Papa's Got a Brand New Bag

[Deserve]

I finished my last log on December 24th. It was a rousing success using Waterbury's Big Boy Basics I weighed in at a whopping 171 lbs. For anyone who know me that is a huge amount of weight. My strength was gaining equally well. I thought I would take a little time off for the holidays and continue the bulk, cutting back in Feb.

Well a funny thing happened on the way to the gym. Actually, it was at baseball camp. In Houston it is never that cold. As a result, the suburb where we live puts on a winter baseball ball camp for the kids coached by the local high school coaches during the Christmas break. I signed up my son and being a parent with some vacation thought I would watch and see what I could learn. What I learned is that I can catch the flu sitting on cold bleachers for 5 hours. Being the giving Dad that I am my entire family caught some type of upper respiratory bug. We all slept the 27th away and on the 28th instead of going the second day of camp or to our regular doctor my family of 4, children 3 and 7 piled into the SUV and headed to the immediate care facility for the convenience of not having to see 2 different doctors in different places.

It was at this place that I was diagnosed with FLU strains A and B. I was given some Tamiflu and the rest of the family was told to let it pass. For the record I was the only one not to get a flu shot. Never again will I be without my flu shot. Approximately, 24 hours of being on the flu meds my stomach started cramping in a way I have never felt. Ladies I have no idea what menstrual cramps feel like but if it’s half of the pain I felt I bow to you. Of course I immediately stopped the Tamiflu since cramping is one of the unlikely side effects.

My family is now all better but I am unable to leave my bed. The cramping has somewhat subsided I have a nicely swollen belly and now I am facing a battle against the fluids. What comes in must go out. Except with me it must come out violently through one orifice or another. I can’t keep anything in me. At one point I resort to wrapping a towel around my waist just to be safe. Folks at this point I’m in bad shape.

It’s time for another trip to the doctor. Out of a sense of loyalty we go back to the same doctor we went to before. He feels that I have just got some stomach bug and if an IV doesn’t work to get me up on fluids that I will probably need some antibiotics to knock out something bacterial and that a few more days I’ll be good. I threw up the entire way home from the IV. I manage to rest through the night although I could only lie in one position. If I moved from that I was in pain. The next day I am not any better. It is at this point that my wife has had enough of the “wait and see” approach and begins to call around to determine emergency room wait times. Sometimes in life you recognize small blessing. This was one of them.

With my bucket in hand and father in the backseat we headed off the emergency room. Yes I was sick enough to need my daddy and I’m not ashamed. A strong family is invaluable it is one of my lessons learned. My mother stayed with my children. It is New Years Days

I’ll post part 2 after I get some rest. Believe it or not there is a part where I need your help and advice. Anything I say here is not to indict anyone who had a part in this. I honestly believe that everyone tried to the best of their abilities to help me. I was also really sick and this is from my memory. Some of it may be a little off.

[RedLefty]

Holy crap.

[L'ilJ]

Wow Gabe...I'm anxiously awaiting part 2. I hope you are feeling better.

[cappuccino]

Wow, I'm glad you're here to tell us the story. I of course am looking forward to hearing the rest of the story.

best wishes for speedy and full recovery

[SpacecityPaula]

Holy Crap... I hope you feel better soon and that you bounce back even quicker.

I didn't realize y'all were in Houston. I thought you were in Dallas for some strange reason.

[Lost Dog]

[kingkop182]

and I thought I had it bad. Get well soon, mate.

[Deserve]

Part 2

The ER is a sad place to be. No one goes to the ER looking good. It’s a wonder the nurses and other personnel are any kind of cheery with all the sadness around. Well me and my bucket get there and take our place in line. At this point we get fancy about the bucket and have taken to line it with trash bags since it makes clean out much easier. True to their word this particular hospital has the shortest waiting list. I’m there for about an hour before the triage nurse takes me in back and gets the litany of ailments from my wife.

I don’t remember it as a particularly pleasant experience. All I kept thinking is, as bad as I feel what do I tell this man to covey that. I honestly didn’t think I did a good job. I didn’t think he would help me. My wife later told me that I did a fine job. The nurse marked me urgent and within 20 minutes I was on a stretcher being prepared for a whole battery of tests.

