Round 2 done

Round two done and I am home and feeling crappy.  Had a restless night and threw up a couple of times during the night but today I am up.  He banded 3 more and the note said to repeat in 3 or 4 months.  I have to see him again in 6 weeks so I'll hear about that then.

Banding again

Well today is the day. Banding round 2.  I have an appointment at noon at the hospital so should be out in a few hours and home again.  Then I should be good for at least 6 weeks until I have to go back and get his results and whether or not we need to do it again.

I just got back from 3 weeks in the Okanagan and I had a wonderful time.  I stayed with friends that I have known since our oldest boys were babies together.  We have been through all of the kids and grandkids and ups and downs of each others lives ever since.  Actually they are now family really.  My middle son came up and spent a few days too and their kids and grandkids were out and we had a really nice time.

We went camping for a weekend in the motorhome up to Seymour Arm in the Shuswap.  It was a cloudy weekend so not many people about.  We loved it and the dogs had a great time.  They have a little dog like my Lacey so they had each other to spend time with and go for walks with each day we were gone.  They live on 5 wooded acres with trails so the dogs and I walked each day.

When I first got up there Sacha (their dog) was not wanting to leave her pillow and go for walks with us.  So I made her come and packed her part of the way then put her down and she headed straight for home without giving me a backwards glance. So the next day I carried her to the farthest point of our walk and then put her down and again she headed straight for home but this time she at least looked back at me as she disappeared down the trail.  By the end she was ready for the walks.  She'd get up and stretch and then head for the door with Lacey.  I still had to carry her to the farthest point but when I put her down she would stay with us and walk back with us.  Victory!!  Sweet little thing she is.

Banding Follow up

Thursday May 26th UPDATE: I heard from disability and they have approved it. It does not give me enough to live on though so now I pretty much have to wait until they start sending the cheques and then go and see a worker and see where this puts me. One move step done, one day at a time.

E. A.

I went today to see the doctor who did the banding.  He is very nice and said that the varices were large.  Something about the machine holding 7 bands and he did three of the varices with 2 each and then the 4th one he did a single band.  He says I have to have it done again. I asked how often and he said until they are all gone.  I asked if they would ever be all gone and he said yes, we are going to obliterate them! So I have to go for another endoscopy on the 7th of July.

I'm still waiting to hear on the federal disability.  The provincial one turned me down as I don't need a "device" (wheel chair, walker etc) or an aid to help me through the day.  They are the ones that made me apply for the provincial one and I didn't want to because I didn't think I fit the criteria and I guess I don't.

Other than that not too much new.  Just waiting, waiting and more waiting.

Busy month

This is what the weather was doing on the 14th of April!!  But since then we've had a couple of warm sunny days and Spring might actually be thinking of arriving!!  Yay!

It's been a busy month.  I took me a couple of weeks to get used to the antiD's and the drowsiness they caused.  I am feeling on a much more even keel. I saw the doctor a couple of weeks ago and he put me on a low dose of beta blocker until I see the gastro guy again and see what he has to say.

I stayed up as late as I could for the Royal Wedding and then taped 8 hours of it.  It was wonderful and they looked so good together.  I've always loved Will and Harry and remember clearly when they were born.  Both so cute. Both grown into such nice men it seems. Kate is gorgeous!  The hats though....I had never heard of fascinators but that hat that Fergies daughter was wearing was quite the thing!

Then came our Federal Election. Lots of negative ads. Lots of crap flying around. It changed our political landscape though and for the good and far as I am concerned.  The bloc was decimated. The liberals took a really hard hit as well.  Both of those leaders resigned. The bloc was dedicated to separating Quebec from the rest of Canada so yay glad they are gone!!  The NDP were the big winners with all the seats they took and they will now be our official opposition. And finally from BC we elected the first Green Party leader in North America!  Elizabeth May is now an MP!  The Conservative Party will have a majority governmement for the next 4 years.  I was hoping for a minority government to help keep the conservatives in check but ..........we'll see how this goes.

Then bin Laden was killed.  Can't say I"m sorry to see that. If it brought any closure at all to the families of 9/11 then it was a good thing.  I really don't think this will stop terrorism but at least they know they will be tracked down eventually and have to deal with the consequences. 

My little pudgeball of a grandson is getting so big so fast!  He laughs and smiles now and has found his hands.  He works really hard on getting them in focus and then getting them into his mouth.  I think he really wants to suck his fingers lol.  When he gets them close enough he spits out his soother and gets the knuckles in there.  Sweet boy.  He is 97 days old today.



Friday afternoon

Well. I thought I had it all together and headed off for my doctor appointment. I was fine and got called in. I went because one of my diuretics was going to run out over the weekend and I needed to go. So I asked about going back to Vancouver to see the Dr. there and he said really right now there is no point.

My doctor there is all about the drug trials or when you get to the transplant stage. The last discussion was that I should have regular endoscopy's and try and maintain for 5 years till the next wave of drugs come along. I am pretty sure he isn't thinking about the protease inhibitors because I had already tried the Vertex drug in the trial. So he wants me to keep seeing the fellow that did the endoscopy as he is a gastro guy.

