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I'm Alive - Warning, Long



 
 
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  #21  
Old April 3rd 11, 06:26 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
CatNipped[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 291
Default I'm Alive - Warning, Long

"tanadashoes" wrote in message
m...
On 4/2/2011 9:15 PM, CatNipped wrote:
Yep, to the pleasant surprise of some and the disappointment of others, I
*am* still alive. I was only able to log on for 5 minutes in the middle
of
all this, so I saw only two posts replying to the post Ben made. Since
then
I've been totally incommunicado, physically and mentally, and unaware of
anything outside of my hospital bed. After *forty-four* days in the
hospital, I'm finally home.. which doesn't mean I'm going to be jumping
back
into the group totally, because I have so much to do and catch up on and
because of physical and mental disabilities. The main thing I have to do
is
getting my fur-babies to forget and forgive my abandoning them. Archer
completely snubbed me on my first "home visit" (they would let me go from
the SNIP unit for a few hours every week for doctors' appointments and/or
a
quick trip home), then finally warmed up to me. Sammy is too much of a
pettins' 'ho' to give up being skritched. Ozzy is lukewarm to me, but he
was never a cuddling cat to begin with. Jessie cares only for Ben -
always
has, always will. And Demi is as Demi always was, afraid of her own
shadow.


Ya'll gotta stop this stuff. Sending purrs and well wishes for you, Ben,
and the owners to get over your trauma and heal fully. BTDT with the
aphasia, short term memory loss, and physical trauma. Both Rob and I
recovered to a great extent and I expect you and Ben to do the same. We
understand about not being able to play catch-up.

A short synopsis of current events here at chez Shirk. Mike and Mandi
Lynn are the proud parents of a baby boy. William Michael was born at
12:14 am on March 5. He was 21 inches long and weighed 8 lb 15 0z
officially. Amanda Kae and James were married on Feb 19th. At her
pre-marital physical, it was discovered that she is pregnant. She is due
to give birth in late September. Mike, Lynn, Will and their two owners
Hermione and Qui Gon Kit have moved back in with me making the cat count
11 cats and 1 d-thing. Bernard the dwarf hamster succumbed to the
workings of Smokey, Jim's cat. Smokey shattered the hamster home and we
are NOT getting a replacement.

Other than that things are pretty normal around here, as normal as
anything remotely Shirk ever gets.

Take care of yourself and please don't feel as though you have to answer
any of our messages.

Pam S.


Wow. how long was I visiting the mothership???!! ; Con-cat-ulations on
the new grand kids, you much be ecstatic to be a new grandmother!

I'm so happy for the kids. William Michael is a *big* baby - I hope Mandi
Lynn had an epidural!

I read in another thread that you're battling with depression - I'm hoping
that a house full of people, pet, and owners will help with that.

I think you were in the hospital much longer than I was. How long did it
take you to get back into the habit of living at home again - trying to get
back some sort of normalcy and a routine? One thing that is holding me back
is this open wound and the partial paralysis, but I'm talking about the
psychology of it.


  #22  
Old April 3rd 11, 06:43 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
Winnie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,168
Default I'm Alive - Warning, Long

On Apr 2, 9:15*pm, "CatNipped" wrote:
Yep, to the pleasant surprise of some and the disappointment of others, I
*am* still alive. *I was only able to log on for 5 minutes in the middle of
all this, so I saw only two posts replying to the post Ben made. *Since then
I've been totally incommunicado, physically and mentally, and unaware of
anything outside of my hospital bed. *After *forty-four* days in the
hospital, I'm finally home.. which doesn't mean I'm going to be jumping back
into the group totally, because I have so much to do and catch up on and
because of physical and mental disabilities. *The main thing I have to do is
getting my fur-babies to forget and forgive my abandoning them. *Archer
completely snubbed me on my first "home visit" (they would let me go from
the SNIP unit for a few hours every week for doctors' appointments and/or a
quick trip home), then finally warmed up to me. *Sammy is too much of a
pettins' 'ho' to give up being skritched. *Ozzy is lukewarm to me, but he
was never a cuddling cat to begin with. *Jessie cares only for Ben - always
has, always will. *And Demi is as Demi always was, afraid of her own shadow.