I saw a nurse practitioner. He looked the part of a rugged ER doc. He had a military flat top, cargo pants and was very matter of fact. It was exactly what I needed. He zeroed in on the problem real quick. Given the distended belly and a couple of other things he thought I had a perforated diverticulitis. In laymens terms my colon had sprung a leak and was spewing bad stuff into my body. My body didn’t like bad stuff being spewed into it and even though it put up a valiant effort to clean me up my kidneys had had enough and were starting to shut down. All in all, this was definitely not the flu and I wasn’t going home. Finally after 6 days of being ill I felt like I was going to get better. I didn’t know that I was going to feel a whole lot worse before that happened.

The rest of the night before surgery is a blur. The only thing that really sticks out is the staff wanted to get an NG tube in me before surgery to start getting some of the bad stuff out. Whoever thought that a ¼” tube could be run through a mans nose down the back of his throat and into his belly while he is awake is a sadist. I cried for my daddy and meant it. That’s how bad it hurt. I prayed, and even recited the Who’s on first, Abbott and Costello routine. Only the sound of my sinus cracking is what stays in my mind. I knew I was sick when someone was willing to try that on me. Eventually the nurse gave up and decided to wait until I was under anesthesia. All she managed to do was to bloody my nose. I give her an E effort but her stopping that tube was my first answered prayer.

In part 3 I’ll take you through surgery. I need to go rest. All least now you know what happened to me. The rest is anticlimactic just interesting antidotes about recovery.

[L'ilJ]

Oh Gabe, I had a bad feeling once I saw the "bag" in your log title. I suppose you're lucky you went to the ER when you did! I'm eagerly anticipating Part 3.

[LisaS]

Originally Posted by L'ilJ

Oh Gabe, I had a bad feeling once I saw the "bag" in your log title.

me too.

[Cynic]

Man Gabe, I'm wincing in my seat just reading this. I didn't realize the situation was this bad for you. Sounds like you got one of those really great doctors, the rare kind that know their practice, truly.

[RedWifey]

Dude, my heart is breaking! I am so glad you are ok.

[Deserve]

OK. I'm back. It was a good weekend. I slept a lot and read a lot. I did manage to even take a walk and sit outside. I've been reading a lot.

I need to focus on eating. I have lost even more weight and I don't like it. I got on the scale this morning and I weight 147 lbs. So much for those new pants. My appetite is coming back so hopefully things will level off.

OK here is part three.

When we last left I was being wheeled into surgery. I briefly spoke to the anesthesiologist and the surgeon. For the life of me I can't remember what they said. I was on so much morphine that everything really is a blur. The next thing I know I'm resting "comfortably" in my room. I did manage to walk that first day which I understand is a good thing. I attribute a lot of my fast recovery to my being in good shape as do many of the nurses. We all laugh about our reasons for being fit but trust there are times besides the beach that it comes in handy.

I understand now from my wife that I lost a lot of blood and that made me anemic but otherwise the surgery went fine.

For the next 3 days I ate nothing but the ice chips that would fit under my tongue or the amount of water that would fit in a sponge the size of a tooth brush. Trust me that is one hell of a diet. Eventually, I got coherent enough to understand and it appears that suffered from a perforated diverticulitis. As a result the surgeon removed about 6 inches of my intestines. The infection was so bad in my insides that he felt it best to let those 2 end heal a lot more before putting me back together so as a result some of my internal plumbing has been rerouted. It took me awhile to get used to it but given the alternative I'll take it with a smile.

5 days after surgery they let me go home. 2 days later I had my 35 birthday. I think that brings us up to speed. Let me know if I missed anything.

The biggest thing is that I need to get healthy again. I need to not only heal my insides but I need to keep my strength and weight for my next surgery. I'm going to keep this log going so that all of you can keep me going. I can't lift weights but I can walk and do other things that keep me from becoming a couch potato. I just need a little accountability.

Any questions. I don't mind.

[Aoife]

Ok, I'll stop whining about my root canals now.
Dude, that totally sucks. (Because you obviously needed me to inform you of that. ) I'm pretty sure a grown up boy like you shouldn't weigh less than a chick, so here's to getting better and regaining a bit of that weight.
Take care.



Oh, and potato isn't really spelled p-o-t-a-t-o-e. Not even the couch kind. Just to let you know.

[Deserve]

I'll spell check everything and it will be like this conversation never happened.

[RedWifey]

On a good weekend, could we come visit??

[Deserve]

Sure...if you don't mind driving out 290. We'd love to have the company.