Ultra Sound Day

Today we headed off to the GI facility off Garfield for David’s scheduled procedure. Before we headed out, David shaved his arms and hands and upper chest (wonder if I’m supposed to tell). He is so tired of having tape and monitors ripped off, pulling hairs, ouch, and leaving behind sticky residue. (and then the tape/needle didn’t go into any of those spots!)

Since he couldn’t have any food after midnight, I try to be thoughtful and not eat in front of him. I knew there was a small café that closed at 2 so I could get a bit to eat there. That didn’t quite work out. By the time he was checked in and I went out to walk and eat it was 1:30. Oh, food is only served until 1:30. Great so I only got a small prepared snack and went outside to sit in the comfy seats to eat and relax since it’d be closing soon. Who said it was to be 70 degrees. It was cold. I did stay out for awhile because there was a noisy kidlit in the waiting room. If it had been a little warmer, would have been nice. I finally went to the car to close my eyes for a few moments. It was about 90 minutes and got the call that David was ready.

Things we hadn’t heard before. When David was originally diagnosed, it was stage 4 cancer, the tumor in his pancreas was already in arteries. Incurable and inoperable, which is another reason PanCAN (Purple Stride #wagehope) works for funding for early detection. Because usually this late, is it.

Today the doctor felt there was basically no change since his first ERCP. This is unheard of and the doctor could only shake his head and say how pleased he was to see David, it’s been a miraculous nearly 2 ½ years since detection. He really did seem happy to meet both of us again, after such a long time.

He did three things today, looked; biopsy; removed the plastic stent and replaced with a metal stent. My heart dropped upon hearing about the metal stent. My understanding was this was a last stage effort and it could not be removed/replaced and it will eventually clog (clogs less than the plastic and lasts longer). The doctor said today, metal stents can be removed and he told David that they could even insert a smaller stent into the current one. I don’t know if this was to reassure us or just what. The toss up is David can not continue to get the infections that turn sepsis, this is very dangerous and in this case more serious than the cancer.

I asked about the radiation, would it have been better not to do it. Since he is the doctor that inserted the fiduciary (wait, that’s financial, was it fiducial) seeds for the radiation, he said he would have voiced his objects at the time. It is really hard to say. There is no way to know what David’s situation would be if he hadn’t had the radiation. And while these recent problems of the bile duct are due to scar tissue from radiation, who’s to say what positive role the radiation played.

Basically, he has no opinion on David. He is not following any “normal” course of pancreatic cancer. Hard to make recommendations when he has survived beyond the anticipated course, as other cases have gone. It was almost fun to see how perplexed the doctor is.

Right now, David is sleeping. He is on liquid until breakfast. He has asked me 4 times when can he eat. He’s still a little out of it. I made a stop at the store to get some jello and broth. They weren’t clear about him taking his diabetic medication so I’ve made an executive decision, don’t take any, he’s not eating. I’m not going that route again! I’ll make sure he checks his blood sugar a couple times tonight.

My feelings, a little sad and depressed but also forever optimistic. And because David loves baseball, here’s my analogy. While it seems David is into, not the final innings, but extra innings, and I’m not sure how many inning’s this game is going to go. I’m going to enjoy every extra inning play!

Please keep up the prayers, because frankly, that’s the only explanation for this phenomenal existence.

911 works in Yuma too

Hey what would it be without paramedics, fire engines and a crowd in the house with medical equipment. It is true, our tiny park model is much more crowded than the family home in San Diego. Efficient and caring EMT appear across state lines and so do the neighbors. I’m getting really good at using the phone, weather it be for official personal, a neighbor to search for sugar soda or just to have a friend hold my hand through the unveiling ordeal.

Once again, no longer a one-time incident, David’s blood sugar went very low and after the usual fixes, was not going back up to normal or even near normal levels. It was early, only after 11pm when David woke up in a sweat and knew his sugar was low. It was 54 (treat lows at 70). I wasn’t too concerned, except this was very early, usually its around 2 am. I gave him a juice drink and I could tell it wasn’t doing anything so I gave him some sugar water. He was not staying alert and seemed to be a little confused. I didn’t delay this time, I just dialed 911. I have now learned that I need to tell the operator that I’m in the county so she/he will transfer me to Rural Metro. I don’t know my address – only the park name, which isn’t a problem when you talk to Rural Metro. They dispatched right away while she asked me questions.

I’m checking on David and he is out. I was also concerned because his temp was only 92.1. Later no one seemed concerned about that but… Anyway, I am now dressed and got out id and Medicare card and turn on the porch light. Finally, they arrived. His BS (blood sugar) is down (44). They are ordering things for me to give him, no we don’t have any orange juice, no we don’t have any real sodas. We have now gone through all the sugar dosing things we do have on hand. Even the EMTs are looking in fridge and cupboards. One young man even looked in one of my semi packed bags (put together previous emergency) and found some crackers. I called our neighbors (well, they said next time I was to call) to see if they had any juice, nope. They then went racing to the club house to the soda machine, not working! Then to the next park, not working. Finally got their flashlight and raided another neighbors shed for a real soda. Looking back we have all laughed at what a crazy scene this must have been. And I can’t thank them enough. It also helped having them with me.

