October 1, 2015
It's hard to believe that the summer has come to an end, we have had a warmer than normal September.
The leaves are starting to turn and there is a chill in the air. It was down to 4c last night.
We have enjoyed our time at the lake this year, some of us to much.
Hubby felt that after 13 years of not smoking it was ok to smoke cigars daily and even some cigarettes, what was he thinking, he has beaten cancer and that hasn't been a wake up call to live a better life. I finally confronted him as summer drew to an end, I guess he thought I didn't know, but unfortunately he wreaked every time he came back from fishing, and while he ran to the bathroom to wash it off his hands and brush his teeth, he still breathed like an old ash tray, it was disgusting. And beside so many people told me what he was doing, yes its not my issue, but it does affect me.
It was time for a conversation, I reminded him that he had just cheated death, not once but 3 times in March, I asked him if he felt he needed help to stop smoking, he said no, its ok, I don't need to see anyone, I've got it under control.
A week later he came down with a bad case of shingles, another sign that his body has been under some stress since he was sick.
I hope this is his final wake up call, I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy, but some times people need a scare to bring them back to reality.
I myself have continued to walk this summer when it wasn't to warm, I haven't had the time to paint this summer like I have wanted to, hopefully I will get more time when we get back to Australia.
I have discovered bread making, I am loving my 4 dollar bread machine, yesterday I made 2 loaves of gluten free buck wheat bread and froze them so that I can have some bread when we move out of here, we will have 3 weeks floating around until we fly out. My weight has remained down and my goal is to lose some more once we get back to Australia, I have missed walking on the beach.
Looking forward to our next journey.
Today's Quote:
August 03, 2015
The summer is going fast and I have been taking time to walk every day, even walking one of my neighbors, she is in her 80's and usually just sits inside everyday. So I started taking her for small walks each day and she has lost 10 lbs and has given up drinking 5 cans of pop a day. What a difference it is making. Her Doctor is even impressed.
Charlie continues to get better, he even tried Kayaking yesterday and was out for a few hours.
His abdomen is still tender and the swelling is still going down from all the surgeries. He saw his new family Doctor and he remarked that he still looked very thin, he is eating well and out daily fishing, he needs to start a daily routine of exercise and do some juicing.
Myself, I am doing fine, the same old aches and pains and I will see my new family Doctor this Thursday. Other than my arthritis I have no other complaints.
We have a new addition to our family, his name is Oliver Finnegan Pryde, he is so adorable and weighed 9lbs 12 ounces. My daughter Stacey is a natural Mom. She has waited for this moment for 7 years. We are enjoying time with him.
The lake seems to be quieter this year, not as many families. We have some new friends and some old ones that have moved into the park. It helps to pass the time playing cards and visiting, afternoons on the boat with a picnic.
Oliver
Today's Quote: “The chief beauty about time
is that you cannot waste it in advance.
The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you,
as perfect, as unspoiled,
as if you had never wasted or misapplied
a single moment in all your life.
You can turn over a new leaf every hour
if you choose.”
―
Arnold Bennett
June 11, 2015
Well again it has been weeks since I wrote. Charlie had a barium test last month and after a stuff up by the x-ray place had to have it redone at the hospital. The a visit to his surgeon to get the news that nothing was leaking and he was booked in 10 days for his reversal surgery.
I am happy to report that this surgery has been successful, all is healing well. He still has a lot of swelling of his abdomen and that will take a few more months to settle down.
So we have packed up the house, packed our bags and are ready to head back to Canada for the summer, I feel it will be a great relaxing place for him to finish recuperating.
We are looking forward to our new grandson arriving soon there and will spend as much time as we can with him. Looking forward to seeing my son and his very busy family and enjoying a few ball games, fishing and time with friends and family.
I have finished my time here at Anytime Fitness and am happy with my results, I have lost 6 kilos and 6 inches, not bad for the stressful time I have had over the last few months.
I will endeavour to post more regularly when we get settled in and I get back to exercising.
Today's Quote:
May 2, 2015
Well I haven't written in a while, I haven't had much time since Hubby came home. I brought him home from hospital on March 27, 2015, he felt terrible and did not want to leave the hospital, a nurse told him to rest for a couple more hours and then leave, I was a bit shocked, it was about emtying the bed before the weekend.
I brought him home and we had friends coming to see him for the weekend, which was a help to me, they did the meals while I did nursing duties, changing ileostomy bags that just kept leaking, his out put was to high in which no one told us what was to much so he lost 2 more kilos, 13k all told. I was checking his blood pressure ever 2 hours as this was a good judge that he was dehydrating on me if it was below 100/60.
We have had a rough road with the bags trying out everything under the sun, after 4 weeks at home I thing we have one that works. We have also discovered its best to change it first thing in the morning after his shower and before he eats. So I have been doing this, hadn't change these since I was a PSW in my 20s.
It's been a learning curve for both of us, the greatest challenge now is to get more weight back on him so he can have the ileostomy reversed. He is now at 66 kilos and I can't seem to get him above that, his surgeon wanted him to be at 70 for his next surgery, but that is near impossible, the man is eating every 2 hours, donuts seem to help with thickening so we try to keep these on hand, the problem is that the ileostomy is at the end of the stomach and beginning of the bowel, so what ever he eats comes out faster than normal so by thickening it up our hope is that he is getting some nourishment, he has plenty of protein through out the day and truthfully if I ate what he is I would look like a sumo wrestler. He is slowing regaining strength and walking twice a day. Going for a test on Monday with the hope that there are no more leaks and he can have his reversal surgery sooner rather than later.
