Thursday, May 11, 2006

DAY 4 OF THIS HOSPITAL STAY
AND I DID IT AGAIN! :-(

I just spent about an hour or more writing you my morning message only to loose it! :-(
I hate when I do that! Micah reminded me to WRITE IT IN THE JOURNAL NOT AOL!
Well, let's see if I can remember what I wrote now. :-(

Oh, yes... How's Micah?
I got back here this morning (after sleeping in that comfortable bed I might add!) to find Micah not much better. He told me it as a good thing I didn't stay because I wouldn't have gotten any sleep. Micah had another 102 temp after I left last night and the nurses packed him in ice and were in all night long checking on him. I reminded him I wouldn't have gotten any sleep in that chair if I had stayed anyway. The nurses coming in all the time would have helped pass the time and given me some company while Micah slept. I am glad I got to sleep in a bed again.

Well, the update for this morning is that the doctors are now leaning toward a couple of abscesses on the liver or bile duct. They have scheduled another biopsy to happen any time now and another test tomorrow so he's not suppose to eat or drink after midnight. Poor Micah... he is so sick of being poked, stuck with needles, examined, awakened... He is tired of all this! So, we won't be going home today or tomorrow now... :-( I am not even going to try and guess now!

I can see why Micah is feeling like he doesn't want to give any more reports... Some things never change and the things that look good can change by the the next blog report!
Well, Lord willing, hopefully this biopsy will come back with some more good news again... I want to hear that the liver is doing fine still.

They have come to take Micah now. He is sure discouraged. He wants to get everything back to normal so bad. He really wants to get back to work! He was looking forward to stopping in there today and looking at some equipment that had arrived and help Denny with it. Denny and everyone there have been so nice to him and so patient and he wants to get back there so badly... almost as much as I want to go home or maybe I should say more than I want to get home... NO... IT'S A TIE! We just want to get going.

I can't remember what else I had written on that message I lost. I guess I have learned my lesson now and I will follow Micah's directions more closely. Alright, Jim (my brother)... I can hear you saying, "ya, right... Becky listen!? she never listens to me either!! (Jim... my head is bobbing! :-) But in my defense... I just wanted to keep typing and stay busy while Micah was out of the room having this biopsy.

One of Micah's doctors was just in. He was just coming to check on Micah, but since Micah wasn't here he would come back. He did answer a few questions for me that I had about this mornings liver numbers. He said the numbers are still looking good. They have just got to find this infection. He feels like it is still because Micah has no immune system and is picking up things. That seems contrary to other doctors who say with all the antibiotics he gets he is protected... but maybe that is only from some bugs. We have been careful though, so they think it is something infected inside, like an abscess. We will still have to wait and see.

I will keep you posted... when I know something.
Later...
I am praying for you too!
Becky

Good News/Bad News

Well, I have good news and bad news...

The good news is that Micah's water broke this morning and he lost 2 liters from his bulging belly that is not longer bulging! Does that mean he had a miscarriage? Good thing we didn't go out and buy him a whole new wardrobe when he was weighing in at 250 pounds. And it's a good thing we didn't go shopping last week either when his pants were too tight around the middle... Because today he's closer to fitting into his old pants again!

The bad news is he is back in the hospital with a 102 temperature. On the positive note... his liver is doing very good! YEA!!! Bad news is that he doesn't have the energy to type on his Blogspot. His fever is zapping his strength right now, but he still has a sense of humor. I am glad he is back to his old congenial self. He was far from congenial this morning at 1:00 a.m. when I woke him up to take some pills he hadn't taken yet. At that point we found he had a temperature of 100.9. Despite Micah's "ON STRIKE" attitude... the "on call" nurse said the doctor wants him to come on in. Micah was not happy about that decision and showed the other side of his sweet self. He tells me it was because of the "early" hour and that he was having trouble waking up. If you want to believe him, then you have made a good choice. Micah is not a morning person... Never has been and I would think I was safe to say, never will be! You just have to overlook that angry side of him for a little while in the mornings and keep reminding yourself: "He'll snap out of it soon after he wakes up and remember you love him."

I have to admit I wasn't that thrilled with having to take him back into the hospital AGAIN!? All I could think about was that chair I would be trying to sleep in for the next 6 hours again in the Emergency Room. Oh Joy! I was trying not to think about the bed I as giving up for my son. "I love my son!! I could do this again!!" I must be getting weak though, I ended up giving up that chair for a couple hours of sleep in the bed back at the apartment about 4:00 am! I hadn't done that on the other 2 visits to the ER! I'm getting weak! :-( On the drive back to the apartment all I could think about was some of the challenges the contestants on "Survivor" have to endure and how some of those weak players give up very quickly when tempted with an item like food... and others will continue to to take the discomfort of the challenge to win immunity. I gave up the pain of the chair for the comfort of sleep in a bed! I'm getting weak! Does two out of three make a difference?

This stay in the hospital will also be different because I won't be able to stay in Micah's room with him! This is a very small room this time and the only way I can stay is if I continue to sit on this chair all night. Unfortunately this chair is a lot like the one in ER and my bottom is still suffering from last night. No thank you... I am abandoning my son again for a bed! What a loving mother I am!! :-(

I have been told by many that I need to take care of myself, so maybe this will count as a luxury item that I am doing for myself! For all of you who support my choice... Thank you!! I am leaving now!

