But before I could get out the door my phone rang, it was my Nurse Practitioner. She told me my liver labs were terrible. No surprise I told her and explained my symptoms. She said she had already called the hospital to have me admitted for putting a stent in my bile duct – clogged plumbing!
I got to my regular appointment and we went over the details. I was experiencing quite a lot of pain, and my wife and NP finally convinced me that this stoicism had to stop. Pain is not “the weakness coming out”, it’s God’s way of letting us know something is wrong with our bodies. And before I could say much more, I was in my infusion chair, hooked up to a saline pump and getting a solid dose of morphine!
It’s nice to live without pain.
After the appointment we went home to wait for the call from the hospital. We were not sure if the procedure was outpatient or if I would be admitted, so we packed an overnight bag just in case. When the hospital called, we went in and I was ferried into the Gastroenterology unit where a young doctor explained how they would place a tube down my throat and attempt to place a stent in my bile duct (“The way to a man’s liver is through his stomach”). I asked him how many of these procedures he has done and he answered: “I’ve watched a couple YouTube videos!” I like a doctor with a sense of humor, so when I introduced him to Betty the next day, in my best Maine hick accent I said “This is the doctor who got his medical degree from U-Tube”
Unfortunately, the first attempt failed but he was able to put a temporary stent in my pancreas which was probably more the source of pain than the liver. I was ushered to a hospital room in the Oncology unit (Solzhenitsyn’s “Cancer Ward” kept popping into my mind) to recover for a couple days so they could make another attempt, which, unfortunately, was another failure.
This, by the way, was the first time I had been hospitalized overnight in 53 years. Hospitals have changed a bit since then!
The hospital is in the city of Lewiston Maine. It’s quite modern and quite nice. The staff are superb! Since I am quite mobile and capable, I’m pretty much independent in my care. They love it! The CNA’s refer to me as “Mr. Independent”. Nevertheless, they will wait on me hand and foot if I ask, and are always ready to do for me. I’m not a bell ringer and especially don’t like treating anyone (especially professionals) as servants. So, I’ll just ask for a coffee or towels or whatever when they are doing my medical care and ask if there’s anything else they can do for me.
It’s just in my nature now to be complimentary and kind to the folks who are helping me. I chat with the staff, treating everyone from the physicians to the housekeepers with the same gratitude and respect. They appreciate it and I have a reputation for being a good patient. I like making people happy especially happy about their jobs. The server who brought my dinner tray told me how one patient complained loudly about the tray being turned at the wrong angle! I on the other hand send my compliment to the kitchen staff for the superb food and service – and I’m sincere, the food is excellent (except tonight’s turkey and tasteless sludge!) and the service is great! Faith is my regular housekeeper. She does a fine job especially sanitizing the floor from corner to corner. I notice these sorts of things. We talk, and I think she lingers longer than necessary just to chat with this friendly old man who thinks “Faith” is a beautiful biblical name.
So tomorrow morning I will get a more conventional drain put in me that will deposit the bile into a bag which I will monitor and empty regularly. As I understand it they will replace this with a stent in the duct within a few weeks – the point now is the get my liver working optimally again and then put in a more long-term solution. This of course means I’ll be here for a couple more days and I’ll be back again in a few weeks. But coming back will be like a reunion with the fine folks here, and honestly, I don’t mind and I’m almost looking forward to it.
It is part of this year of living – keeping myself alive. It’s a new lifestyle and a very strange one where I routinely get poked with needles, have what I call an “extra vein” installed that will deliver medications right into major veins near my heart, I get blood drawn at least every other week and CAT scans, PET scans X-Rays and who-knows-what scans are just normal occurrences.
At this point I have no idea if any travel or shopping plans are going to work, as I could be in the hospital or just too worn out from chemotherapy to do anything or expected by my physician to suddenly have some diagnostic test or therapy. So Betty and I are learning to be flexible and to really live day-by-day, prepared to take any opportunity to travel or camp or just get some chores done. And oddly enough we have adapted and are content with that. We are not complaining, we are enjoying the gifts God is giving us during this Year of Living.
So here I am sitting now comfortably in my hospital bed. Joy, my night nurse, just finished giving me my medication and I had to remind her to get a band-aid to put over the site of my heparin injection (twice a day blood thinner – my bruises are a big blotchy mess!) because it makes a mess of the linens.
No food or water from midnight on – no big deal. I’ll wake up at about 2:00 when the alarm goes off to let Joy know my IV bag needs to be changed (they should have gallon sized bags!). I’ll discuss the procedure in excruciating detail (I’m reading up on it) with the surgeon in the morning then I’ll get the surgery done as if I was just getting my hair cut. I’ll wake up and discuss the results with the surgeon then return to my room where Jenn (my absolutely superb day nurse) and my wife Betty will greet me and ask “how are you doing”? And as always lately I’ll say “I’m feeling great- God is good!”.
