GO NAVY!!

Today, The U.S.S. Constitution, named by President George Washington in 1797, the U.S. Navy's oldest commissioned vessel set sail under her own power for the first time since her 200th birthday, in 1997.

This story was posted by jrcobbstr @ AOSHQ -

The U.S.S. Constitution, "Old Ironsides", as a Revolutionary War combat vessel carried 48,600 gallons of fresh water for her crew of 475 officers and men. This was sufficient to last for six months of sustained operations at sea. She carried no evaporators (fresh water distillers).

According to her log -

"On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston with a full complement of 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of fresh water, 7,499 cannon shot, 11,600 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum. Her mission: "To destroy and harass English shipping."

Making Jamaica on 6 October, she took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum. She then headed for the Azores, arriving there on 12 November. There, she took on 550 pounds of beef and 64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine. On 18 December, she set sail for England. In the ensuing days she defeated five British men-of-war ships and captured and scuttled 12 English merchant vessels, salvaging only the rum aboard each.

By 26 January, her powder and shot were exhausted. Nevertheless, though unarmed, she made a night raid up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. Her landing party captured a whiskey distillery and transferred 40,000 gallons of single malt scotch aboard by dawn. Then, Old Ironsides headed home.

The U.S.S. Constitution arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799, 7 months after she left. On landing, she was found to have no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, no wine, no whiskey....

...and 38,600 gallons of stagnant water.

Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh!!!

YARRRRR!!!

And Now For Something Completely Different..

Just when I had convinced myself there was no new music worth a damn coming out, my niece turns me on to Black Veil Brides. They are a band in the vein of KISS and Motley Crue, and make me wanna rock out with my Glock out!!!

Here is their video for "Fallen Angels".

HELLO?? IS THIS THING ON??

OK, I know I haven't updated in a while, but when it's S.S.D.D., it gets kinda boring... I mean do you really wanna read, "Went to St. Louis, got Nuked, stopped @ Jack In The Box, came home. Went to St. Louis, got Nuked, stopped @ Jack In The Box, came home. Went to St. Louis, got Nuked, stopped @ White Castle, came home. Went to St. Louis, got Nuked, stopped @ Captain D's, came home." over and over again??

Yeah, that's what I thought.

I didn't feel like writing it either.

So here's a quickie on what's up - Meet with Infectious Disease Doc on Monday for I.V. antibiotics check. Only a couple more Nuke treatments to go, meet w/ The Wizard of Rads Tuesday A.M.. Meet with Gyno/Oncology and the Diabeetus (as Wilfred Brimley sez..) folks on the 22nd to get the 411 on if further cancer treatments are needed and to see how the new insulin regimen is doing.

Foot healing nicely. Doc Foot thinks it's better to continue the current treatment regimen and let it heal on it's own instead of doing a skin graft and having to have TWO places to treat while healing. She's still wheelchair bound and down for now, but we're gettin' the hang of it*. See him again on 05 SEPT.

So that's pretty much what's been goin' on, so now we start working on getting the rehab that Anna needs and I get to go back to school next Thursday. I hate sticking a sub bus driver with the last week of school, (not really, but it sounds good..) but sticking a sub with the first few days of school is inhumane.

Besides I got a BRAND NEW 2013 BUS this year!! To paraphrase TEAM AMERICA - "New Bus - FUCK YEAH!!!" Only 920 miles on it, and I'll have to learn where all the buttons are on the way to the first stop.

What could possibly go wrong ??? Turns out it's Bus #14 - Anna sez Dad drove Bus #14 back in the day, so I'll take that as a good omen.

Now for something completely different - I found this @ Ace Of Spades, and if you don't find something in this video that you think is beautiful and something that stirs your spirit, you are a soulless bastard that I prolly don't care to know. The girl, the music, the video it's ALL fantastic.

If your computer and sound system will handle it, set the video for Hi-Def 1080p and crank it up to 11...




(I want to thank Billy G. and his family for all they have done for us during this. Bill drives a Big Rig and took some of his limited time @ home w/ his family to come over and build us a wheelchair ramp for the front door, and has made extra on the grill and brought it over to us so we have had dinner waiting when we get home after an especially long, tiring day.

I don't have the words to express how much these things have meant to us other than THANK YOU and we love you guys.

BILLY'S DA' MAN!!!)