[Sidebar: *the reason the cats were *SO* traumatized is that, two weeks into
my hospital stay, Ben had a heart attack (and was subsequently diagnosed
with diabetes), called 911, and was hospitalized for 5 days (he is "OK" now
but his heart still isn't beating correctly and in a couple of weeks he'll
have to go back into the hospital for them to "shock" his heart back into
the correct rhythm, and he has to take medications for that and the
diabetes). *It took 2 whole days to arrange for his mother to be driven by
his sister from Arkansas to feed, water and scoop for the cats. *They went
for 2 days without any food at all (from now on there will be a plan in
place to handle a double emergency like this - too late to "fix" the feeling
of abandonment my fur-babies had to have felt). *Fortunately, they were *SO*
well fed before that that it didn't cause any drastic weight loss or health
issue.]

Anyway, for those of you interested, here is the complete, *TRUE* story of
what I've been through.

First, this had *NOTHING* to do with gastric bypass surgery. *If you
remember, about 6(?) months ago I was diagnosed with Congestive Heart
Failure with Left Ventricular Thrombus (a blood clot inside of the ventricle
chamber of my heart). *After being on blood thinners for a couple of months,
my cardiologist said that the blood clot was gone and he discontinued the
use of blood thinners (baaaaaaad idea). *The blood clot didn't go away, it
broke up and moved to various parts of my body. *At least two lodged into
the blood vessels providing oxygen to my intestinal tract. *The first few
feet (upper small intestines) and the last few feet (colon) became necrotic
(died).

For the longest time doctors (*several* specialists, x-rays, MRIs, CAT
scans, etc.) told me I just had constipation and sent me home with
laxatives. *On Thursday, February 17, Ben came downstairs to find me
unconscious on the floor. *He rushed me to the ER and they did a number of
tests and *STILL* didn't come up with an accurate diagnosis. *Finally, a GP
from my PCP's office came in to look at me prior to sending me home with
laxatives, because I still wouldn't regain consciousness (I guess they
thought I was faking being in a coma???!!). *She did a physical examination
and when she pressed on the bottom right of my stomach I cried out even
though I was still unconscious. *She thought "appendicitis". *But when she
pressed on the upper left of my stomach I arched myself almost of the
examining table and screamed like a banshee, again, even though I was still
unconscious.

Warning, this may get just a little anatomically gross for those who are
sensitive to that - I'll try to make it as clinical as possible.

After that she order a special MRI with special intravenous dye that showed
the blood vessels supplying the intestinal tract. *It showed not only the
blocked blood vessels, but also showed that my entire intestinal tract was
blocked with fecal matter without an inch even halfway empty. *In fact, the
necrotic parts were filled to *TEN TIMES* their normal diameter. *In one of
those spots the intestines had broken open, dumping contaminated matter into
the abdominal cavity (peritonitis). *That was the cause of the "coma" - they
called it "septic shock".

They called an abdominal surgical specialist out of his bed in the middle of
the night (and might I say I owe my life to this Indian gentleman - he *has*
to be one of the best surgeons alive to have pulled me away from death like
he did). *He looked at all the test results (quickly) and came to talk to
Ben to tell him I needed surgery. *Ben said 'OK, when do you want to set it
up?'. *The doctor said 'you don't understand, when I'm finished talking to
you, or in a few moments, I'm going directly to the surgical suite and
scrubbing in for immediate, emergency surgery'. *He then told Ben that he
shouldn't get his hopes up because of the surgery, that there was only a
very, *VERY* slim chance that I would live through it (most people die
almost immediately from peritonitis). *He told Ben to start contacting my
loved ones and to prepare them and himself for the announcement of my death.
[He also had to do a second surgery on the following Tuesday, after some of
the swelling and inflammation had gone down, to "clean up" anything he
missed and to temporarily reroute my colon until it healed enough to
reverse.]

I don't know if it's because I've been through so many medical issues in my
life so my body is used to recovering from very traumatic shocks, or if I'm
just blessed with a genetically strong constitution, but somehow I did
survive the surgery. *Even so, the doctors told Ben that it was very, *VERY*
iffy that I would survive, much less recover from the surgery. *I was still
in "septic shock", the reason for my "coma. *I was in ICU, unconscious, for
two weeks, then in a "step-down unit" for two weeks after I (sort of)
regained consciousness, then in a SNiF (skilled nursing facility) until last
night.

When I 'woke up' after two weeks, I found that I had huge chunks of memory
that had just disappeared (things like my *CATS' NAMES*, even - and the
latest I could remember was the fall of 2010 and I was fuzzy even about that
(I still can't remember how to use our cable remote)). *Thankfully, quite a
bit of that has come back, but I'm still missing a *LOT* of memory and still
have problems committing anything to memory - my short-term memory has been
compromised. *I still have problems with my speech and pretty bad aphasia
(sometimes I'll not only forget the word I was trying to say, but will
replace that word with a completely inappropriate word).

