Thursday, July 1, 2010

Red Socks

Howdy, dear friends!

Another day down and Frankie is recovering quite nicely. Not as quickly as we'd like, but at least he's making small strides in the right direction. His red blood cell count is remaining stable at 9.6 (which is still low for men, but it definitely is livable!) and I suspect they will put him on iron pills when he comes home to build up his level even more. That is what happened when he had his last surgery. Gastrointestinal surgery is such a pain in the wazoo....it takes so long for the colon to "wake up" after it has been put to sleep and actually physically touched by the surgeons. It "freezes" up and can sometimes take forever to "unfreeze."  My husband's colon was already slow as molasses before the surgery, so now it's even more so.  He was taking 8 stool softeners a day prior to surgery to combat narcotic related constipation!  That should give you an idea how slow his colon works.  If I took that, I'd be sailing the "brown seas" if you know what I mean!!!  All we are doing now is watching TV, talking, taking little walks around the nurse's station and taking little naps.  Today Frankie and I BOTH were nodding off-him in bed, me in his recliner chair. I was trying to read my book but it ended up on the floor more than anything else.  My mother-in-law took shifts today and I was there in the morning until 3pm and then she came and visited until 7pm. I came home early and took a much needed nap. Between going back and forth everyday and the record heat, I'm zapped. It got to 114 degrees today.  Getting into the car was like getting into a hot oven. And then some guy wanted my parking spot, so I'm fumbling around trying to get myself situated (after wrangling with my walker to put it into the trunk!) and get the air on, put my seat belt on (which had some kind of kink in it and wouldn't let me pull it out!) so I just backed out and let the guy take the spot and I pulled over to a side street and fixed the seat belt and got my GPS going. I use that still as I'm very unfamiliar with Phoenix streets still and if I were to get lost, it steers me right back on track. Wonderful inventions!!!

You probably are wondering why I named this post "Red Socks." Well, we've been teasing my husband about his red socks since his surgery. The hospital provided them and he's worn them proudly ever since. Many nurses say he looks like one of Santa's helpers with those socks on! So I snapped a picture so you guys could see his snazzy red socks!  Here it is:

Aren't those "da bomb?"  I told him I'd have to borrow those socks when he gets home as I just love the color red.  So we'll be fighting over those red socks, I can see it now!!!!  As you can see, he still has the nasogastric tube. The surgeon today said that MAYBE tomorrow he can get rid of it, but it still is pulling out a lot of stomach juices. So until his colon starts processing those juices, the tube stays in.  It's so frustrating! You just want to jump up and down on top of his belly and say, "work now!" Nah....my husband wouldn't like that very much!  He still is very sore!!

Here's another photo I took of him after his walk, standing up:
My poor man! He was in so much pain after the walk as he did TWO laps around the station, that he was more than ready for his pain meds.  I promised him I'd only take pics of his FRONT end and not the booty side. That got a smile out of him!!!

And, I've got one last photo I thought you might like. Frankie is on the 4th floor and the view outside his window is pretty. You can see a few palm trees and the North Mountain range in the background.  Also is the parking lot where I circle around like a crazy woman trying to find a handicapped parking spot. Most of them are handicapped in that lot, but at a hospital, there's LOTS of handicapped people!  Here is that picture of the view outside his window:

Isn't that pretty with the mountains in the background? When I very first moved to Arizona, I went a little nuts and took seven rolls of mainly palm trees and mountains. Hey, I was born and raised in Michigan...I didn't see that stuff everyday!!!  My mom loved to tease me about my palm tree pictures.  I did the same with San Diego....I've got every ripple in the ocean waves on film and video, I think.

Thank you so much for all your concern about how I'm feeling during all this. Well, let me tell you, it's been one solid week and I'm really starting to feel run down. The stress of last week, coupled with being Frankie's cheerleader/nurse this week and this damned HEAT have really taken a toll on both me and Frankie's parents. We just can't wait until he comes home. He can't wait until he comes home!!  My fibro is in flare-up mode, which is why we started the "shifts" and I come home earlier and take a much needed nap.  My legs feel like jell-o most of the time and are cramping a lot. I've upped my magnesium in hopes that will help.  I don't think I'll feel good until I have my baby home with me again!!

The fibro support group I started has been going FABULOUSLY great! We are already up to 190 members and I started it just a few days ago. So if you haven't gone to it, please do so. We have lots of discussions going on now and a lot of fantastic people with lots of experience of the daily living with fibro and other chronic pain and/or fatigue diseases.  You can click on the "find us on facebook" badge up near the top of the page by Jesus.  Hope to see you there!!

You all have a great rest of the week and happy July!!
Soft and gentle hugs to all!
Until next post,
Missy

2 comments:

  1. Love the RED SOCKS, what hospital is he in ?
    I was in PHX a couple of weeks ago and will have to be back again so if you will be there maybe we can meet. Caroline

    ReplyDelete
  2. Caroline-please email me at missyschranzrn@gmail.com and I will answer your questions. Due to my husband's privacy, I don't want to mention hospital names on the blog for the public to see. Thank you! Missy

    ReplyDelete

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