so as i mentioned the other day, min's surgery has been scheduled. it's in just 3 days. wow.
i'm still a bit fuzzy on the complete details, but i can tell you that they are doing this and this and a similar thing to that last one up in her esophagus because of her achalasia. and yes that's a new term to both min and i and yes we gave our surgeon a hard time for giving us a hard time for not knowing it since no doctor had ever told her the technical name for that condition. :-p
anyway, i hear there will also be an external tube involved but that should be temporary. also because of the complexity they have to do it open (large incision) instead of laproscopic.
needless to say min is pretty freaked out. but she is handling it pretty well by not thinking about it too much. nice that after 9 years together (anniversary last week) that behavior of mine has rubbed off on her a little bit, heh. i mean, we are preparing and all, and trying to do some fun things to stay a little distracted (going to star wars in a few hours, woo!) but i know it's not very far towards the back of our minds.
so if you made it this far, please keep her in your thoughts for this tuesday morning and the rest of the week really. thanks to everyone who has sent well wishes so far, too.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Thursday, May 26, 2005
living and breathing
about 1030am today i got a call from min. she said, "pearl's dying! get home as fast as you can so we can go to the vet!"
in case you were wondering, that's a great way to start a phone call.
normally it takes me 15-20 minutes to get home. today i made it home in 10. i would say that i, um, bended some laws, but i was still safe.
right before i got home, min called to see if i was close. yes. so she told me she'd be waiting on the sidewalk with pearl so we could just go to the vet. i pulled up and min has pearl, a limp little lump, wrapped in a towel. they get in the car and she tells me: pearl ate some of her (min's) pain medicine.
she'd already called the vet so they knew we were en route. they're only a few miles down the road so we got there pretty quick. they rushed her to the back and got her started on all those lovely medicines that make you vomit, plus monitoring her vitals.
while we waited for the doctor to come in, she told me more about what happened at the house. how pearl sneakily got into the medicine, the subsequent roster of symptoms particular to a dog dying (which she has seen many times, unfortunately, since she used to work at the SPCA), and her frantic dash about the house trying to get help for pearl and get ready to leave (was still in her PJ's).
a few minutes later, the doctor came to us and told us that they'd started the meds, etc. that her system was naturally a little depressed but they would be keeping a close watch on her and try to clear the BAD medicine from her body. learned that there is a medicine for counteracting the effect of opiates! interesting.
anyway, he said to call back about 130 to check her status, presuming they hadn't needed to call us first with a change for the worse. but when min called - yay! - she was doing LOTS better. heart rate up, she was more alert, and it seemed like she'd be able to go home tonight. yay! and apparently she'd gotten everything out of her system at home. so, icky for min to clean up, but glad it got out so fast, really. probably kept pearl from getting as sick as she could have.
i suppose i'm jinxing things by saying pearl's fine when she's not actually home yet, but...i'm just so happy she's alright. she is SO our little baby. our little pearl. i can't really deal with thinking about her dying, so i'm glad reality swerved away from that possibility relatively quickly. :-p got enough going on already, anyway.
min's surgery is scheduled. for reals, for trues. for may 31st and i'll write more about it later. not enough time or energy today.
in case you were wondering, that's a great way to start a phone call.
normally it takes me 15-20 minutes to get home. today i made it home in 10. i would say that i, um, bended some laws, but i was still safe.
right before i got home, min called to see if i was close. yes. so she told me she'd be waiting on the sidewalk with pearl so we could just go to the vet. i pulled up and min has pearl, a limp little lump, wrapped in a towel. they get in the car and she tells me: pearl ate some of her (min's) pain medicine.
she'd already called the vet so they knew we were en route. they're only a few miles down the road so we got there pretty quick. they rushed her to the back and got her started on all those lovely medicines that make you vomit, plus monitoring her vitals.
while we waited for the doctor to come in, she told me more about what happened at the house. how pearl sneakily got into the medicine, the subsequent roster of symptoms particular to a dog dying (which she has seen many times, unfortunately, since she used to work at the SPCA), and her frantic dash about the house trying to get help for pearl and get ready to leave (was still in her PJ's).
a few minutes later, the doctor came to us and told us that they'd started the meds, etc. that her system was naturally a little depressed but they would be keeping a close watch on her and try to clear the BAD medicine from her body. learned that there is a medicine for counteracting the effect of opiates! interesting.
anyway, he said to call back about 130 to check her status, presuming they hadn't needed to call us first with a change for the worse. but when min called - yay! - she was doing LOTS better. heart rate up, she was more alert, and it seemed like she'd be able to go home tonight. yay! and apparently she'd gotten everything out of her system at home. so, icky for min to clean up, but glad it got out so fast, really. probably kept pearl from getting as sick as she could have.
i suppose i'm jinxing things by saying pearl's fine when she's not actually home yet, but...i'm just so happy she's alright. she is SO our little baby. our little pearl. i can't really deal with thinking about her dying, so i'm glad reality swerved away from that possibility relatively quickly. :-p got enough going on already, anyway.
min's surgery is scheduled. for reals, for trues. for may 31st and i'll write more about it later. not enough time or energy today.
Friday, May 20, 2005
for sale: integrity
this is just so wrong. not because INXS was some kind of awesome band that championed the environment, queer rights and things like that. no, just because back when they were cool, it was because they were quirky and raw in their intensity and lyrics. even though they were plastered everywhere and marketed to death, they didn't seem like they were for sale.
which clearly they are. thus, the wrongness. i know this isn't the lamest thing in the world, but it's still LAME.
which clearly they are. thus, the wrongness. i know this isn't the lamest thing in the world, but it's still LAME.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
geeks rule
lately it feels like there has been a minor exodus from our department, and it feels a little surreal. one person is transitioning to another role (still in our department, but they will be doing totally different stuff), one person left for another department altogether, and one is leaving to freelance.
i was musing on this yesterday (after the announcement bout the freelancer) and wondering WTF? then it occurred to me: the one thing all these people have in common apparently is that they like to write more than they like battling with technology, tools and/or code. which is actually a great deal of what our daily work lives are about. we're not knee-deep in the code like web developers, but sometimes we really have to muck around to figure what the hell we need to do to address the Issue of The Moment.
thing is, i like all that. working in the code, figuring shit out. don't like the problems of course, but troubleshooting can be interesting. i really like being on our little SWAT team. i like being helpful and i like being one of the resident geeks. but i guess that's why i'm still here and not leaving so that i can write pages and pages of content inside word docs instead of an average one sentence every month directly into the code.
i guess this is all just another way to say: geeks rule!
and in other news, yes we saw the surgeon earlier this week. but i don't want to talk about it yet because it was kind of scary. we have a followup appointment next week where we should nail down exactly what should be happening (instead of scary things that could happen but we really don't know for sure yet). :-p
i was musing on this yesterday (after the announcement bout the freelancer) and wondering WTF? then it occurred to me: the one thing all these people have in common apparently is that they like to write more than they like battling with technology, tools and/or code. which is actually a great deal of what our daily work lives are about. we're not knee-deep in the code like web developers, but sometimes we really have to muck around to figure what the hell we need to do to address the Issue of The Moment.
thing is, i like all that. working in the code, figuring shit out. don't like the problems of course, but troubleshooting can be interesting. i really like being on our little SWAT team. i like being helpful and i like being one of the resident geeks. but i guess that's why i'm still here and not leaving so that i can write pages and pages of content inside word docs instead of an average one sentence every month directly into the code.
i guess this is all just another way to say: geeks rule!
and in other news, yes we saw the surgeon earlier this week. but i don't want to talk about it yet because it was kind of scary. we have a followup appointment next week where we should nail down exactly what should be happening (instead of scary things that could happen but we really don't know for sure yet). :-p
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
task 1 complete!
got an appointment with the GI surgeon for next tuesday, yay! and after that we can schedule the actual surgery. no waiting for a psych consult, yadda yadda. we're getting her in so fast because apparently the surgeon (who i'll call dr. f to keep the trend) and dr. t are good buds.
anyway, think good thoughts for getting the surgery scheduled quickly, too. i'm sure it will still be several weeks until the surgery, but that's better than 2 MONTHS (the normal wait time what with their pre-surgery rituals) to even get the surgeon appointment and then many weeks more for the actual surgery.
meantime min's been doing worse the last week. BUT she got some different meds yesterday and they seem to be helping the pain a little bit more. hopefully that trend will continue!
meantime part deux: thank god the main code delivery for our Big Project at work is DONE. in related news, i think i'm going to explode if (in my near future) i have to spend more than 2 full days in a row looking at a spreadsheet with 30 tabs and at least 30 rows per tab. 5 tabs are enough to manage on a daily basis, thanks (stupid metrics).
anyway, think good thoughts for getting the surgery scheduled quickly, too. i'm sure it will still be several weeks until the surgery, but that's better than 2 MONTHS (the normal wait time what with their pre-surgery rituals) to even get the surgeon appointment and then many weeks more for the actual surgery.
meantime min's been doing worse the last week. BUT she got some different meds yesterday and they seem to be helping the pain a little bit more. hopefully that trend will continue!
meantime part deux: thank god the main code delivery for our Big Project at work is DONE. in related news, i think i'm going to explode if (in my near future) i have to spend more than 2 full days in a row looking at a spreadsheet with 30 tabs and at least 30 rows per tab. 5 tabs are enough to manage on a daily basis, thanks (stupid metrics).
Thursday, May 05, 2005
progress (sort of)
it's official: the last botox shot min got is not helping enough. she still can hardly eat, and even when she does gets really bad pain or outright attacks. her daily level of pain is just too high - not livable or workable long term.
the last option she has, and it's supposed to be a pretty good one, is gastric bypass surgery. yes, the same one that millions of people are using to lose weight. in this case they're just doing it to bypass her 98% uncooperative stomach and duodenum. which should cut down significantly on the pain, etc.
she'll lose more weight, yea. in the scheme of things we really don't care about that, though. she's already losing plenty (10 pounds last week, and i am not exaggerating). on the upside maybe the dietician they're forcing her to see for the surgery can help her figure out a more workable eating/supplement plan.
surgery isn't scheduled yet. surgeon has annoying but understandable pre-appt rituals we must navigate. so in the meantime, i guess wish us good luck in getting this scheduled asap!
i now return you to your regularly scheduled workaholism (and my own).
the last option she has, and it's supposed to be a pretty good one, is gastric bypass surgery. yes, the same one that millions of people are using to lose weight. in this case they're just doing it to bypass her 98% uncooperative stomach and duodenum. which should cut down significantly on the pain, etc.
she'll lose more weight, yea. in the scheme of things we really don't care about that, though. she's already losing plenty (10 pounds last week, and i am not exaggerating). on the upside maybe the dietician they're forcing her to see for the surgery can help her figure out a more workable eating/supplement plan.
surgery isn't scheduled yet. surgeon has annoying but understandable pre-appt rituals we must navigate. so in the meantime, i guess wish us good luck in getting this scheduled asap!
i now return you to your regularly scheduled workaholism (and my own).
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