It's humbling to know you all are thinking of me. I appreciate it very much.
I returned home from St. Joseph's Hospital yesterday afternoon, after a 7 day stay.
What began as a fever and general malaise on Sunday afternoon, the 18th, soon escalated into acute abdominal pain by Tuesday morning and a visit to my primary care physician at 10:45 AM. She gave me a brief exam and immediately put me in a wheelchair for a ride to St. Joseph's ER, a block away. (By the way the St. Joseph's ER staff gets a big "thumbs up" from me.)
The doctors agreed I had either a problem with my appendix, or diverticulitis. A CT Scan revealed a large abscess in my colon that was causing the pain. Diverticulitis, is was. (Google it)
I was soon admitted to the hospital. My surgeon advised a 24 hour wait before operating to allow antibiotics to begin work on the infected area. I spent Wednesday waiting in my room, sipping water.
The surgery would open up my lower abdomen to "explore" the area and determine the extent of the problem, and, from that, how much of my colon would need to be removed.
I would also need a "temporary" colostomy. Upon hearing that, I was stunned. No way would I agree to that.
Of course, I'm an architect, not a surgeon, so my opinions carried little weight in the discussion of treatment.
In the "end" (pun intended) I began to understand and appreciate what the doctors were proposing.
After removing a portion of my colon and whatever infected areas they found in the lower abdomen, they would close off the remaining lower colon and attach the upper portion to a colostomy. Temporary, of course. An important word to me.
After the area has time to heal and, following a colonoscopy, they will operate again (in 2-3 months), remove the colostomy and re-attach my colon. At that time I should be back to "normal."
The surgery on Thursday morning went well and my recovery in the hospital was just as pleasant as you an imagine. I went without food for five days. (I lost 10 pounds in the process which was a plus.)
Getting out of the hospital before going stark raving mad from the pain, lack of sleep, lack of food, and constantly being "stuck" with needles is an ordeal that I've now gone through twice in my 61 years. But, it does end and yesterday, after jumping through a few last hoops I was released to my family.
Donna, Hilary and my brother, Terry, brought me home and are now going to nurse me back to health so they can get on with their lives.
I had a sleepless night, but just being out of the hospital is a great feeling. I look forward to re-gaining my strength and returning to work after Labor Day.
As to my courthouse project. I've already postponed my next two trips because of this "interruption" but I do have an eleven county backlog, plus an additional four counties I've revisited, so there's plenty of material for me to work on in the meantime. Postings will resume in the next few days.
Plus, college football begins this weekend! Go Owls! Beat the Aggies.
