Good News, but Still Much Uncertainty

Wednesday I went to a scheduled meeting with one of my surgeons, but I arrived with severe localized cramps and the chills.  Gratefully, she admitted me to Salem Hospital, and I was so cramped up that I had to be wheeled into my room.

After the good news

Her concerns were that I might have C-diff, a nasty and highly contagious infection.  After a night of IV antibiotics, pain meds, and fluids (plus a lot of frequent interruptions), I felt better on Thursday .  Then I got the good news this afternoon that I do NOT have C-diff! Even when even when I am unlucky, I am lucky.

Before as a precaution 

No more hazmat suits which made everyone look 10 pounds heavier.

A very attractive model

So, what’s up?  Friday we’ll get new blood results, and hopefully the white cell count will have lowered.  I go in for two CAT scans—one with IV iodine, and another oral dye.  They will be looking for a leak where the small and large intestines were sewn together, an abscess, or both.  Or maybe they won’t find anything but highly traumatized  and inflamed tissue.  Hopefully it's an abscess.

The abscess can likely be drained with invasive radiology inserting a drain tube.  The leak be fixed by either a few days of no foods or liquids orally (so that it heals without food passing through) or worst case by surgery again.  The docs seem to think at this point that it is probably an abscess.  With luck I might be out of here by Sunday or Monday.  Until then, my goal is to try to strike up a conversation with everyone I encounter and try to make them laugh or smile.  They have tough thankless jobs.

My trusted steed for walk

At least this time, my stay is easier because I can get out of bed without assistance, wander around, and take a shower.  The oxycodone seems to hype me up.  Yesterday, I participated in two one-hour webinars on Thursday, responded to a lot of emails, spent way too much on social media, and wrote this.  But concentration and reading are hard.  My chief complaint now is the clear diet and boredom.  Time to start mindlessly binge watching on Netflix and Amazon Prime with some good pain meds.

Thanks for all your well wishes and concerns! They said it's okay to have visitors, but call or email first, in case I'm having tests or am under the influence.