as you continue bleeding for the two or three days until the meds get out of your system and you clot on your own. At which point you've now upped your odds considerably for a serious—possibly fatal—clot, which is why you're on blood thinners to begin with. And while you're bleeding and waiting, there's nothing else they can do for you.
My doc schedules a colonoscopy for most of his patients every 3-4 years, to be safe, given a tumor development time of 6-7 years; but if you've had an adenoma polyp, as mine were (and most are) then it's every year unless you have a no-polyp check. Better safe than sorry, and the earlier the better.
Post a Comment