Update on Papa and Such........

Today, I took half a day off, to have my father at the hospital by 7:00 am, for an endoscopy procedure. My earlier entries outline the terrible medical problems Papa has had in the last few months. Due to the Hep C complications, they kind of pooh-poohed his complaints of continuing pain in his abdomen, claiming that it was post-operative pain. The doctors said that due to his multiple surgeries, his multiple medical issues and his diabetes, that it’s just taking him longer to heal, etc.

WRONG! Ok, well, mostly wrong. Why is it that the majority of medical doctors have such a hard time listening to those who truly know and understand the workings of their body? After all, we live in it 24/7.

So, Papa’s been telling them about his terrible pain, and they just give him vicodin. He finally convinces them to send him back to the gastro doctor because his digestive system is not working properly.

Today they discover why. His doctor discovers that he has gastroparesis (common in diabetics) which in my layman’s understanding is paralysis of nerves and muscles in the stomach, which prevents the stomach from grinding up the food through the appropriate contractions during the digestive system. In addition to gastritis and duodenitis (inflammation) he has an ulcer in the pylorus area, according to what was documented and given to us.

There’s also a couple of notations in the report that we just can’t decipher. And, they’re pretty disturbing, considering that we can "read" them two ways….either:

0 masses, 0 biopsy or……..

& masses, & biopsy………

Since the doctor didn’t bother to come speak with me, and Papa was sedated so she sure didn’t tell him anything, we are kind of freakin’ here!  We don’t want any more cancer scares!  Papa said, "I am gonna be really pissed if I have stomach cancer, after all the times they went in there with my bile duct problem and didn’t notice it!"

So, after we got home, Papa called her office, but she didn’t return his call today. Hopefully, she’ll respond tomorrow because I don’t want to go all weekend with out knowing if she found "masses" in his belly.

For now, I choose to read the notes as NO MASSES and NO BIOPSY!

Other stuff…………..

It’s just amazing to me that tomorrow’s Friday, already. But, it still seemed like a long week for me, despite the fact it was one work-dayshorter because of the Monday holiday. In my line of work, it just means cramming way more in to the remaining 4 days, because some things just have to be done. I must have experienced quite a bit of tension as a result, because I noticed that I am forcing my tongue against my bottom teeth, to the point that there are ridges along my tongue. I don’t know why I do that. I asked my dentist just exactly how our tongues are supposed to be inside our mouth and he said, relaxed on the roof of the mouth. I have to really think to make mine stay up there! Gawd, I am such a strange duck!

If I remember right, when I was a kid, the Speech Therapist said I was "tongue-thruster" which may have accounted for my l-I-l-iissssssssspppp back then. That, and probably the fact that I sucked my thumb for so long, I ended up with an "open bite" that required braces and surgery to correct.

I guess this week I’ve had plenty to be tight-jawed about….my secretary got promoted into another position. I am very happy for her, but sad for me and my unit, considering she’s been in that job for 11 years. My oldest daughter is skin and bones due to depression and other life-threatening issues. My oldest son is due to go to Iraq pretty soon, arggggghhhh! Ab is getting out of school tomorrow, and my house will be in worse shape with her home!

I need a vacation from my life.