Good Night!
Becky (Mom... not friend)

Today was a really good day

We (my mom and I) made it to church tonight. It was once again wonderful to worship with fellow believers. And tonight we didn’t even get there fashionably late and leave extra early. We were there for the entire service and afterward I was able to talk to several people. There was a bunch more that I still wanted to talk to and say hi to but was not able to. My energy level isn’t up to where I want it just yet. But it is an improvement over where I have been. Thank you Lord for the strength to make it through another day, and that you are continuing to heal my body.

Well I did it...

I got my walk in. Today we went to REI they are having a big sale this week. I had fun looking at all the really fun toys that are way out of my price range, and things that I don’t really need. We didn’t leave completely empty handed. My mom helped me pick a hat that was wide enough keep the sun off my ears/neck and face. It is going to be a real pain living in Utah and having to be extra careful to stay out of the sun. Some of the drugs I am on make my skin extra sensitive.We went to the Salt Lake County Library today and got to walk around outside for a bit. There is a new Utah Donors memorial there. We looked for my dad’s name but weren’t able to find it. When he passed away he was a Utah organ donor. My mom had never been to the Library here so when we walked in her jaw dropped by how big they made it and the design of the building 5 stories tall. So I didn’t make it on a hike that I wanted to go on, and get pictures but I did get to spend some time outside so I am not complaining at all. One of these days I will be back up to speed and able to do more of the things I want to do. So in the mean time I can burn of the extra energy on my bike on the trainer.

Once again called back...

Yesterday morning (Friday) I got blood work done again, my normal mon, wed, fri, visits to the lab. And once again my magnesium levels are very low so I got a call from the transplant coordinator saying I need to come back in for another infusion. So I got to spend another afternoon waiting for liquid magnesium to drip into my arm. I was getting ready to go into work for a few hours, but the hospital has a way of trumping/changing my plans. In many was I am getting back to normal I can now lay on either side when I sleep. Which is nice to give my back a break from the pressure. Almost all of the extra water weight is now gone. I am now down to 195 lbs. I just have an extra belly bulge that I would like to have go down. I guess that means I need to do more exercise. I have lost a lot of muscle not doing anything for the last two months. It really is surprising how quickly if you don’t use it you loose it. I now really understand why some recovering patients have such a hard time getting going after a surgery. There is a certain level of mind over body that is needed to push one going again. Cause the body says its hard I don’t want to but it is very very necessary to be doing something.Today I am wanting to push myself to try to get a walk in outside. I don’t know if that will really happen or not but I am going to try. I’ll have to post an update later to see if I was successful or not.

Micah's Photography

I have finally gotten some of my favorite scenery pictures posted on the web and are now ready to be shared with the world. I have added a link on the right to my photography. The pictures are snapshots of God’s Glory... I was there enjoying what I saw, but the picture can’t really do justice to what the real thing looked liked. God is so awesome in his creative nature! Enjoy.

Another Uneventful day

I have had so much drama and things going on in my life over the last several weeks it has been easy to post things to the blog that are new and different. Now as life continues to slow down a bit and my recovery and healing goes on less new drama surrounds my life. I don’t mind at all. I like the simple boring life for a while. It just makes posting things to the blog site hard, cause I have already said it all before. My energy goes up and down. My extra water weight has almost all come off and it feels so good to be able to move normal again. So now I am trying to push myself to do more things on my own and not take the lazy approach mom can you get me this... Now I am trying to get things on my own more. One day at a time, we’ll see what God does next :-)

Another Day spent at the hospital

I got a call from the transplant coordinator this morning saying that my magnesium level on yesterdays labs when unnoticed yesterday being really low and they wanted me to come into the infusion lab today to get another IV treatment. Oh lucky me another IV hole :-) In a way I wish I could have an almost permenent PICC line in so I don’t have to keep getting poked that was the nice thing about my second stay in the hospital. But in reality I don’t want it because of all the extra health problems with it, and that each time they pull the IV line it is the hope that I won’t need another one for a while because I am getting better. If God wanted us to be hooked up to machines he would have made us with plugs.

So now I get to spend another day hanging out with nurses at the hospital, the view is different this time. I don’t have my own private room again, so much for passing the time watching movies with my mom :-( but I do have my computer so I won’t be bored. My mom had some errands that she wanted to get done today so I told her to go to them while I wait for the magnesium to flow into me.

Big feet...

Oh it is a great to be able to be able to do more. I have been still making frequent trips to the bathroom and watching my water weight mass almost drop off me. I am now down to just over 200 lbs. My knees look like what I am use too and they don’t look like they belong to an elephant. My feet and ankles are still large but I can get them into shoes. I have even been able to squeeze into my bike shoes :-) Yeah!!! It is funny because I get the shoes part way on wait a bit for the water to move out of my foot, then push a little more and it is on. And the surprising part is they are pretty comfortable when they are on. The really fun part is when I take off the shoes and socks watching my foot fill back up with fluid. The skin is so stretched and squeezed for a bit they are weird and prunney. So if the water keeps coming off like it has my feet might be back to normal in a few days. :-)

Bye-Bye water

Oh it is nice to be loosing weight! I can almost watch the pounds come off. Many, many, many trips to the bathroom, but in about a weeks time I have gone from 245 lbs to 207 lbs. I feel like I can move around much easier now. I have been even able to do some things that I haven't done in a while. Yesterday I even got behind the wheel of my car and drove a bit. :-) What a feeing. I also was able to squeeze my extra large fluid filled feet in to my bike shoes and clipped into my bike pedals when I rode for a bit. It felt so good to be pumping my legs again. Of coarse I can't ride to long but it is so much better then laying in a hospital bed.

Overall I am starting to feel better then I have been so I am hopeful that this is the start of the turn around and we will continue to improve everyday.

Thank you Lord!