When It Rains, It Pours

There's a lot of stuff to cover, and I'm going on memory, so there may be some jumble and omissions -

The week prior to 04 JULY, Anna had a Trans-metatarsal Amputation, and spent about a week in hospital. She was discharged on 03 JULY and because there was no radiation therapy scheduled for The Fourth, we decided to come home.

We weren't even in the door when she lost her balance and out of instinct, stepped down on her freshly amputated left foot. Things immediately went FUBAR from there. An infection set up in her foot and by Thursday evening there was a foul odor coming from her foot. Dr. Foot worked her in between procedures on Friday and had her admitted and took her to the O.R. @ 0200 SAT to open the foot back up and clean out the infection.

Fortunately they only had to remove a small amount of tissue, so given proper care, she'll still have enough foot to walk on. The end of her foot is open, so I have to clean it out an change the dressing and give her Weapons Grade antibiotics via I.V. infusion twice a day in addition to an oral antibiotic 3X/day.

During that week we checked into and out of our hotel daily, so I was lugging luggage around and loading and unloading the wheel chair and generally straining my improperly healed kidney without giving it a chance to heal between exertions, so I wound up blowing a gasket.

BACKSTORY - For those who don't know, 2 years ago I had a Stage 2 Renal Cell Carcinoma, Clear Cell Type removed from my right kidney. In order to get clear margins, i.e. make sure they got all the tumor out, they removed about 1/4 of my kidney. But for some reason it didn't heal properly and every time I'd exert myself, I'd wind up passing blood and/or clots in my urine. But in a couple of days of taking it easy it would clear up.

This time it didn't have time to clear up, and proceeded to get worse to the point that the urine I was passing looked like bloody cottage cheese and I passed out in my S.I.L.'s truck and woke up in the E.R. of Barnes. I was informed that I needed a procedure to go in and close off the bleeders, or things would get worse on down the line.

While every emotional fiber of my being screamed that I needed to be on the 7th floor taking care of Anna, my Inner Vulcan told me this was the most logical time to have the procedure done because there were people to care for Anna while I was down and if I didn't do it and if this happened again at home...

As they say in Ebonics - We both be fucked. (My inner Vulcan is bi-lingual..)

So Logic kicked Emotion's ass and I agree to the procedure.

After a battery of tests I get an incision in my groin and a catheter fed up into my kidney. Shoot some dye in there, see where the bleeders are and close them off, and VOILA`, I'm down to 1.5 kidneys and not bleeding anymore. And I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier than the TV remote or a beer, or I could lose the other half of my kidney.

Damn the luck. I guess I'll have to hire a trash flunky, and a lawn mower flunky and a......

So anyway, We get out last Friday, 13 JULY, good thing I don't have Triskaidekaphobia, spent the weekend at home and have been going back and forth to The Wizard of Rads MON-THUR this week and internal radiation today. Now back home for a weekend of being lazy bums.

So I think that about sums up the last month. Sorry I haven't been more diligent in updating, but I've barely been on The Net at all recently...

When you are up to your ass in alligators, the last thing you remember is that you went in to drain the swamp...

ANNA SEZ HER SHOE BUDGET JUST INCREASED

I guess we'll be hittin' all the Payless Shoes BOGO sales now that she wears two different sizes.

They amputated the zombified part of the left foot this AM. The Doc took just about half of her foot, mid-metatarsal so there would be enough skin to completely close the wound so it will heal better.

So one less thing to worry about. She is already used to getting around on half a foot, so recuperation should be pretty quick.

AND WE'RE OFF...

The Wizard Of Rads called and said that they've worked overtime to get Anna's rocket seat ready and now we're getting ready to take off and nuke the site from orbit @ 1400 today.

It's good to be doing SOMETHING again. This sitting around on our hands stuff was getting old. So 6 weeks and 8000 miles from now, we should be at the finish line for the cancer. I figger the Yota and the Pony* are both gonna get new tires outta this adventure.

Somewhere in the mix is gonna be getting her foot fixed, Dr. This Little Piggy sez we should have a good idea how much is gonna survive in a coupla weeks. We have another appointment on Tuesday to see him.

(*Speaking of The Pony, I wanna say thanks to the folks @ Carmart for all their help in working with me on my payments during this time. I've been able to make my payments, but they've told me more than once to keep my money 'cause I have more important things to do with it right now. I don't wanna sound like a commercial, but if you need a good used ride, get it from them.)

Gotta go, more when we get back.

