Thursday, June 12, 2014

The waiting game....

Hello again, I last blogged September 18th 2013. Since then a lot has happened! I got sick on Halloween night and thought it was food poisoning, but it wasn't. I was weak and stayed home getting "well". A week later I spiked a high fever, went to the Doctor and they sent me for an MRI and found I have infectious diverticulitis, and slapped me in the hospital in Everett for a week. They ended up putting a drain in the abcess in the lower left abdomen. They sent me home with the drain intact and I went back a week later for removal. They said to watch it closely and when it gets better they will decide what to do. Long story short, I am HIGH risk for any surgery. #1 my weight, #2 I have COPD and it would be hard coming out of anesthesia, #3 I have a history of infections and they are afraid I might not heal. Sooooo I stayed hame for a month with strict orders to stay away from any virus that could trigger another attack. I went to work for about a week or two but stayed away from folks for fear of getting any bug going around. I truly believe I caught the Norovirus that triggered an old abcess to flare up. ANYWAY, I got sick again in December and went to get an MRI, CT scan, etc on New Years Eve. They sent me to Everett again for consult with a surgeon on Jan 4th. I saw three different Doctors. I have three major things going on. #1 My Gall Bladder needs to be removed. #2 I need a bowel resection. They will take out the bad part and reconnect it and see if I heal from that. #3 The abcess intruded into my Uterus and down the fallopian tube, and I need a hysterectomy. They sent me to the University of Washington and the specialist I saw there was a "Doogie Howser" and upset me. He said they need to do three different surgeries, and the first will be the bowel resection and he doesn't think that will heal. WHAT??.....Hey, I know the risks, but I do not want a surgeon touching me with the attitude I will not heal! I want him to tell me this COULD happen but he will do his darndest to make it NOT happen! I left there knowing I will not return to him. I told my doctor and he agreed. So I stayed home on sick leave until March 3rd until I retired. They wanted to see if the abcess will heal on it's own. It is now June 12th and I went to the doctor Tuesday with pain and they are now sending me to Virginia Mason for a consult with doctors that know what they are doing. The waiting game continues. I do not have a fever, so they want to get this all done BEFORE I get worse. I need to get on with my life! I have things to do!! I am working part time now at the Elections Office during elections, counting ballots. Very easy, no stress and fun! I also am getting a "Celebrate Recovery Meeting" organized at my Church for every Saturday night. That started at the Saddleback Church in 1992 and has gone world wide and very successful. It keeps me busy and a purpose in my life. I also am going to volunteer at the Department of Emergency Services teaching CERT classe and disaster preparedness to the communities. I do not have time for sickness!! So any prayer Warriors out there please pray for God's will and for God to be with the surgeons hands during the surgeries. I have a lot of work to do and I am giving the rest of my life to the Lord to do His work!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Phyllis. I aM ONE OF THE LURKERS, BUT I did fo;;ow your blog for quite a while. I was sad when you stopped blogging---I am glad to hear from you again, but so sad to learn of all your health problems. I think that Vi4rginia Mason hospital is top notch and I hope they can help you.
Verna templeton
verna@canby.com

Dick said...

Wow, you really are retiring in a memorable fashion! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do, although it does take a little while to realize that you are not just on vacation and have to go back to work.

Health issues seem to come with age and you certainly are getting more than a fair dose of them, all at once. VM is a good hospital and I think they will do well for you. Isn't there a new VM Clinic beside the I-5 freeway in Smokey Point? You'd need the hospital for the actual procedures but maybe can go to the clinic for followup care rather than having to go all the way to Seattle.

Anyway, it is good to see a new post from you, even though I am a month & a half late in reading it!

Anji said...

I'm sorry to read of all of your problems. How's it going?

You sound like you will not miss working at all with all that you have planned.

Years ago I worked in a bank in the UK and am about to draw my small retirement pension from them! In reality I'll probably be working for another 10 years at least for my own business.

Dick said...

Hi Phyllis: It is now Christmas Eve and we've not heard how you are doing. I hope all the health issues have been resolved and are now behind you. Please email or post an update here.

Dick in Mt Vernon