28 July 2007

 

Hey, so where'd you go?

Keeping up the spirit at Flickr.comIt's been well over a week since my last post, where I was complaining about morphine withdrawal. Well, it turned out to be rather more than that—yes, there were those shakes and chills and sweats, but it turned out that I also had a partial bowel blockage.

So I checked myself back into St. Paul's Hospital on Wednesday, July 18, and have been here ever since. It looks like things are finally stabilizing: I no longer have a tube up my nose, I'm starting to manage my own blood glucose again, and the medical crew needs to get my potassium levels under control, but the key thing is fatigue. I'm very weak, since I only started solid food again two days ago, and I'm now down to 148 pounds, another 12 pounds less than my last record low, and a full 52 pounds less than my normal weight.

Anyway, while the computer lab here at the hospital is fun, this is the first time I've felt up to coming here. If you want to get regular updates on how I'm doing, check my dad's blog at penmachinedad.blogspot.com if you haven't already. He has something new every day.

In the lounge

My family (especially my wife and parents) and friends have been unbelievably great, as have the hospital staff. My friend Simon is also in the same hospital, five floors down, following heart surgery, so we're continuing to be PKBF (painkiller buddies forever), although now the painkillers consist mostly of Tylenol and coffee. He's using the computer next to this one right now.

I may go home as soon as Monday, but we'll see. In any case, I'll be back soon enough. Thanks for continuing to check in.

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Comments:

It's SO nice to have you back.
 
I just heard a community of blog readers breath a collective sigh.

And your dad has been doing a great job.
 
Wow! Derek you look great! Nice to see your smiling face and that you're on the mend progressing in the right direction. I'll bet it's a pleasure to be eating food again, and also nice that your friend JH is also good, and has been discharged from the hospital. We are all happy to breath a sigh of relief. Take care, and I look forward to hearing more about your positive recovery as they days go on. Barbra Goldman

P.S.

It's nice that you and your buddy Simon are able to get together too while he's recovering, and it sounds like he's doing well. So, it's all good.
 
Yup, you definitely look better without a tube in your nose. Nice to see a smile. Thinking about you here, Derek.
 
It's wonderful to see you smiling. Glad you are finally on the mend and feel up to using your Macbook!
 
Following your progress daily, Derek. Hurry up and get out of there!
 
Hi from the countryside !

We don't have a proper castle, like Tony Parker and Eva Longoria rented one two weaks ago a few km from here, but it is even nicer here. My parents, sister and sister-in-law have been doing a great job getting the house ready for JH, cleaning, decorating, and buying anything they could imagine to make him feel comfortable : records, appropriate food and beverage, comfortable trousers...

Everybody just left, so it is just the five of us, and it is just wonderful to be a family again.

We hope to get the complete operation results from the lab on Monday or Tuesday.

And yes, here Tylenol is called Doliprane, but it is just the same thing (I just checked on Wikipedia !) and it does help a lot 'cause the pain is not totally over.

I think JH lost less weight than you did, maybe 5 kg, but we have nothing to check so we'll never know, and it doesn't matter because we will see to that. He was able to eat good cheese yesterday, and we wait a few more days to add the wine ! We are big patriots about french bread, chesse and wine.

So hopefully everybody is going to be OK - your PKBF Simon, JH and yourself.

What a summer !

Let's hope next summer we can chit-chat about the weather, computers, music, philosophy... anything but illness, medicines and hospitals !
 
Very glad to see you back on the radar. I've been reading your dad's site daily for updates.
I still say you looked handsome in the nose tube picture.
Hope to see you home soon.
 
Good to see you posting again, Derek. I agree, it was good to read your dad's blog, as to know what was going on. Best wishes for a continuing recovery!
 
Hi, Derek. Happy to see you back. You do look handsome with tubes up your nose and it feels good to see you smile.

I'm really glad your dad is blogging and keeping all us up to date. I hope you'll be home tomorrow.

Love,
Antonella
 
Derek, sorry to hear that you're back in the hospital. I hope you'll be feeling better and be back home soon!