HERE WE GO AGAIN

We're back to square one. Gotta remake Anna's cradle, the form fitting "rocket seat" that holds her in position for the treatments. Because of this, her first treatment has been pushed back to 02 JULY.

So we're back to sitting on our hands for another week or so...

OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD OF RADS

Just a quickie to blow the dust offa the blog and let y'all know that we're fixin' to head to St. Louis for Anna's first radiation treatment...

OH, and Five Guys Burgers & Fries.

I'll check in later with an update.

Wish us luck.

UPDATE -

No nukey for you. Anna has lost enough weight that the aiming marks on her skin have shifted position and are no longer useable. So now we go back Monday to redo the marks and the form fitted cradle then get the rads.

To keep from being hammered flat by travel, we're headed up this PM and cribbin' out @ a nearby hotel and get an early start tomorrow. Only bad thing about early is Wash U. parking is a pain in the morning.

SLACKIN'

Yesterday Anna and crew went out for a coupla hours and dinner. Today, she's going in to work for a while just to get her feet wet and to get outta the house.

I can't help but think that were we at re-fac, today would be, "This is the way we wipe our butt, wipe our butt.. This is the way we wipe our butt first thing in the morning." day. FYI, you hot-lining butthurt lil' bitch, she's already dressing herself, bathing herself and wiping her own butt. AND she's getting her meds on time and her sugar is under better control now than when she was in hospital.

And speaking of butthurt trouble makers, it had to be someone affiliated with the hospital, because one of her meds was mentioned BY NAME in the report. The med that NOBODY around here carries on a regular basis.

That's pretty much the weekend summary. Of course Anna's bored to tears, but after that last month, I'm ready for some boring. So we just be chillin' at da crib 'til Friday when we go get our nuke on.

Later, taters..

SATURDAY

Billy came by yesterday evening with some most awesome grilled yard bird. Bill, feel free to bring that kind of slop by here anytime.

Right now just sitting here waiting for the bacon and biscuits to finish off in the oven. For anybody that is interested, the best bacon on the planet comes from Fruitland Meat. Hell, pretty much ANY meat from there will blow grocery store meats outta the water. It's all locally raised w/o all the artificial chemical "enhancements" that you find in commercial meat that will artificially chemically enhance your teenage daughter's equipment to appear 10 years older than it actually is.

And the prices are within a few cents of the grocery store. And another piece of advice, cook your bacon on a cookie sheet in the oven. 12-15 minutes @ 425 should be about right to give you nice, flat rashers of that most excellent of meats.

Speaking of which, I think that is why muslims are always pissed off and blowing stuff up... I mean, how happy would you be if your religion said you couldn't have bacon??

Anna has made more progress since she's been home than she made in the last week in the hospital. Being home and having friends and family coming by is the best therapy she could possibly be getting. She is more mobile and more mentally with it than she was before we got home.

I'm smelling bacon, so I gotta go. Will update later today.

HOME

Details later.
==============================

(I started this post on Tuesday, 05 JUNE, but just finished it today, 07 JUNE.)

Today we got all the various departments to give us their best sales pitch for staying in the hospital...

Veinous - Clot in her descending aorta is under control w/ the stent. How much of her foot will survive?

Can't tell yet, we have to wait & see. We still haven't figured out what is causing the clotting problems. We have tested for all the common causes and most all the possibles...

So it is safe to say due to the fact that you haven't drawn any blood work in the last 3-4 days other than clotting time tests, you've done all you can do unless somebody on the team has an "EUREKA!!" moment, it doesn't matter if we wait for that moment here or at home?

No.

As long as I know what to look for regarding changes/problems, and maintain her anti-coagulant meds and if I will report the first sign of something going south, any reason why we can't wait & see @ home??

No.

We're outta here.

Diabetes - It's under control with insulin and diet monitoring?

Yes.

As long as I follow the same regimen at home and report the first sign of things going south, any reason it can't be done at home?

No.

We're outta here.

Rehab - Explain to me what your program consists of..

We work on returning the patient as close as possible to the level of function she had "pre-incident".

How do you do that?

We work on getting her to be able to brush her teeth, comb her hair, bathing, mobility, wiping her ass, "puttering around the kitchen", dressing herself, speech therapy...

We have hair brushes, toof brushes, a bath tub, TP and a kitchen at home. She is already getting up and around with my help and the aid of a walker, both of which we have at home..

Well we have "experts" with years of experience...

