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May 24, 2008
Watch and wait
James had his appointment this afternoon, and the prognosis is to watch and wait for the next month. Apparently these things sometimes work themselves out. So we'll see.
In the meantime, he's on a lowfat diet, and will continue to work at regaining strength. He's so weak and so thin right now. I just can't imagine how this would have hit him if he hadn't been in as good shape as he was.
Luckily, I don't have to.
Posted by nikl at 12:19 AM | Comments (0)
May 21, 2008
Inundated with fabulousness
Two things:
First, a really bad Obama "ad" set to "And I'm Telling You, I'm Not Going" inspired me to want to watch the original. BRILLIANCE. They just don't make them like this anymore
Second, Aliah just posted this article from AdAge, which is killing me. Yes, America, there is a black middle class.
Posted by nikl at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)
May 20, 2008
James 411
Just when you thought it was over...
Dad's been home for over a week now. He's still feeling weak, but he's been trying to exercise more and more each day (he started at 5 minutes on the treadmill. This from a man who used to run 5-7 miles/day). He said he feels like his right shoulder has just atrophied. He's been eating, but nothing too fancy. Now he feels as though the pancreatitis has made way for the symptoms of the gall bladder disease to come through.
He had his first appointment with the surgeon for the gall bladder removal on Monday. They did a scan in the morning to make sure all was clear for the gall bladder removal. All was not clear.
I guess that what happens in pancreatitis is that the pancreas basically attacks itself and disentigrates. So as it's "healing" it's sloughing off the damaged tissue. Some of this caused a cyst on his pancreas. So, Friday he sees a pancreatic specialist at Barnes to find out what this means. The hope is that the specialist thinks he can go in laproscopically and remove the cyst and get the gall bladder. The worst case scenario is that they'll have to to old-school surgery, which has a much much longer recovery time. On an already weakened body.
SO, until Friday. That's the scoop.
In the meantime, because his pancreas has been so damaged, he's now on daily insulin.
He's not really too thrilled about any of the above, and isn't enjoying talking about it/fielding questions. So if you are one of the folks who read this and will actually see him, every other subject in the world is preferred.
Posted by nikl at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2008
Chapter 1 complete
As of 10 minutes ago, Dad is home!
He'll rest up and have the gall bladder surgery in a couple weeks - outpatient style.
He is now, very excitedly, taking a shower in his own shower for the first time in 3 weeks!
In the meantime, I'm watching Medea's Family Reunion for the first time. The wedding, at what I'm assuming is the end? Madness. Paris in springtime?
Posted by nikl at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2008
Solid Food - whoo hoo!
James did so well with the liquid diet the past two days that they gave him real food for dinner tonight - fingers crossed!!!
Posted by nikl at 07:40 PM | Comments (1)
Killing me
This just killed me. AND it got me to stop my FF-ing and rewind to watch the whole commercial. AND I got what product it was for. AND I now want to try their new flavor.
Wow. A successful broadcast TV commercial.
Posted by nikl at 07:37 PM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2008
I knew I loved The Knot
Let the choir sing. The Knot has launched a baby website. Consolidated trendy registry. Hallelujah. The Nest Baby.
In the meantime, the nausea is BACK. Sadness, dites moi. It's not nearly as bad as it was before, but it's been back the past few days. And I am even more tired than I was in the beginning.
But I am more and more excited every day to meet the PERSON growing INSIDE ME.
Posted by nikl at 09:48 PM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2008
Always with the extremes, those Hudsons
Over the past few days, my dad has continued his gradual but steady progress. He's still on the TPN and he's still only able to process clear liquids, but within that realm we've seen progress.
His primary care doc came in this morning and finally shared with him that 13% of acute pancreatitis end in death. That was to help illustrate that while his progress is painfully slow, it's still progress. His surgeon came in and told him that this is the worst case of pancreatitis he's ever seen. So lots of perspective for James today.
His mood is good, and he's enjoying many visitors and their conversation that keeps his mind off of his swollen belly. But he mostly wants to go home.
They think maybe he will go home late next week where he'll finish recovery before having his gall bladder removed.
That's the scoop!
Posted by nikl at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)