I was also paralyzed on my right side - I had to have two nurses come and
move me or turn me on my side to relieve the bed sores I'd developed (I
still have one, the deepest, on my heel that is necrotic, but we're keeping
it covered with sealant in hope that it will heal from the inside out - if
it opens I'll have to have more surgery(s) to clean it out, and bed sores
tend to get septic/toxic very, very quickly). *The cause of the paralysis
and memory loss is that I lost a lot of oxygen to my brain at some point in
the septic shock coma - more on this in a little bit. *It's about the same
consequences as when someone has a stroke.

I also found: *my hands were "restrained" because I was intubated and unable
to breathe on my own (it was two weeks before they removed the breathing
tube and put me on plain oxygen); an "ileostomy" bag attached to my side
because my colon had been (hopefully) temporarily rerouted until (three
months from the initial surgery) it can be reversed; an open abdominal wound
10 inches long x 3 inches wide open x 1 inch deep (you can actually see the
layers of skin and fat and body tissue inside of it); 2 "J Tubes" to drain
the wound; a "PEG tube" (a feeding tube going directly into my stomach from
my side into which they poured liquid nourishment); a "PIC Line" (a
"permanent" intravenous tube on the underside of my left arm that had three
"feeds" going to various places, one being the vena cava); and a Foley
catheter. *The "J Tubes" came out after 2.5 weeks, the "PEG Line" came out
after 3.5 weeks, the Foley catheter came out 5 days ago, and the "PIC Line"
came out yesterday. *That still leaves me with the open wound and the
ileostomy bag. *I'll have to have home nursing come out every day to clean
and re-dress the wound and take care of the bed sore on my heel, another
nurse to help me care for the ileostomy bag and appliances, a physical
therapist for over-all strength and movement, and an occupational therapist
for fine motor movement control.

Now, the paralysis... *I've gotten a great deal of movement back (I can now
sit up, rise from a sitting position if my seat is high enough, and walk a
limited distance using a walker). *But, I still can't raise my right arm
even an inch from the table when I have it laying out in front of me... my
right shoulder wants to "hitch up" in a shrug even when I'm resting, but
especially when I try to move my arm (it's a bad habit to use my body to
move my arm and my PT fusses constantly at me because of that). *However, I
can still move my right hand - I just have to adjust the height of whatever
I'm working on with my right hand.

I'm hopeful that the areas of my brain that were damaged because of oxygen
deprivation can be "re-routed" to compensate and that I'll get closer and
closer to "normal" the longer I do OT/PT and mental exercises.

Well, it's taken me over two hours to compose this post because of all of
the above, so you can understand if, as I said, I don't just jump back into
the group as much as I used to. *I just thank all that's holy that I have
...

read more »


Wow! You've been through a lot, and Ben too. I am just glad you are
recovering.
Winnie
  #23  
Old April 3rd 11, 06:49 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
Lesley Madigan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 715
Default I'm Alive - Warning, Long

On Apr 3, 10:26*am, "CatNipped" wrote:

I think you were in the hospital much longer than I was. *How long did it
take you to get back into the *habit of living at home again -


When Dave came out after four and a half months- it took him an age to
get his head around the time-like he could stay up if he wanted or
sleep late if he chose. Weird thing is when he was in Thames House he
would often sit up with a couple of the other patients until late
watching telly but when he got back for the first few weeks he went to
bed early....

This funniest one was the night of the day he was discharged. He was
determined to be defiant and stay up late but about 7 he said it had
been a long day and he really wanted to see if his own bed was as
comfortable as he remembered it so he was going for a lie down but I
had to make sure he got up at 9 so I went to the living room mainly to
let people here know he was home! About 8.50 I went into the bedroom
and my assessment was to wake him up I'd need a fair bit of dynamite!
So I had another coffee then as it had been a long few days for me as
well I decided to go to bed as well. So I went into the bedroom and
started undressing. Half way through Dave muttered "What are you
doing?" and I said "Getting ready for bed". He woke up instantly and
gasped "What are you doing?! Someone will come in!" then looked round
and went "I;m not in there any more am I?"