Your experts may be able to get her from point A to point B quicker than I can, but we will get there...

We're outta here

(The re-fac lady also said that agitating Anna's emotional state would be counter productive to rehab, and separating us and placing her in a strange place surrounded by strangers, and relegating me to "visitor" status would do EXACTLY that.)

Then there was all the CYA legalese the hospital had to go thru before we signed the papers and GTFO Dodge. We stopped by the Med supply store to pick up test strips for the new glucose monitor, made a beeline to 5 Guys Burgers And Fries for what is quite possibly the best damn bacon cheeseburger I have ever stuffed down my neck, and hauled ass for Jackson and home.

We found our house full of Anna's friends and spent the next few hours just enjoying NORMAL. She made more "rehab" progress in those few hours than she had made in the last few days.

It is so good to be HOME.

ANOTHER DAY IN THE WAREHOUSE

Basically that's what's going on, we're being stored here 'til we can get into re-fac. There's a place up here that will take her, but only as a hospital transfer. And only for 2 weeks. And only after all the Medicaid and SSDI applications and accompanying paper work are submitted to to the Feral Gubmint leviathan for approval. One piece of good news, cancer cases get fast tracked, so it should only take months instead of years to process. Whoo hoo....

Found out that S.E.MO. hospital re-fac would take us, but their multi-gazillion dollar, state of the art, shiny bauble along side of I-55 cancer treatment center is much like a Whopper - Looks real pretty in the ads, but when you want it, it ain't all that. It's all for the best, she'll get better care here than anywhere within 500 miles. I must be slipping and letting my emotions and not my logic guide my thinking to even consider going anywhere but here.

If I can help her hold it together 'til we get to re-fac and outta here, it'll be better. Because she's only been able to grasp what's going on for the last 4-5 days, during which very little "treatment-wise" has gone on, she doesn't know why we have to be cooped up in this room. She doesn't realize everything that went on in the previous 2 weeks that got her back to where she is now, or just how deep in the kimchee she actually was.

They discontinued the I.V. today, but she still has the central line just in case the S.H.T.F.

That's it for today. Tomorrow I spend in the phone rounding up paperwork and sorting out bills.

Later...

WEEKEND AT BARNES - PT II: FIRST DATE

Not much to report today, Coupla docs stopped by this AM to check in. Anna asked one since nothing is happening until we get a re-fac placement, why couldn't she spend the time at home. The doc asked me if I could care for her there, and I said yes. I take the fact that he didn't say, "I don't think so Tim" as a good sign that it might be possible.

I don't see why not, she's only being warehoused here now. No more treatment is being done until radiation starts on the 15th. The only reason she still has an I.V. is to keep the central line open, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper to sit on our bums at home.

First Date = First time we have gotten outta the room without poking, prodding and testing waiting at the end of the trip. We boosted a wheelchair, ditched the I.V. for a little while and went cruisin'. Stopped by the cafeteria for a bite and took a ride all the way over to Wash U. and back.

Being Sunday, we pretty much had the whole joint to our selves. Compared to a weekday this place is deserted, we only saw 8-10 people the whole trip. It did us both good to get out of the room and have some time alone to do what we wanted.

That's about it for today, hopefully tomorrow we can get the ball rolling on some home time and finding a re-fac.

Later, taters.

WEEKEND AT BARNES - PT. I

Nothing much to report.

Doc came in this AM and said pretty much the only reason we're still here is the fact that they haven't found a rehab facility (hereinafter known as re-fac) to take us. The doc cited one of the problems as lack of insurance, but the social worker said the other day S.E. hospital re-fac was interested in taking us, so I may have to reconsider going back to Cape. Depending on Anna's determination and progress, in-patient rehab may only take 3-4 weeks, then out patient 2-3 times a week. Radiation treatments are 5 days a week for 6 weeks...

But can I trust S.E. cancer center....??? Anybody out there know anything about them or know anybody that has some info??

Anna is chompin' at the bit to get outta here, can't say I blame her. Being in Cape would allow for more friends to visit more often, and that's good for her morale.

Well, that's it for today, tune in tomorrow for another exciting episode of Weekend At Barnes...

TODAY BEFORE IT'S TOMORROW...

View of St. Louis Science Center looking toward "Dago Hill"

Today - Got to sleep in 'til almost 0730 before the docs started coming in. Nothing new to report on the diagnostic front, but they finally have the information they need to know what they're dealing with. The work from S.E. Hospital finally all arrived, the PET scan yesterday and a Radiation Therapy specific CT scan and MRI were done today. Now to get it all reviewed.