At that point I burst into tears. I have nothing at all against this gastro fellow and I have no idea why I burst into tears like that. I just can't seem to control it right now if anything at all goes not the way I expect it to I cry, but of course this was the correct place to do it. After a chit chat and him refilling all my prescriptions he took me to another spot and had me fill out the depression test sheet and of course I am depressed. Really at this point why wouldn't I be lol. Oh lord, anyway I am now on Citalpram and I started taking them today. The pharmacist said it will take a few weeks before they kick in and it will probably cause nausea (lol of course it will!!) but she swears this will go away in a couple of weeks. So hopefully I can get this all under control again. As for the rest of my pills I am to just keep on and hopefully I will maintain.

Friday

I'm off to the doctor for a pill refill and to ask to be sent back to the specialist to see where I am at. It took me most of a week to get back together again from the endoscopy. I always recover from the physical part of these things before the emotional and dealing with the findings. That takes me longer and I have a tendency to hibernate because I get so weepy and it's not something I can control and I hate that. I'm still a bit weepy but much more able to deal today.

On Tuesday I took Lacey out for a quick walk around the neighbourhood and we got attacked by a big german shepard size dog that was chained up to someone's front steps. It started lunging and barking as we were walking along the street on the opposite side of the road. As we got adjacent to it the dog broke the chain and came charging at us. Lacey is only 13 lbs and she pretty much freaked and was looking to get away. I turned my back on the dog and stepped between her and Lacey and scooped Lacey up in my arms and just kept turning away from the big dog. The owner was screaming and trying to get the dog and I just kept turning away and then walked away from them when she grabbed the dog momentarily. I got about 5 steps away and burst into tears and cried the rest of the way home. I can't deal with little things or big things. I was supposed to be going to a friends for dinner and I just couldn't. That was the end of my day and I went back into hibernation. Doc appointment time - be back later.

Endoscopy

I had my endoscopy on Thursday. I had one 14 months ago and I had slight varices so I wasn't sure how much that had changed. I got to the hospital and checked in with General Daycare. They sent me to a waiting room and about 5 minutes later a nurse arrived to collect me and another fellow. We followed her to our respective beds and I was given a gown and told to change and get on the stretcher. A nice lady brought me a warmed blanket and then they took the normal blood pressure etc. and asked a ton of questions regarding prior history. Warm blanket nurse came and started my IV. Then it was my turn. They wheeled me into the room - brand new state of the art - huge computer monitors everywhere and lots of long armed equiment. So they sat me up first and sprayed the gag reflex numbing stuff into my throat. I am such a bad gagger! The nurse is saying swallow that and I'm gagging and trying to spit it out! But we got through that and they make you lay on your left side and then she tried to put in the mouth guard which started the gagging again. They gave me a bit of the anesthetic and then no problems. Once the mouth guard was in I was gone and don't remember anything until they were waking me up back in my curtained cubicle. I think the first thing I asked was did he band any and she said yes four or five. When I was awake enough they started telling me I could get dressed and they would call my ride home. Then I threw up. Not pleasant. They gave me all my instructions on a piece of paper and I held my paper plate to be sick in again if need be and I was going to go to the waiting room downstairs and as I staggered by the nabbed me and made me sit in a chair and wait till Lynnie arrived. Once she got there I started to get up to go and staggered around some more so they sent her off to get a wheel chair to get me to the car. We got home and from the car to the apartment door and as we stuggled to get a key in I threw up again. Made it in and basically waved goodbye, said thank you very much and went and laid down. I was on fluids only for Thursday and soft foods for yesterday. It was very sore all day yesterday and I didn't manage to eat much. Spent most of the day watching tv and resting. Today it is 4:00am and I am wide awake. I'm trying to drink a cup of tea but am feeling queasy. I go back to see him in six weeks. This morning I am realizing how much damage has been done in the last year. From slight varices to having to band them seems quick to me. So along with the varices and the acites I would say we are getting closer to the end of my liver.

Friday

Long week it seems like. I haven´t been feeling all that well this week. I´m not sure why. As usual when I don´t feel well these days I immediately think it is something to do with my liver but really I have no idea. Just lots of nausea. Sort of sick and shaky feeling for most of the week.

But I had a busy 3 or 4 days which always does me in plus when i was at the hospital last week the fellow that saw me was sick with the flu. He kept apologizing. I asked him if he had his flu shot this year and he said no he never got around to it!! Working in a hospital with sick people and he didn´t get his shot............

The weather is warming up somewhat so I´ve taken Miss Lacey out walking a couple of times this week. I can´t wait for full blown spring to hit. My spanish is going ok. It gives me something to work at. It´s at my own speed so that works.

I´m hoping when this is all done that I can afford to finally get moved into my own place. That is what is keeping me moving forwards these days. As much as my son has been very good about sharing his place it was always meant to be temporary while i got my money situation sorted out. I just have to wait till this all gets settled and then I´ll know where I´m at. Most of my stuff is in tubs and stashed either at my mom´s or at a friends house. So many times I have gone to get something only to realize it´s in a tub at mom´s (an hour and a half away). I want my own dishes. I want space whre I can lay out my crafts and leave them for a few days if I feel like it. Just a place for me and the cat and dog. I was thinking about it the other day. In all my life I have only ever lived by myself for a total of about 6 months when I was about 18.

Ahh well. Soon.