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs
  #24  
Old April 3rd 11, 08:00 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
Joy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 7,086
Default I'm Alive - Warning, Long

"Lesley Madigan" wrote in message
...
On Apr 3, 10:26 am, "CatNipped" wrote:

I think you were in the hospital much longer than I was. How long did it
take you to get back into the habit of living at home again -


When Dave came out after four and a half months- it took him an age to
get his head around the time-like he could stay up if he wanted or
sleep late if he chose. Weird thing is when he was in Thames House he
would often sit up with a couple of the other patients until late
watching telly but when he got back for the first few weeks he went to
bed early....

This funniest one was the night of the day he was discharged. He was
determined to be defiant and stay up late but about 7 he said it had
been a long day and he really wanted to see if his own bed was as
comfortable as he remembered it so he was going for a lie down but I
had to make sure he got up at 9 so I went to the living room mainly to
let people here know he was home! About 8.50 I went into the bedroom
and my assessment was to wake him up I'd need a fair bit of dynamite!
So I had another coffee then as it had been a long few days for me as
well I decided to go to bed as well. So I went into the bedroom and
started undressing. Half way through Dave muttered "What are you
doing?" and I said "Getting ready for bed". He woke up instantly and
gasped "What are you doing?! Someone will come in!" then looked round
and went "I;m not in there any more am I?"

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

***

LOL! I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time, but hearing about it is funny.

I can't even imagine how long it would take to adjust after being away for
that long. Even after a two or three week vacation, it takes me two or
three days to get back into "being home" mode and, in many ways, being in
the hospital is a lot farther away from home than being on vacation.

Joy


  #25  
Old April 3rd 11, 08:10 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
Smokie Darling (Annie)
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 703
Default I'm Alive - Warning, Long

On Apr 2, 9:55*pm, "CatNipped" wrote:
"Irulan" wrote in message

...

Good gracious, Lori. For someone who had some brain damage from
lack of oxygen, *you sure can tell your story very well. Thank goodness
you were lucky enough and with God's help you were able to get
through all of this without any adverse effects it seems. Lily & I have
been praying and purring for your well-being every night. God bless!


Lily & her mama


It's *MUCH* easier for me to write something rather than talking about it..
For one thing I can take my time *for this post it took me over 2 hours to
compose it). *I can wait to hit "Send" until I've reread it several times,
spell-checked it, and basically consider and reconsider what I've written..
I haven't even phoned my granddaughters since this happened, I've texted
them instead, because I don't want them to be concerned about MaMere being
so "out of it".

But yes, I've regained a good bit of what I lost, and I'm hoping that I'll
be able to reroute the pathways in my brain that were "shorted out" by the
septic shock "coma" (I don't know what else to call it since Ben insists
that I was sometimes conscious, but I have absolutely *NO* recollection or
memory of anything that happened or was said or done to me during those two
weeks in ICU, and spottily since then).

Thank you, though, your words make me feel more hopeful that I'm getting
something back that could easily have been permanently lost.


I am so happy to see you back. You've certainly been through the
"wars" haven't you? You have been in my thoughts for many months, but
stronger the past two. I'll still be singing for you, until you are
well on your way to "better".
  #26  
Old April 3rd 11, 08:22 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
Ann791
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 679
Default I'm Alive - Warning, Long

On 4/2/2011 9:15 PM, CatNipped wrote:
Yep, to the pleasant surprise of some and the disappointment of others, I
*am* still alive. I was only able to log on for 5 minutes in the middle of
all this, so I saw only two posts replying to the post Ben made. Since then
I've been totally incommunicado, physically and mentally, and unaware of
anything outside of my hospital bed. After *forty-four* days in the
hospital, I'm finally home.. which doesn't mean I'm going to be jumping back
into the group totally, because I have so much to do and catch up on and
because of physical and mental disabilities. The main thing I have to do is
getting my fur-babies to forget and forgive my abandoning them. Archer
completely snubbed me on my first "home visit" (they would let me go from
the SNIP unit for a few hours every week for doctors' appointments and/or a
quick trip home), then finally warmed up to me. Sammy is too much of a
pettins' 'ho' to give up being skritched. Ozzy is lukewarm to me, but he
was never a cuddling cat to begin with. Jessie cares only for Ben - always
has, always will. And Demi is as Demi always was, afraid of her own shadow.