Optimally, a hysterectomy and surgical removal of the surrounding tissues possibly backed up with minimal radiation would solve the problem. But due to the heparin treatment for the clotting issue, that's right out. So the preliminary plan is for med-high level doses of radiation from internal and external sources, 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Tentative start date being 15 JUNE.

This plan also eliminates the idea of getting rehab in Cape. While there is a "cancer treatment center" affiliated with S.E. Hosp., same as the rehab center, I don't trust them to nuke a TV Dinner, much less a potentially life threatening cancer in my wife. They may be quite capable, but I ain't taking that chance.

Anyway, after hiking across the complex and back and a mini-eternity spent in Radiation, we get back to the room and I get the first chow I've had in 18 hours and the chance to sit, relax and digest the info I received from Doc Nukem. For some reason that escapes me, Anna's I.V. pump needed tending to. So I silence the alarm and call the nurse's station to report the alarm. After hitting the "silence" button 8-10 times, Not-Our-Nurse comes in to resolve the problem.

Somewhere in the process, Nurse Allthumbs yanks on the line hard enough to get Anna's Ativan addled ass to moan in pain, but fortunately the new line stays in place. And speaking of yanking on things, another Registered Nuisance that helped move Anna from the transport gurney to her bed tries to remove excess bedding from under her by yanking the hell out of it. Both of them were cordially invited to GTFO and I did it myself.

How is it that a former medic who hasn't dealt with a patient in over 20 years can get it right, but "Professionals" who look down their noses at me and allegedly do this every day get it so wrong?? I swear the next walking clusterf@&k that pulls one of these bonehead moves is gonna find out exactly just how impact resistant these 17th floor windows are....

Well, it's almost tomorrow again, so I'll wrap this up. It's the weekend, so I don't expect too much to be going on, but if you hear a news report about someone taking a swan dive off the top of Barnes, you'll know something happened.

G'nite.

YESTERDAY'S POST = O.B.E. (OVERTAKEN BY EVENTS)

Yesterday started off pretty uneventfully. Usual parade of docs, followed by trip to have a sonogram of her arms. This is S.O.P. in clotting cases like Anna's. They found an old clot in her upper right arm that the body has already built a bypass around, so no worries about having the same problems as with her foot.

Then it's off to PET scan. I understand they got good imagery so now we wait for somebody to interpret them and go from there.

Then it's back to the room to hang out until the therapy folks stop by to do their thing. We got Anna up on her feet for a minute or two and the goal was to sit in the chair for about an hour. It turned out to be over three.

The patient care tech nurse's aide came in to take her vital signs and I mentioned to her it was time to get Anna back in bed and could she get the nurse. She said she could help and we started getting set to move her.

Instead of going around the chair , N.A. Two Left Feet starts to step over the I.V. lines, and promptly demonstrates why you DO NOT STEP OVER I.V. LINES. Before I can say, "WTF ARE YOU DOING?!?!", she stumbles and stomps on Anna's lines.

In addition to the exquisite pain caused by jerking the hell outta something that is stitched to the side of the neck, the catheter* running into the Superior Vena Cava gets pulled almost all the way out. There is only about an inch left in her neck, just enough to keep the blood from pouring out.

(*The central line is actually 2 catheters, one inside the other. The outer one is stitched to the neck and the inner one is threaded thru it to the superior vena cava.)

So I hit the call button and tell 'em I need the nurse now, N.A. Nitwit sez, "let me take a look..", I tell her she's done enough damage, she's not to be near my wife again and to get the hell out. The nurse comes in and assesses the damage and sez she'll have to call the doc to find out what to do, and he'll probably want to...

"This is what's gonna happen. The doc is gonna hem and haw and have you jump thru hoops while he tries to assess the situation over the phone, wasting time and he will eventually come to the decision I already have - The catheter has been pulled too far out to try and re-thread, so she has to go back down and have a new one put in. Then more time will be pissed away while the team gets their shit together to do the procedure, then even more time is wasted while transportation gets their thumb outta their ass and gets someone up here to take her down, and all the while the therapeutic level of heparin in her system gets burned away and we are losing ground."

"Well, I'll check with the doc..."

