October 7, 2008

Wow, what a ride. Turns out that the major pain that I was having was a liver abscess the size of an apple. Most liver abscesses begin as a result of having abdominal surgery of any kind. I've had two, so that ups my odds of a germy nasti or two gaining access to my organs. Two different strands of bacterium got in there and starting working me over without my knowing. Anyway, it took me out and put me in the hospital for another 18 days during the first few weeks of September. Loads of pain and slow progress, but I'm on the road to recovery now and happy for it. We rode out Ike while we were there but MD Anderson did quite well after the hurricane passed, thank goodness. Many of our friends & family were not as lucky, with some of them losing electricity for nearly 2.5 weeks. Yikes!
Anyway, I'm back at home and, after going in this last weekend for a CT scan to check on the healing process, we have great news. I'm still feeling a bit low on energy so I will cheat and post the April Update that I sent to all the folks who've been supporting me here, below, instead of writing it all out again.
At this point, I'm not so sure I can do the catch up work that would be involved with writing this blog, so I will focus more on how the first visit to the hospital went, when I had the surgery done for the cancererous Oid in the days to come. I still need to flesh those out and give you the skinny on how all of that went.....It IS, after all, what I started this blog for, right?
Here's the update and there will be more to come when I feel better:

Hi guys!
Hope we haven't been sending too many updates, but lots of folks have been asking what's up, so I'm sending this on to the whole list of folks who initially sent well wishes and prayers. Still so grateful for that!!!
GREAT NEWS:
I had a CAT scan on Friday and we just got the results late yesterday afternoon. Though the docs had said that it would take many months for the apple sized liver abscess to heal, your prayers, good vibes, well wishes, good drugs, boring days of bed rest and Jeff's Loving care have done the nearly impossible. Turns out that I am nearly healed up!!!! The abscess is down to just a few small pockets of infection and I'll be on antibiotics for the next three weeks to clean that part up. Then, (knock wood) we should have "life as usual," which sounds boring but, trust me, is damned exciting after the boredom I've had to deal with! The docs were amazed and truly happy to see this kind of progress in so little time and Jeff and I were, too. We really only expected an improvement of about 20-25% healing, but I only have about 10% of the original abscess to fight now. Turns out that some of the dizziness/sweats/chills and other unpleasant GI symptoms I've experienced are probably due to the pharmacy of medicines that I'm currently taking. (Really, you wouldn't believe the list, but I'll be out of THOSE woods in three weeks, we hope.) I'm still feeling pain and having dizziness and nausea but that should recede fairly soon and I'm in the process of weaning myself off the pain meds now. I'm going to drive MYSELF to Kohl's tonight to do some shopping. YEEE-and frickin'-HAA!! =)
I have to tell you this: Jeff has been amazing during the last 15+ days of my home stay and during the times that I was in the hospital. While we were here in Cedar Park, he's set his alarm so that he can bring me my medicine in the middle of the night. He's brought me breakfast in bed every single day that I've been recuperating here in NW Austin so that I could take the meds that make me nauseated on an empty stomach. (Wow.) We went out and ordered up a Lazy-Boy recliner after about 3 days of being back home and Jeff ran to get it the very next day, even with his bum shoulder. He's done my chores and his own and has put aside his own wants and needs in order to cater to my own. He's been driving me around on car trips when I'm starved for SOME kind of stimulation outside of the house. I really do feel blessed to have such an angel for a husband and I'm doing a one person "wave," standing ovation and 21 gun salute to the man I married. Okay, maybe not 21 guns, but you get the picture.
Also, major thanks to Selia and Kent, who've been letting us crash in their guest cottage during doctor visits and after hospital recuperation. The place is like a very comfortable B&B, we're not intruding on anyone's space and it's closer to the hospitals than our family and friends out in Cypress, so it's just been a Godsend. For those who don't know, Ken and Sue Gaines live next to the guest house and it's always a pleasure to visit with them. We will someday create a musician's commune and join Costco, doing everything in bulk and growing organic veggies in a garden. Selia says we'll need a really, really big front porch with multiple rockers. I think we'll need to make them with custom arms so that we can fit our guitars/other instruments into them with ease. We'll need to work out the details later on, for sure.... =)
Anyway, I hope this finds you well, healthy and happy! I sure do appreciate all the Love, prayers, good vibes, jokes and encouraging words that you guys have sent, you just don't know how much. It's hard to have a negative attitude when you have an army of friends and family bolstering you up and ya'll have been incredible. Damn, I'm misting up just writing this, so I need to stop. I think the words, "Thank You Very Much," will do it for now.
Love to all,
:o) April
PS: FYI, I am TERRIBLY behind on my email responses and need to catch up, so please accept my apologies if I haven't replied to a message you might've sent me. Still can't do as much as I would like to, but will be back to 'normal' soon, I hopes.