I have to say that we met some really great nurses during our time in hospital and we met some real assholes, those I will deal with eventually when he no longer has to go back into hospital. The good ones were so supportive knowing that I had no family there to talk to or get a reassuring hug from so they stepped in, they will be rewarded when he goes back in and in heaven for being so kind to their patients and family.
Here is a definition of an ileostomy.
An ileostomy is an opening in your belly wall that is made during surgery. An ileostomy is used to move waste out of the body when the colon or rectum is not working properly. The word "ileostomy" comes from the words "ileum" and "stoma." Your ileum is the lowest part of your small intestine.
I guess I should tell you how I have done through all this, has it been hard, you bet it has, the 5 days in ICU felt like a life time and so hard to see someone you love giving up, just wanting it to be all over, to watch this man waste away to nothing. But I had to keep up the brave face each and every day, not letting him see me cry as it would have only made it harder for him. Often the nurses would give me a hug and tell me to get a drink or take a walk just to clear my head. It's times like this that family support is everything, I need to thank my sister Linda French for the numerous calls and skype visits to check on us both. The online messages from family and friends and the calls and cards have helped so much, even family that was on vacation would email daily checking in. The family that visited when they could and made the long drives from Sydney and the Central Coast and Charlie's brother who has been a pillar of strength for us and Kerry who was there for me when I needed her.
Today's Quote:
March 25, 2015
Well when I last wrote I had re admitted my husband to hospital with an Ileus, he was there for another 6 days, poor man was vomiting up fecal matter for about 60 hours, his bowel had kinked and decided not to work. He was sent home on the 11th of March and went to the Dr on the 12 for his biopsy report, which came back with good news, he didn't have to have treatment and there was only a 3% chance it could come back. Wonderful news. We were both so happy we cried, but the next 2 weeks would try our patients.
Charlie did not feel well as soon as he was released and I even mentioned to the Dr that his stomach was still very distended, he didn't bother to check him.
At 11 pm on the 13 of March he began complaining about severe pain in his abdomen, I thought maybe it was gas, so I gave him a tums, the pain continued to get worse through out the night. His daughter was coming in the morning and he didn't want to miss the visit with his grandson, so we waited till they left, at 3 pm I took him back to the hospital and needed help just to get him out of the car and into a wheel chair, after many tests and scans, he was rushed into surgery at midnight for perotinitus of the abdomen, his seam in the bowel had leaked into his abdomen and when they got in there they found that the small intestine had adhered to the new seem in the bowel, so a 1 hour surgery turned into 4, he was left int-abated for a few hours after and given loads of morphine and industrial strength antibiotics to fight the infections raging in his body, he was in ICU for 4 days and still remains in hospital, his stomach and bowel started to work again on the 20th of March, but in the mean time they started him on TPN ( or she is getting all of his or her nutrition – total nutrition – intravenously or through an IV.) to feed is body but not his stomach. They have removed all tubes from his nose, side, catheter, and feeding tube and just left in the central line in case they need it again, the plan is to possibly come home on Friday this week. This has been a very frustrating and emotional time, we have had so much support from family and friends, can't wait to get back home.
We'll see.
Today's Quote:
March 7, 2015
Well I brought hubby home from hospital on Thursday March 5th, he seemed pretty good, tired, he seemed to sleep allot that afternoon, he ate a normal dinner. I took him for a walk as he seemed to have allot of acid reflux happening. He went to bed at 10 and began vomiting at 12:30 and continued until 5 am. I made the decision to take him back to hospital once he had woke again, which was around 8.
They have re admitted Charlie till Monday,they feel
his bowels have just realized they have had a shock and stopped working,
also they found a kink or two in it, that's why he was throwing up
brown bile all night, and fevering off and on, so its back on IV fluids
today and clear tomorrow and see how Sunday goes. I'll keep you posted,
they are keeping him drugged up and relaxed in hopes it rights itself.
I'll call the hospital soon and see how his night went.
Today's Quote:
March 5, 2015
Well we are hoping that today my Hubby can come home from hospital, he had solid food yesterday and his bowels seem to be working, it will take time for him to heal, probably a few months, we still have the wait for the biopsy report to come back. Possibly it will be there today.
He has heard allot of information about Alkalizing the body and is keen to try this out, since he has been told that he has a very inflamed bowel, I think it is best that he get started as soon as possible, so I have printed him some information on it, the big thing for him is going to be giving up beef, pork and lamb, I feel it is best to start while he hasn't been having any on that for the last week or so.
We will see, this is his wake up call and he needs to choose what path he takes from here.
I have been at the hospital every hour that I am allowed, I am feeling tired as I haven't had the greatest of sleep for a while now, hoping that improves by the weekend.
It has been wonderful to read him all the emails from Canada, from friends and family, he was driven to tears when the Grand daughters called him and spoke, so wonderful that they wanted to do that, it really lifted his spirits. Family support is a big help in the way you re-cooperate even if it is 10,000 miles away. My Mom even knit him a blanket and mailed it over for him to have while he is getting better.
Hope for some more answers today.
Today's Quote:
