
Consider the acorn, humble harbinger of Fall. What is an acorn, really? Well, in a nutshell, it’s an oaktree. Hardeharharhar. In a nutshell … tehehehe. Anyway that’s what this post is about, the past three weeks of my life, in a nutshell.
As some of you know Superhubs and I are a Spoonie couple. We both have autoimmune diseases that require constant management. Superhubs has MS (with spinal cord lesions) and type 2 diabetes, I have a weird little buggaboo known as sarcoidosis. We’re the most symbiotic people I know, we’re better together than the sum of the two of us and yes he is the love and the light of my life.
A few weeks ago a routine MRI of the head showed the formation of an AVM (that’s arteriovenus malformation if you care) caused by a fistula. Not to get too medical on you but an AVF (arteriovenus fistula) is caused by an artery (or more) dumping directly into a vein without the benefit of the network of capillaries normally present. It creates a “bulge” in the vein. Bottom line, too much pressure on the vein and it blows out. Yeah, this is serious stuff the only thing to do is go in an resect the arteries to relieve the pressure on the vein. Yeah … brain surgery.
So here I am, 2 brain surgeries, 2 strokes, 9 day in Surgical Intensive Care Units, 9 days of in-patient rehab, several seizures, 911 calls and 3 MORE days in general Intensive Care Unit later. The strokes were minimal but have left him unable to move his right foot and ankle. Serious but overcomable. Somehow, his nicely controlled type 2 diabetes has become insulin dependent. In other words along with all the physical therapy (we’re still on twice a week plus home exercise) we have six blood tests and insulin injections per day, along with food logs and weight monitoring (he’s lost too much weight) a tightly controlled carb counting diet and many many many sleepless nights.
Things are looking up, we’ll get through this just like we have everything else, together. I just wanted to thank all of you for your kind thoughts and support.Β This is from a plaque my Mother sent me when I was first diagnosed.
“When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
when the road you’re trudging seems up hill,
when life is crushing you down a bit
rest if you must, but don’t you quit
Success is failure turned inside out
the silver lining in the clouds of doubt
you never know how close you are
it may be near when it seems too far
so stick to the fight
when you’re hardest hit
it’s when things go wrong
that you mustn’t quit” ~Unknown
Til next time ~Peace ~JPP
Keep the faith…and diligence with the rehab. Itβll help. Good luck to him and you both. π
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Oh we are! 11 hours out of in-patient rehab, he went into seizures and wound up back in ICU thought I was never gonna get him out π we were planning an escape tunnel lol
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Hahaha! I hear yaβ. Every single one of my patients feels exactly the same way. Theyβre all ready to leave like yesterday. π
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The plaque your mom got you is a handy reminder to have around. I’m so sorry your Superhub has had to go through all of that. Hoping you two ride the tail end of it out and get those clouds out of your blue skies, JP.
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Wow, good luck πππ! Love your upbeat attitude π»πΆππ»
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I admire your grit, both you and your Superhubs.
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Your spirit against all odds is simply amazing. May things continue to improve.
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Thanks so much. Things are getting better every day π
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