[Sidebar: the reason the cats were *SO* traumatized is that, two weeks into
my hospital stay, Ben had a heart attack (and was subsequently diagnosed
with diabetes), called 911, and was hospitalized for 5 days (he is "OK" now
but his heart still isn't beating correctly and in a couple of weeks he'll
have to go back into the hospital for them to "shock" his heart back into
the correct rhythm, and he has to take medications for that and the
diabetes). It took 2 whole days to arrange for his mother to be driven by
his sister from Arkansas to feed, water and scoop for the cats. They went
for 2 days without any food at all (from now on there will be a plan in
place to handle a double emergency like this - too late to "fix" the feeling
of abandonment my fur-babies had to have felt). Fortunately, they were *SO*
well fed before that that it didn't cause any drastic weight loss or health
issue.]



Anyway, for those of you interested, here is the complete, *TRUE* story of
what I've been through.



First, this had *NOTHING* to do with gastric bypass surgery. If you
remember, about 6(?) months ago I was diagnosed with Congestive Heart
Failure with Left Ventricular Thrombus (a blood clot inside of the ventricle
chamber of my heart). After being on blood thinners for a couple of months,
my cardiologist said that the blood clot was gone and he discontinued the
use of blood thinners (baaaaaaad idea). The blood clot didn't go away, it
broke up and moved to various parts of my body. At least two lodged into
the blood vessels providing oxygen to my intestinal tract. The first few
feet (upper small intestines) and the last few feet (colon) became necrotic
(died).



For the longest time doctors (*several* specialists, x-rays, MRIs, CAT
scans, etc.) told me I just had constipation and sent me home with
laxatives. On Thursday, February 17, Ben came downstairs to find me
unconscious on the floor. He rushed me to the ER and they did a number of
tests and *STILL* didn't come up with an accurate diagnosis. Finally, a GP
from my PCP's office came in to look at me prior to sending me home with
laxatives, because I still wouldn't regain consciousness (I guess they
thought I was faking being in a coma???!!). She did a physical examination
and when she pressed on the bottom right of my stomach I cried out even
though I was still unconscious. She thought "appendicitis". But when she
pressed on the upper left of my stomach I arched myself almost of the
examining table and screamed like a banshee, again, even though I was still
unconscious.



Warning, this may get just a little anatomically gross for those who are
sensitive to that - I'll try to make it as clinical as possible.



After that she order a special MRI with special intravenous dye that showed
the blood vessels supplying the intestinal tract. It showed not only the
blocked blood vessels, but also showed that my entire intestinal tract was
blocked with fecal matter without an inch even halfway empty. In fact, the
necrotic parts were filled to *TEN TIMES* their normal diameter. In one of
those spots the intestines had broken open, dumping contaminated matter into
the abdominal cavity (peritonitis). That was the cause of the "coma" - they
called it "septic shock".



They called an abdominal surgical specialist out of his bed in the middle of
the night (and might I say I owe my life to this Indian gentleman - he *has*
to be one of the best surgeons alive to have pulled me away from death like
he did). He looked at all the test results (quickly) and came to talk to
Ben to tell him I needed surgery. Ben said 'OK, when do you want to set it
up?'. The doctor said 'you don't understand, when I'm finished talking to
you, or in a few moments, I'm going directly to the surgical suite and
scrubbing in for immediate, emergency surgery'. He then told Ben that he
shouldn't get his hopes up because of the surgery, that there was only a
very, *VERY* slim chance that I would live through it (most people die
almost immediately from peritonitis). He told Ben to start contacting my
loved ones and to prepare them and himself for the announcement of my death.
[He also had to do a second surgery on the following Tuesday, after some of
the swelling and inflammation had gone down, to "clean up" anything he
missed and to temporarily reroute my colon until it healed enough to
reverse.]



I don't know if it's because I've been through so many medical issues in my
life so my body is used to recovering from very traumatic shocks, or if I'm
just blessed with a genetically strong constitution, but somehow I did
survive the surgery. Even so, the doctors told Ben that it was very, *VERY*
iffy that I would survive, much less recover from the surgery. I was still
in "septic shock", the reason for my "coma. I was in ICU, unconscious, for
two weeks, then in a "step-down unit" for two weeks after I (sort of)
regained consciousness, then in a SNiF (skilled nursing facility) until last
night.



When I 'woke up' after two weeks, I found that I had huge chunks of memory
that had just disappeared (things like my *CATS' NAMES*, even - and the
latest I could remember was the fall of 2010 and I was fuzzy even about that
(I still can't remember how to use our cable remote)). Thankfully, quite a
bit of that has come back, but I'm still missing a *LOT* of memory and still
have problems committing anything to memory - my short-term memory has been
compromised. I still have problems with my speech and pretty bad aphasia
(sometimes I'll not only forget the word I was trying to say, but will
replace that word with a completely inappropriate word).



