MORE SAGA

Feb 21, 2021 Not much changing, really. Couple of small things. Vic finally went in for the CT scan we were expecting last week. It was so fast and painless. He was hoping that the tech would say, "OH, THERE THEY ARE (the stents)!" But he didn't. Neither did he show any concern - looks like the stents are where they're supposed to be. His surgery is this next Friday, the 26th. We were a day off. They haven't said anything yet about pre-surgery Covid testing, but we expect them to. Yesterday, Matt came over to show us a movie about the big housing and mortgage bust of 2008, (yeah, we experienced that, where every week a different company was taking over our home loan) and when Matt was leaving, Vic stepped out on the porch for less than a minute and a half, got chilled, and came back in shaking so bad he could barely adjust the thermostat. He climbed into bed fully clothed, and turned his blanket up to 6. I looked in on him, and he seemed peacefully asleep, so I let him be. He texted me a little bit later to go in and help him, and when I felt his head it was hot. Thermometer said 101.2, Later, it was 102.9. Then later back down to 100.5. I don't like to mess with fevers too soon, because they're important, and it hadn't reached a danger zone yet. We finallly heard from the Dr's female P.A. and she said he could take one tylenol. He felt that part of what was making him feel sick was the 2 days he's been w/out a bowel movement. He eats Activia yogurt, drinks Magnesium Citrate, and takes a stool softener, and was backed up anyway. She said she'd make an appt for him Monday morning to check for any infection. He's still feeling pain on urination. Sometimes the cath seems to be pinching, sometimes it's the urine. And it's still reddish-brown. So, fever or not, he needs to be seen. I do not see the advantage of keeping the cath AND the stents in this week. Even a few days with them out seems like it would feel so much better. BUT, he won't let them "search" for the stents again without being under a general anesthetic which can't happen in the doc's office. TOO painful. We keep thinking of his step-dad, who has apparently had a catheter for 2 years. blechk! I'd msg'd Sondra Hine earlier, who years ago was a nurse, and talked to her about his situation, and she ended up bringing over (at 9:15pm dark/cold night) 3 days worth of Herb-Lax, and natural Shaklee product that regulates the bowel - helps it ease off if you've got the runs, and helps move things if you're constipated. By this morning, Vic had had 2 BM's, and was feeling much better. His fever went away before he was too far asleep last night. Wonderful thing about Sondra: at first, she was going to bring the tablets over this morning, then she argued with herself, saying, "Well, I prayed for chances to serve...!" And finally decided to bring the Herb-Lax over last night. I didn't discourage her from bringing it last night, because I felt like it would make a big difference overnight for Vic. AND it did! I didn't sleep well - a little nerve twitch here, and cranky muscle there...I got up around 2 and made a tea and half PBJ toast. I remember seeing the clock showing 5:30, and drifting a little, then it was 6:30, and time to get up. I snoozed until 7, so I was present in Ward Council in spirit, but not in face. So right after it was over, I went back in and laid down with Vic, and we snoozed through Sacrament meeting. But woke up to hear Jay Gabbitas give the Gospel Doctrine lesson. I'm always a little surprised at what a good teacher he is. He talked about the 3 Witnesses to the Book of Mormon, and how they really WANTED to be the prophesied 3 witnesses, then Jay asked, "What are WE willing to do to be witness of Christ?" VERY GOOD food for thought.

