Tuesday, January 26, 2010

OUCH !

It's three weeks today since Mr. Downeastdoingstuff's surgery. He's doing pretty well. There's just a concern with him being able to breathe. Now, I'm no nurse (well documented), but even without medical training,  I know that one should be able to breathe. I think it's a right or something. His issue is that he never knows, when he gets up from a sitting position, how far he will get without doubling over to catch his breath. Sometimes he's fine. Sometimes he's not. He would never know when the issue would arise.

It became quite annoying, to say the least, and rather inconvenient. 

Another glitch that came up was he developed a condition called Thrush. In his mouth. It may have been from all the plumbing that was in his mouth after the surgery. I assumed they would disinfect those things, but maybe not. The economy is bad everywhere.

So, for those of you that don't know, Thrush is when everything in your mouth and throat is bright red (sometimes white) and feels like someone ran coarse sandpaper all over the inside of your mouth for about 20 minutes with an orbital sander. It makes it rather difficult to eat, even the magic medicine (at least for me) Ice Cream.

So, Mr. DEDS was losing weight everyday. Some of that weight loss was welcome, although he was rather svelte before, in my eyes, but I wouldn't think, health-wise, that this was the right time for a diet. 

So another new medicine was administered and that problem is improving. I am just drinking my wine to make sure I am in good shape to dish out the ice cream when he's ready.

So, back to the breathing stuff. It appears he has fluid in one of his lungs. It is not his heart.

We had our first appointment with the surgeon yesterday and he diagnosed this current ailment.  He said his heart sounded terrific, his low blood pressure is the way it's supposed to be right now and the weight loss is good. But the fluid has to go.

How?

Tomorrow the doctor is going to take an enormous, gigantic, gargantuan needle and poke it in between a couple of ribs and suck the offending liquid out. No prob.

Of course, this was the same doctor that thought the heart surgery itself was no prob.

We all have our things, I guess.

And thank God for that.

                                                        Really big needle.

12 comments:

Mrs. Hall said...

yeah, modern fancy medicine may have lots of gadgets and medicine to cure what ails you but sometimes modern health care is down right primitive.

case in point, water in lungs-use a spigot!!

good luck!!!

Anonymous said...

OUCH! is right... Hugs and prayers

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

That is one really big needle - I'll never drive past it again in Seattle without thinking of you both.

Hope he recovers from the big needle and gets to have some ice cream soon.

Unknown said...

I do hope all goes well!

BumbleVee said...

While he is sitting around recuperating....he could do a bit of "dry" brushing several times a day with a toothbrush. That should help clear up the Thrush and keep it gone. Some meds are well known for causing it ... and of course, a lack of oral hygiene for a few days or weeks..(which kinda goes out the window for a bit when we feel like crap). Probably some of the meds that he is on are making it worse. They generally tell you to at least rinse well right after taking some of them...but, maybe nobody mentioned it or made sure you two were aware of it....

Lili said...

You must keep him in stitches all the time...I just love your sense of humor! But hopefully you don't make him laugh when it hurts. Or maybe you do, because you're "that" kind of nurse!

Teri and her Stylish Adventure Cats said...

I read to the bottom of your post and then saw the "Really Big Needle" and laughed out loud...something it probably hurts Mr DEDS to do still! So glad the problem of the fluid can be resolved and he can get on with getting better, right?!

annie'smom said...

Well, Elenka, just keep drinking the wine, as sometimes you have to do whatever it takes. You're doing a fine job as a pseudo-nurse - better than most, in my opinion! Perhaps Mr. Downeastdoingstuff shouldn't read your comments about the size of the needle until AFTER the fluid is drained!! Good luck today!!

Marchin O'Neachtain said...

Interesting how a needle is still a needle to sugeons, architects, and passer by's. There is a needle in the square in Dublin Ireland. As you may know Dublin is situated near the Liffey River and snakes it's way through Eastern Ireland. It is just one tall granite thing sticking straight up into the air without a purpose, just some sort of skyward symbol. After it was erected the locals could not understand why it was there nor what it meant so they just gave it a nickname......The Stiffy by the Liffey!....sorry but it is true.

Julie said...

I guess he knows how lucky he is to have someone around with your attitude and approach!!

cam said...

Yes, El, just keep on drinking the vino!!
It's so much better that way, isn't it?

love ya!!
Florida Checks in

brattcat said...

I'm catching up with the blogs from old to new so I'm relieved this Big Needle has already done its work. Now I can't wait to get to tomorrow to know all has gone well. I think you should send that doc some ice cream, too, for doing such a good job with Mr. Downeastdoingstuff. And you know, about that thrush, he is Birdman...