I was also paralyzed on my right side - I had to have two nurses come and
move me or turn me on my side to relieve the bed sores I'd developed (I
still have one, the deepest, on my heel that is necrotic, but we're keeping
it covered with sealant in hope that it will heal from the inside out - if
it opens I'll have to have more surgery(s) to clean it out, and bed sores
tend to get septic/toxic very, very quickly). The cause of the paralysis
and memory loss is that I lost a lot of oxygen to my brain at some point in
the septic shock coma - more on this in a little bit. It's about the same
consequences as when someone has a stroke.



I also found: my hands were "restrained" because I was intubated and unable
to breathe on my own (it was two weeks before they removed the breathing
tube and put me on plain oxygen); an "ileostomy" bag attached to my side
because my colon had been (hopefully) temporarily rerouted until (three
months from the initial surgery) it can be reversed; an open abdominal wound
10 inches long x 3 inches wide open x 1 inch deep (you can actually see the
layers of skin and fat and body tissue inside of it); 2 "J Tubes" to drain
the wound; a "PEG tube" (a feeding tube going directly into my stomach from
my side into which they poured liquid nourishment); a "PIC Line" (a
"permanent" intravenous tube on the underside of my left arm that had three
"feeds" going to various places, one being the vena cava); and a Foley
catheter. The "J Tubes" came out after 2.5 weeks, the "PEG Line" came out
after 3.5 weeks, the Foley catheter came out 5 days ago, and the "PIC Line"
came out yesterday. That still leaves me with the open wound and the
ileostomy bag. I'll have to have home nursing come out every day to clean
and re-dress the wound and take care of the bed sore on my heel, another
nurse to help me care for the ileostomy bag and appliances, a physical
therapist for over-all strength and movement, and an occupational therapist
for fine motor movement control.



Now, the paralysis... I've gotten a great deal of movement back (I can now
sit up, rise from a sitting position if my seat is high enough, and walk a
limited distance using a walker). But, I still can't raise my right arm
even an inch from the table when I have it laying out in front of me... my
right shoulder wants to "hitch up" in a shrug even when I'm resting, but
especially when I try to move my arm (it's a bad habit to use my body to
move my arm and my PT fusses constantly at me because of that). However, I
can still move my right hand - I just have to adjust the height of whatever
I'm working on with my right hand.



I'm hopeful that the areas of my brain that were damaged because of oxygen
deprivation can be "re-routed" to compensate and that I'll get closer and
closer to "normal" the longer I do OT/PT and mental exercises.



Well, it's taken me over two hours to compose this post because of all of
the above, so you can understand if, as I said, I don't just jump back into
the group as much as I used to. I just thank all that's holy that I have
recovered as much as I have.



So that's it, that's the whole *TRUE* story of what I've gone through, so I
hope I can bypass another "gastric bypass is good/bad" debate. But just
FTR, I would advise anyone to forgo gastric bypass unless their health is in
danger and unable to respond to any other weight-loss methods (and, yes,
there are some people for whom gastric bypass is used to save their lives -
the abdominal surgery has caused me to look up everything I can find about
abdominal surgery and GB is a large part of that data now-a-days).



Thank you for sticking around to read to the bottom of this post, it's
extremely boring to listen to someone else's medical problems. I just
wanted to set the record straight and tell the story to anyone who might be,
for various reasons, interested in my tale.


it is so good to see you back.I looked for a post about you from Ben
every day. Continued purrs and prayers for you to feel better as each
day passes.

Ann

--
Ann

in Connecticut
  #27  
Old April 3rd 11, 10:13 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
Spock-n-Persephone
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 32
Default I'm Alive - Warning, Long

WELCOME BACK!!! Seeing your post has absolutely made my day; after
Ben's last posts and then the long silence I was dreading the worst.

I know you've still got a long way to go, but I hope hope hope it's
all positive from here on.

