Getting Back Into the Game

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Sometimes life can really catch you off guard. I haven’t been able to post much on here in a few months because I’ve been in survival mode. Life is finally getting back to usual around our house. I feel like I can breathe easier now and Mister Eric says I am happier these days.

It started last summer when Mister Eric had some medical tests for a hiatal hernia. Along the way, they inadvertantly discovered that he had cancer. It’s certainly a shock to hear THAT word. I searched for everything that I could find about duodenal carcinomas. I fretted…a lot. I bawled. Fortunately, this kind is very slow growing. So much, in fact, that they wouldn’t have worried about it if he was a couple of decades older.

At the start of November, he had surgery to remove the tumor. They also discovered a lymph node that showed possible problems, which was removed at the same time. He spent a week in the hospital. He was eating soft foods and recovering. However, he started throwing up a lot around Thanksgiving since he couldn’t keep any food down.

After a few days of this, we ended up in the ER at the original hospital, knowing that it was likely that he would need to be readmitted. They discovered that he had several infected abscesses. Sigh. He was in the hospital for another week as they tried to get him stabilized. My parents and other kind people helped watch Miss ZZ so that I could visit him daily since he was about 25 miles away.

Once he was stable enough, he was released and care was administered by the home health care system. He went on a type of IV nutrition called total parenteral nutrition (TPN) and wasn’t allowed to eat or drink. I was taught how to administer the TPN and antibiotics, as well as other medical tasks that needed to be done. I struggled since I was now caring for two people by myself, one of them quite ill. I am so grateful I had my parents’ help and others.

After about a month, though, we discovered that the infection was not going away. He had to go to the hospital for a 3rd stay and had surgery to clear up the abscesses and clean out the infection. Another week in the hospital went by. Home again and back to the routine of TPN and antibiotics. This time he had a special wound vacuum that required dressing changes several times a week, as well as a nasogastric tube down his nose so his stomach could be emptied. The latter kept him from throwing up.

Third time was the charm! I have cheered as the different tubes were removed over the following weeks. He started eating again. Last week he finally got cleared to go back to work. All he has left is the wound vac – huzzah!

Victory meal - the man can have his Code Red and Cheez-its again!
Victory meal – the man can have his Code Red and Cheez-its again!

Now that life is calmer, I can get back to the geekery. I have some craft tutorials planned and will start putting up recipes also. Going to the Build Your Blog conference this weekend. Decluttering the house, which always seems to suffer through entropy.

Let me know if there are any projects that you would like to see, etc. I am excited to get back into the swing of being a geeky mom 🙂

Tags: cancer, Mister Eric, surgery

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Comments

    • Katrina
    • April 8, 2015
    Reply

    So sorry to hear that all this was going on!

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