"I just over ruled every doctor in this place. So you get back to the desk, get on the horn and let all concerned parties know the game plan and to get ready to get it done and hope I don't decide to make everyone's life difficult by raising hell about this incident, and PRAY there are no complications."

About 2 hours later we're back in the room with a new, sturdier central line in place and more apologies than I can shake a stick at.

===========================

That was yesterday.

AND ON THE HUMPDAY, DOC SAID, "LET'S GIT JIGGY WIT IT 2 - ELECTRIC BOOGALOO!"

After shuffling the schedule, we went from first up to getting started about 3.5 hours later than we were told. She finally went back @ about 1230. The procedure went well and the clot is covered. It took a little longer than usual to wrap up because of the heparin, they had to hold pressure on the incision site longer to stop the bleeding. She was already awake when I got to go to the recovery room and was ready to go back to the room quicker than expected. Now I get to fight with her to keep her leg flat 'til midnight to prevent possible clotting or bleeding.

Of course the usual caveats apply, but the risk is low and outweighed by other concerns. Now, just keep your fingers crossed that her foot and toes recover from the circulation problems.

Still on NPO thru tomorrow AM, scheduled for a PET Scan to get the lay of the land before starting treatment for the Endometrial Cancer.

Dr. Dago*, the doc who was here when Anna was admitted, just came in and pulled her PICC line. I knew it ran from her mid-upper arm all the way to her right atrium, but when you actually see how long that thing running thru her vein is, DAAAAMN!!

(*Before you get your PC-thong in a knot, know three things -

1: I ain't PC, and anybody that thinks I'm racist or afraid of words don't know me very well. If you let professional race-baiters and grievance-mongers use words and beliefs as cudgels to bludgeon you into submission, you're doing it wrong.

2: When I saw her last name on her ID, it was the first pseudonym to pop in my head, and in case you haven't noticed, the names have been changed to protect the privacy of the staff.

And C: The area that I can see from the window where you'll find some if the best food in St. Louis ain't called "Dago Hill" cause it's populated with Swedes...)

Let's hope tomorrow goes smoother than today... G'nite.

ON HUMP DAY, DOC SAID, "LET'S GIT JIGGY WIT IT."

Just got the word - Anna is first up to bat this AM. GYNO stopped by a little while ago and I asked about when Anna gets Atomic. She said it usually takes Radiation a coupla weeks to get their stuff in one sock and start treatment.

Looks like the thunder storm I've been wanting to see from up here is rolling in just in time for me to go to the windowless bowels of the building. C'est la vie.

BACK AT IT

Docs started rolling in shortly after 0600, mostly just checking in. They took her down to check her picc line and replace a stitch that had came out.

Diabetes Doc stopped by to see how well and how much she's eating. It's harder to control when she is NPO one day not the next. She's back on regular diet 'til midnight then back to NPO because the plan is to place the stent tomorrow.

Occupational Therapy came by and we got her to sit on the edge of the bed for a while and to stand for a minute or so. I got a list of exercises for her to do to rebuild arm strength, and I'm to get her to sit up on edge of bed while she eats,so we'll see how that goes at lunch.

That's about it for now, more Docs are making their rounds, so I'll do updates as I find out more.

UPDATE - Just paid a coupla hundred bucks for an arrogant, "Shut up, I'm God" doc to come in for 90 seconds, look at her ass and tell me nothing I didn't already know. And the jerk didn't even look at her bum, Dr. Trainee Barbie* did. They were looking for indications of bed sores. I tried telling Dr. Hot Shit that a skin care nurse was in earlier this AM looking for that very thing, but I guess when you're omnipotent you don't need information or to consult the chart for that day. Probably a liberal to boot.

As His Royal Big Shotness left, Dr. Trainee Barbie started babbling about what was going on, I quickly ran down the list she was trying to give me, so she turned and left. I think some of these docs see a guy that looks and sounds like some hillbilly and figure I ain't too bright. But I'd put money down that my IQ can whup their IQ. I remember the same reaction when I came up here for college - "Damn, hillbilly, talk faster. Screw you city boy, listen slower."

(*I think Dr. Trainee Barbie and I got off on the wrong foot. The first time she showed up, sometime during the exam she decided that the pad under Anna needed to come out. So she grabs the bottom of it and starts jerking the hell out of it trying to pull it from underneath Anna. I asked her, "What are you trying to do?" "I'm getting this pad out." There's an easier way to do it. "Well, this is how we do it in the ER."

Does her momma know she's playing doctor??