Tish

  #28  
Old April 4th 11, 01:42 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
tanadashoes
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,879
Default I'm Alive - Warning, Long

On 4/3/2011 1:26 PM, CatNipped wrote:
wrote in message
m...
On 4/2/2011 9:15 PM, CatNipped wrote:
Yep, to the pleasant surprise of some and the disappointment of others, I
*am* still alive. I was only able to log on for 5 minutes in the middle
of
all this, so I saw only two posts replying to the post Ben made. Since
then
I've been totally incommunicado, physically and mentally, and unaware of
anything outside of my hospital bed. After *forty-four* days in the
hospital, I'm finally home.. which doesn't mean I'm going to be jumping
back
into the group totally, because I have so much to do and catch up on and
because of physical and mental disabilities. The main thing I have to do
is
getting my fur-babies to forget and forgive my abandoning them. Archer
completely snubbed me on my first "home visit" (they would let me go from
the SNIP unit for a few hours every week for doctors' appointments and/or
a
quick trip home), then finally warmed up to me. Sammy is too much of a
pettins' 'ho' to give up being skritched. Ozzy is lukewarm to me, but he
was never a cuddling cat to begin with. Jessie cares only for Ben -
always
has, always will. And Demi is as Demi always was, afraid of her own
shadow.


Ya'll gotta stop this stuff. Sending purrs and well wishes for you, Ben,
and the owners to get over your trauma and heal fully. BTDT with the
aphasia, short term memory loss, and physical trauma. Both Rob and I
recovered to a great extent and I expect you and Ben to do the same. We
understand about not being able to play catch-up.

A short synopsis of current events here at chez Shirk. Mike and Mandi
Lynn are the proud parents of a baby boy. William Michael was born at
12:14 am on March 5. He was 21 inches long and weighed 8 lb 15 0z
officially. Amanda Kae and James were married on Feb 19th. At her
pre-marital physical, it was discovered that she is pregnant. She is due
to give birth in late September. Mike, Lynn, Will and their two owners
Hermione and Qui Gon Kit have moved back in with me making the cat count
11 cats and 1 d-thing. Bernard the dwarf hamster succumbed to the
workings of Smokey, Jim's cat. Smokey shattered the hamster home and we
are NOT getting a replacement.

Other than that things are pretty normal around here, as normal as
anything remotely Shirk ever gets.

Take care of yourself and please don't feel as though you have to answer
any of our messages.

Pam S.


Wow. how long was I visiting the mothership???!! ; Con-cat-ulations on
the new grand kids, you much be ecstatic to be a new grandmother!

I'm so happy for the kids. William Michael is a *big* baby - I hope Mandi
Lynn had an epidural!

I read in another thread that you're battling with depression - I'm hoping
that a house full of people, pet, and owners will help with that.

I think you were in the hospital much longer than I was. How long did it
take you to get back into the habit of living at home again - trying to get
back some sort of normalcy and a routine? One thing that is holding me back
is this open wound and the partial paralysis, but I'm talking about the
psychology of it.



Lynn is a braver woman than I am. No epidural, just some IV pain meds
and a strong soul. I'm dreading when Mandy goes into labor. She is not
good at pain.

I was only in hospital for 39 days. It was enough. I'm still coming
back to normal, and the hospitalization was almost four years ago. I
cannot pick up items on the floor most days and use a grabber for the
small stuff and a kid for the big things. Since I lost half of the
muscles in my right thigh and inside my right leg, balance is a major
problem. I've come back to some extent. I was in a coma for a while
and still don't remember anything that happened for a couple of days
before the hospitalization to at least two weeks after I went into ICU.

I have body image problems, am on anti-depressants, have nightmares
about being back in hospital and find that I am more willing to let the
small stuff go rather than fight for it.

It took me about a month before I settled back in. Part of the problem
was Rob's state of health and working on getting us both back into
functional states. I probably would have taken much longer if Mike and
Mandy weren't with us. Mike, specifically, was the answer to a mother's
prayer. He, Lynn, and Will are godsends now. Of course the cats are a
big help as they want to nurse us all.

Pam S. grateful
  #29  
Old April 4th 11, 04:39 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
CatNipped[_5_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 291
Default I'm Alive - Warning, Long

"tanadashoes" wrote in message
...
On 4/3/2011 1:26 PM, CatNipped wrote:
wrote in message
m...
On 4/2/2011 9:15 PM, CatNipped wrote:
Yep, to the pleasant surprise of some and the disappointment of others,
I
*am* still alive. I was only able to log on for 5 minutes in the
middle
of
all this, so I saw only two posts replying to the post Ben made. Since
then
I've been totally incommunicado, physically and mentally, and unaware
of
anything outside of my hospital bed. After *forty-four* days in the
hospital, I'm finally home.. which doesn't mean I'm going to be jumping
back
into the group totally, because I have so much to do and catch up on
and
because of physical and mental disabilities. The main thing I have to
do
is
getting my fur-babies to forget and forgive my abandoning them. Archer
completely snubbed me on my first "home visit" (they would let me go
from
the SNIP unit for a few hours every week for doctors' appointments
and/or
a
quick trip home), then finally warmed up to me. Sammy is too much of a
pettins' 'ho' to give up being skritched. Ozzy is lukewarm to me, but
he
was never a cuddling cat to begin with. Jessie cares only for Ben -
always
has, always will. And Demi is as Demi always was, afraid of her own
shadow.