They asked if David wanted to go to the hospital and no surprise he declined. After all this sugar and some carbs, finally BS is up to 160. But not before it went down to 44 and moved very slowly. We theorize that they kept his sugar so high in the hospital and he worked so hard to get it back under control that the food, exercise, insulin, was out of whack. It is a very tricky formula as any of you diabetics know.

Friday morning, David feels great! Of course he had immediately fallen back asleep. Later, we get a call from the GI doctor who is rather upset that David wants to cancel his procedure (Endoscopy ultrasound) on the 21^st. There had apparently been miscommunication and we had been getting frustrated. We understood the procedure, just wanted to be sure it could be done so soon after the ERCP with stint replacement. Somehow this question was not getting across. The doctor does not want to delay as he is concerned there are potential cancer cells and this will allow an in-dept look, is it back, has it spread, is it somewhere else.

David’s GP doctor called a little later, apparently GI doc called him too, and basically told David to go ahead with the procedure. We are happy that everyone seems to be back in the loop. It probably is best we move forward. That means that just after we told everyone we’d be in Yuma for longer and we’d ordered our mail to be delivered, that the plans have been changed. I can’t even think about the tests and potential results. So this report ends here with a happy birthday wish for David (on the 16^th – he’s baking his own cake); Merry Christmas greetings to all and Happy New Year wishes.

David loves hospital food

David loves hospital food!

Well he must, this is his 3^rd visit since September. Although he has expanded out of the Kaiser system to explore Yuma Regional Medical Center. Tuesday he wasn’t feeling quite as perky as he had. By the evening he was almost nodding off in his chair and the dreaded chills began. Panic mode, took me back to moments on the ship. So I got out my trusty thermometer and yep, he was running a fever. The extreme shaking from the chills didn’t lats but a few minutes, I checked his temp over the next hour, it went higher, then lower, then back up. So I called the 24 hour nurse, got the number speed dialed. Well, I guess all phone numbers these days are in essence speed dialed! After the usual useless 20 questions she said, go to ER and if he feels worse, pull over and call 911. Yikes, so off we went. Cause: fever; vomit; high blood sugar.

Now to continue the long story, finally found a parking spot, I’d dropped David off at the ER entrance. He got in quickly and we began with another version of the useless 20 questions. I called a friend because I wasn’t up for sitting, waiting alone this time. She was great company, especially when they wheeled David off for a CT scan. Being left in that now big empty space gives me the willies and allows for extreme movie making. Bottom line, another hospital stay check in which for some reason takes hours and never gets accomplished until after midnight. I mean, are people leaving their hospital beds in the wee hours so now a room is available for David? I don’t think so. Perplexing.

David’s arms are the latest in pincushions, because of all the blood draws and because there is always one attempt that goes awry and a bruise is left for no reason. Wednesday mostly a waiting game. We did meet Dr Miller who will do the procedure Thursday here in Yuma. He does not want us to drive back to San Diego, concerned about David’s fever going too high or other complicated issues. David has an ERCP scheduled for Dec 21 in san diego but guess we don’t need that now. However, that was to be a sonogram to look for cancer cells and any other issues. Tomorrow Dr Miller is just removing and replacing the stints, no explorations. He says the sonograms are only done by a few doctors. He does about 4,000 stints a year. He explained that each body is different and there are 3 components that work together and cause the clogging. It was funny as two were big strange words and even he couldn’t remember the name of the third. All said in such a way that I was not concerned, only amused. So maybe David’s don’t work well together or work too well and the stints clog quickly. He also explained how he will look at the stricture to determine the length of the stint needed. This was reassuring as I had actually wondered about how the length was determined and I understood I explanation.

This has been another maddening, scary ordeal. David was fine then suddenly he wasn’t (if in doubt look our picture at the Yuma Christmas tree lighting.) Even the ER doctor said David looked pretty good but did not look good on paper. I was going to put some of the alarming numbers in this but decided I was too lazy to properly record them. It was helpful that Kaiser sent over previous stats for comparison.

The story’s not over and may it go on for a long time yet. Trusting that all will go well tomorrow. Not sure what our plans will be however it goes. Again, we both so appreciate our circle of loving and caring family and friends. For sure you have all smoothed out the bumps in the road of life.

Friday, December 7, 2018, yesterdays procedure went well. Waiting now on cultures and real food. He’s only had liquids since he arrived. I on the other hand am having food. Went with the neighbors yesterday to our park welcome back chicken, beans and potato salad. And an ice cream bar!

over and out