So as I stepped between her and Anna and took over the operation I explained, "I don't know what ER you worked in, but in all the rest of 'em you would be getting chewed out for aggravating any possible spinal injury. Even when spinal injury has been ruled out, it's easier on the patient to do it this way" which I then demonstrated. Roll patient to one side, roll up the old, roll up half of the new and put it under, then roll other way and remove old and roll out new.

And even trainee docs don't like being told they're wrong, ESPECIALLY by some country fried sumbitch.)

UPDATE - Another diabetes doc stopped by, nothing new there. Physical therapy stopped by, wanted her to do the same tricks as occ. therapy. What's the point of having two different departments, doing the same thing and sending me two different bills?? Nevermind, answered my own question.

Anesthesiologist stopped by to get briefed on Anna's surgical history and tolerance of anesthesia. Said something about the possibility of being moved to a surgical floor after the stent placement, but then said we're on a surgical floor that also happens to be an oncology floor. Seeing how she's getting surgery and needs cancer treatment, why not just leave her here? Besides, the surgical floor probably has a stunning view of the back side of the a/c plant....

Social worker came by to take an application for this, that and the other kind of aid for which we'll get turned down yet again. Someone explain to me how somebody who can truly use help gets shot down every time, but some filthy crack whore ghetto brood sow with a litter of future delinquents can get thousands of dollars a month in aid?? I'm thinking the standard reply of "too much money" is code for "too white".

What, me bitter and cynical??

PROLOGUE

This blog is for Anna's friends and family to have a place to go for the latest news and updates.  I was doing updates via text message, but I could only get info out to 10 contacts at a time, and typing on a phone keyboard sucks.  This way I can get out to everyone at once and use a real keyboard to do it.  It also frees up my phone.

I will be sending the url to everyone on the contact list and posting it to her Facebook page, so everyone can catch up and stay updated and have one place to leave thoughts and questions.

So check back often.  There will be daily updates, and "breaking news" updates as things progress.

Oh, the title and header pic were inspired by the fact Anna will be getting radiation treatments.  The picture is of "Atomic Annie", the worlds first atomic cannon, firing a 15kt, 288mm atomic warhead in the "Grable" test series at the Nevada Proving Grounds.

IN THE BEGINNING...

On 12 May I took Anna to the ER @ S.E. MO. Hospital because she seemed confused and disoriented. I thought it was from blood loss due to extremely heavy menstrual flow. At the E.R. she was examined, blood work was drawn and she was admitted to the Gyn floor.

No sooner than her butt hit the bed the lab results came back and showed that she was in diabetic keto-acidosis, so they rushed her to ICU. Due to the fact I got about 8-10 hours of sleep over 6 days, the next week runs into a blur, so events may not be chronicled in exact chronological order.

Because her body was working itself to exhaustion trying to breathe fast enough to burn off the acid, the decision was made to sedate and intubate her and put her on a ventilator and let the machine do the work. During the next 6 days CT scans, X-Rays and MRIs were done of her head, chest and abdomen. These showed shadowing in her lungs, a tumor in her uterus and that she has had a stroke.

Dr. Everybodies Feelings, the Gyno guesstimated late Stage II/early Stage III endometrial cancer, did a D&C, said she took biopsy samples and said the pathology report would be back in a few days. In the mean time she would consult w/ an Oncologist friend of hers and we should start looking for somewhere to get treatment. I said to send her to Barnes.

The folks @ Barnes Radiation examined her on 25 MAY, but could not take biopsy samples due to the location of the tumor. So WTF did Dr. Feelings @ S.E. sample?? A friggin' ham sammich??

(*UPDATE - OK, got the biopsy straightened out. I didn't think about Radiation NOT having the equipment to access the inside of the uterus like they can in a D&C, so that's why they couldn't get their own samples. Told you I'm sleep deprived.*)

While she was 'tubed, they biopsied her lung tissue to determine what was causing the shadows on the chest imagery. Before the results came back showing nothing more than pneumonia and a form of yeast infection, some 3rd world doctor veterinarian, Dr. M'Bufu, after consulting w/ Dr. Feelings, took it upon himself to scare about 7-10 years off my life by informing me it was their opinion that the cancer had spread to her lungs. This drops the patient's survival rate to 16.5% over 5 years.