Ya'll gotta stop this stuff. Sending purrs and well wishes for you,
Ben,
and the owners to get over your trauma and heal fully. BTDT with the
aphasia, short term memory loss, and physical trauma. Both Rob and I
recovered to a great extent and I expect you and Ben to do the same. We
understand about not being able to play catch-up.

A short synopsis of current events here at chez Shirk. Mike and Mandi
Lynn are the proud parents of a baby boy. William Michael was born at
12:14 am on March 5. He was 21 inches long and weighed 8 lb 15 0z
officially. Amanda Kae and James were married on Feb 19th. At her
pre-marital physical, it was discovered that she is pregnant. She is
due
to give birth in late September. Mike, Lynn, Will and their two owners
Hermione and Qui Gon Kit have moved back in with me making the cat count
11 cats and 1 d-thing. Bernard the dwarf hamster succumbed to the
workings of Smokey, Jim's cat. Smokey shattered the hamster home and we
are NOT getting a replacement.

Other than that things are pretty normal around here, as normal as
anything remotely Shirk ever gets.

Take care of yourself and please don't feel as though you have to answer
any of our messages.

Pam S.


Wow. how long was I visiting the mothership???!! ; Con-cat-ulations
on
the new grand kids, you much be ecstatic to be a new grandmother!

I'm so happy for the kids. William Michael is a *big* baby - I hope
Mandi
Lynn had an epidural!

I read in another thread that you're battling with depression - I'm
hoping
that a house full of people, pet, and owners will help with that.

I think you were in the hospital much longer than I was. How long did it
take you to get back into the habit of living at home again - trying to
get
back some sort of normalcy and a routine? One thing that is holding me
back
is this open wound and the partial paralysis, but I'm talking about the
psychology of it.



Lynn is a braver woman than I am. No epidural, just some IV pain meds and
a strong soul. I'm dreading when Mandy goes into labor. She is not good
at pain.

I was only in hospital for 39 days. It was enough. I'm still coming back
to normal, and the hospitalization was almost four years ago. I cannot
pick up items on the floor most days and use a grabber for the small stuff
and a kid for the big things. Since I lost half of the muscles in my
right thigh and inside my right leg, balance is a major problem. I've
come back to some extent. I was in a coma for a while and still don't
remember anything that happened for a couple of days before the
hospitalization to at least two weeks after I went into ICU.

I have body image problems, am on anti-depressants, have nightmares about
being back in hospital and find that I am more willing to let the small
stuff go rather than fight for it.

It took me about a month before I settled back in. Part of the problem
was Rob's state of health and working on getting us both back into
functional states. I probably would have taken much longer if Mike and
Mandy weren't with us. Mike, specifically, was the answer to a mother's
prayer. He, Lynn, and Will are godsends now. Of course the cats are a
big help as they want to nurse us all.

Pam S. grateful


{{{{{{{{{{Pam}}}}}}}}}}

What you've been through these last few years would seriously put a dent in
the constitution of even the strongest person. I don't know what I'd do if
I were to lose Ben. Not only is he my one-true-love, he is also, literally,
my life-line to the rest of the world. Without him I'd have to go back into
a nursing home because I can't live by myself - I can't even take care of my
fur-babies!!!

I'm so glad that you have that support from your children, good on them -
and good on you for rearing them properly and teaching them responsibility.
You done good, girl!


--
Hugs,

CatNipped
See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped

See the RPCA FAQ site, by Mark Edwards, at:
http://www.professional-geek.com/rpcablog/

Email: L(dot)T(dot)Crews(at)comcast(dot)net



  #30  
Old April 4th 11, 03:38 PM posted to rec.pets.cats.anecdotes
dgk
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,268
Default I'm Alive - Warning, Long

On Sat, 2 Apr 2011 20:15:15 -0500, "CatNipped"
wrote:

....
Thank you for sticking around to read to the bottom of this post, it's
extremely boring to listen to someone else's medical problems. I just
wanted to set the record straight and tell the story to anyone who might be,
for various reasons, interested in my tale.


Thanks for coming back - that was some awful journey.
 




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