More Vic Saga

Vic continues being a non-complaining soldier, bearing with his catheter, etc, but today really sucked. We've been waiting all week for today's supposed CT scan, thinking it would show the location of those mysterious stents. I think we were both hoping that, finding out where they were, there would be a possibility of their removal, along with the catheter. But after getting to the radiology dept of Utah Valley Hospital, the doc's order said it was an MRI. CT Scans are short and painless; MRI's can be tortuous. At best, they're absurdly noisy and rattley, and you have to hold still for up to 45 minutes to an hour. Vic was put in the smaller of 2 machines where the roof of the machine was just inches in front of his face, and the noise was hellacious. He made it about half-way through before he just couldn't stand it any more. He sometimes has claustrophobic issues, and after that long they really kicked in. Come to find out the MRI was ordered by Dr Voss regarding a small dark area in Vic's pancreas, and had nothing to do with the stents or the prostate surgery, and could EASILY have waited until after he's well on the road to recovery from that surgery. Anyway, now he knows that next time he gets an MRI, he needs a tranquilizer first. The radiologist did say that as far as they could tell in the MRI, they didn't see any stents. Whatever that means. So first thing Monday morning, Vic will find out WHERE we can go to get his CT scan, and get that scheduled. What an ongoing mess. We stopped on the way home & bought a new couple of leg bags, then went to Gandolfo's for sandwiches, which neither of us could eat, in spite of Vic having fasted for at least 4 hours before the MRI. Never again at Gandolfo's. The rest of the day we just hung around the house, me on the computer, and Vic on his recliner in the TV room - it's the most comfortable place for him to sit. It will apparently continue to be his main official sitting place until, and probably for a couple of weeks after, his surgery on the 25th. I need to record this awesome and tender thing that Lilian did night before last: Wednesday night, about 7:40-ish, I started hearing a really light tapping sound. I thought it was Vic with his cane (on the hardwood floor). But it kept going, just slow-ish taps, and it never got any closer. So I wandered from my office to the living room, and thought maybe someone was outside. I opened the front door and it was Lilian with soup & stuff from Kneaders. She was afraid we'd gone to bed and didn't want to bother us if we had. She'd been tapping on the front door for between 5 & 10 minutes, but never rang the bell or used the knocker. Just a little tap-tap-tap...So lightly I just couldn't figure it out! What a sweetheart!

January 31, 2021 - the Medical Saga of Vic's insides

OK, it occurs to me that I'm spending WAY TOO MUCH time in my own head. A good friend just reached out to me, and I nearly dumped all the tiny (& gross) details of the last several weeks on her. Can we say, "too much information"? NOBODY needs to know all that except maybe family and close personal friends. I edited and edited until it wasn't too gross before replying to her msg. Nothing about catheters, blood in the urine, etc. Vic is doing well-ish, considering that every step forward ended up setting him back several steps. Here goes, for posterity, or something: Over a year ago, he was about to have surgery for an enlarge prostate - 5 times bigger than normal, we just found out. Put on hold because of COVID 19. Then a couple of months ago, he developed a UTI (unusual for men), got an Rx for that, then began having blood in the urine, the UTI apparently exacerbated by kidney stones in both kidneys, so surgery for those, which involved inserting a catheter and stents that were supposed to bypass his enlarged prostate and drain the urine, all 3 supposedly being removed after a week, and the catheter was, but the stents ended up going missing and without the catheter, urine apparently began backing up into the kidneys and cause excrutiating pain. Back to the doc, re-inserted the catheter, and over the next few days felt somewhat better. Then we had a consult with the urologist who's supposed to operate on Vic's prostate, and he said, "Hey, I can remove that catheter AND the stents for you today, if you want!" It was too attractive an offer to pass up. BUT, he was unable to find the stents. I can only imagine how painful the SEARCH for them must have been! So, back in went the catheter to his now super sore & painful man-parts. He's scheduled for a CT scan in 5 days to try to locate the stents, and HOPEFULLY, the week after that, the actual prostate surgery, which will be the beginning of a NEW round of soreness recovery and another catheter "for about a week" so they say. All that is dependant on total personal cleanliness and avoiding any infection of the catheter site. Or any infection at all. His poor bod has really been through it. Feb 1, 2021 He's weak, and has nearly no appetite. BAD combination. He tells me each mealtime what sounds OK to eat, then often can't eat all of his portion of what I fix. He's losing weight - even his wedding ring just fell off. He seems to be getting weaker. It's pretty scary to me. The Bishop and John Fowler came and gave him a priesthood blessing this afternoon. But until Friday, we're in a holding pattern. I'm urging him to call Dr Henderson to see about having a "procedure" done sooner rather than later, to find and remove the stents, AND the catheter. I really hate to thinking of waiting nearly 2 weeks for his surgery, and that's IF they can find a surgeon that day for Vic. If not, it's 2 weeks AFTER that. Tomorrow Lilian's Clean Queen team comes in the morning, and we need them SO MUCH! We've been much more focused on Vic than any homemaking. One interesting thing is that I've discovered how much of MY slack Vic normally takes up now that he hasn't been able to do it. I told him this, and he said, "I wondered when you'd notice that!"