The Most Excellent Nurse figured out I was dealing with more than just exhaustion, so I told her what M'Bufu said. She was like "WTF?!?" and pulled up the last 3 days x-rays to show me that the shadowing was clearing up. Cancer don't just clear up. That gave me back a few of the years M'Bufu scared off of me, and now I'm planning on spending them figuring out how to water board a goat beauty pageant judge reject with molten lead...

After a few days and some Weapons Grade Antibiotics, the pneumonia cleared up, and the acidosis and her diabetes was brought under control.

The stroke was brought on by a blockage in one of the blood vessels in her brain. The damage progressed so slowly that no one noticed anything amiss, and she was able to adapt to it as it happened. Most of the damage is in the part of her brain that processes what her right eye sees, some in the memory and cognitive centers as well. There appears to be very little if any impairment in her muscle control and no paralysis, so she should make an excellent physical recovery with the exception of loss of vision in the right eye. But we can't make a full assessment until she has had some time to recover.

They removed the tube mid-day Sunday, 20 MAY and transferred her to Barnes Monday night.

AT BARNES

Night view from the room looking down South Kingshighway.

We got to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO. @ appx. 0230 22 MAY, and get to the room on the 17th floor. For those of you that don't know, I was a Paramedic for about 10 years back in the 80's, so somewhere during the admission process the nurses realize I'm giving them a patient report, not just answering questions. They say, "You're not the average husband we get up here." And it turns out to be a big help to both me and the nurses. She was set to be admitted to a semi-private room, which means no over night visitors, which means no rest for The Ol' Man because he's crawling the walls.

The nurse asks if there is something they can do for me, "A place to stay?" sez I. Nurse sez just a minute and walks out. Comes back in a few minutes and offers me a proposal. If I'd be willing to blow the dust off of my past experience and help in her care and be a familiar face and voice in the most confusing time of her life, they'll move her to a private room so I can stay 24/7, and because I'll be earning my keep, they'll waive the $60/day guest fee on the room. After considering their offer for about a Yoctosecond, I accept.

And that's how we got the view we have.

We get settled in the new room and have about 1.5 hours to catch our breath before representatives from almost every department in the joint start showing up. For the rest of the day it is an almost non-stop stream of Doctors, nurses, techs and therapists, oh my. The next few days are a plethora of lab tests, imagery, and consults about what's up and what to do about it.

At this point, here is how things stand -

Diabetes - Under control for the most part. Now that she is eating, it's gonna take some re-adjustment in the treatment because now there is more variation in blood sugar levels than there was when she was just on fluid alone.

Stroke - It has done all the damage it's going to do, now we have to figure out the extent of the damage and start rehab to get her back on her feet and get her brain re-wired to work around the damage as much as possible. The neurologist was in earlier and he said that Anna's is looking at an excellent chance of physical recovery w/ only minimal deficit if any at all. Only expected problems will be in vision, memory and cognitive abilities.

Speaking of rehab, the speech therapy girl was in the other day. They stop by every so often and try to get her to do tricks, to which Anna doesn't respond well. But I have seen her get on the phone with friends and carry on a conversation. Anyway, she's here doing her thing and Anna's not playing along very well. I told the girl, "Wait a minute.." and got Marsha on the phone, and the conversation takes off. The Therapist is standing there not believing what she's seeing and taking notes like a mad woman. I recorded a 3-way phone session w/ Marsha and LaDonna to show the head therapist next time she shows up.

Circulatory Problems - There is a clot located in her descending aorta that is about half the size of the vessel. Tiny clots that have broken of this clot are the main suspect in the problems in her left leg and foot. The foot and leg are being treated with heparin, and we are shooting for WED, 30 MAY to put a stent in her aorta to control the main clot.

Endometrial Cancer - Because of the heparin, surgery is a NO GO unless in a dire emergency, so the game plan is a combination of implanted and external source radiation to treat it. You know you're in deep kimchee when cancer is the least of your worries, but because of it's suspected stage and slow rate of progress, Big C got kicked to the bottom of the list.

Due to Memorial Day, this weekend has been pretty slow, and that's good for 2 reasons - time to rest up for what is gonna be a busy week, and if the situation weren't stable, things wouldn't be slow.

So, now y'all are caught up. There will be daily summaries and "breaking news" as things happen. Feel free to leave get well wishes, thoughts and questions in the comment sections of the posts, and I will relay them to Anna, and I'll try to answer all the questions I can.

We are starting down a long and hopefully not too bumpy road, so all the good vibes she can get are welcome.