The Windy City

Hello friends and family!

We had a good visit to Northwestern. We went late Sunday afternoon because Jim's CT Scan was at 7:00 am on Monday morning. Although he was terrified, his scan went well . All these scans and tests don't seem like a big deal individually, but when you have to have a scan every week or every other week, it's easy to dread them. And the good news about this scan was that he didn't have to drink the contrast dye. Jim is having trouble getting anything into his colon at this point. If they'd made him drink the contrast, he probably would have gotten sick. But they did an IV contrast instead. It seems impossible that an IV would be more pleasant, but it's all perspective.

Yesterday was Jim's big day - his angiogram and dry run with the microspheres. He also had to have more than 2 hours of scans. He was under conscious sedation for everything, which means that he's awake, but he doesn't feel any pain and he typically doesn't remember anything. The angiogram went well. So well, in fact, that they had him scheduled for the actual procedure before we even made it out of Chicago.

They also drained out 5 litres of ascites (fluid) from Jim's abdomen. Monday night Jim had so much ascites that he was actually having trouble breathing because it was starting to push his lungs up. Jim actually remembers watching them drain out the ascites from his abdomen. While he was under conscious sedation. Draining that much fluid will help Jim feel better. By the time we got there he looked like he was around 5 or 6 months pregnant. But the rest of him is so thin that his belly was really obvious. He looks a lot better now - he's not nearly as distended. And I'm hoping that relief will lead him to drinking his shakes during the day so he can build his strength up.

The only disappointing news is that the Interventional Radiologist (IR), Dr. Lewandowski, found a blockage in Jim's kidney. When we heard "blockage" the first thing we thought was "cancer". But Dr. Lewandowski doesn't know what it is that's creating the blockage, so we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. If it is cancer related, it's brand new, because Jim had that PET scan on July 12th and no less than 4 doctors have reviewed his PET scan without finding it. So I'm hoping they're going to come back and say "kidney stone" - which was my brother-in-law's idea. And a good one. Luckily Jim had his personal care team of three newly indoctrinated doctors - me, his sister, and her husband. They have to get rid of/fix the blockage in his kidney because it can cause an infection, and heaven knows we don't want that happening. I spoke with Dr. Haid today and he basically told me that we need to fix it sooner than later. Read: get it done this week or early next week. Aw, come on. To fix a blockage they can put in a stent, similar to the stents they put in one's heart arteries. The process for putting in a kidney stent is not a pretty one. You can research that on your own if you're really curious. But Dr. Haid did give us his advice on choosing one of the two methods, and we're going to follow it.

Here's the difference between a big hospital and our very own world-class medical care in Sheboygan. When Jim comes out of any sort of sedation, apparently he's a bit of a handful. Meaning he basically wakes up fighting with fists swinging. The IR nurses here in Sheboygan teased him and said he was "cute" and "feisty". The IR nurses at Northwestern just drugged him until he passed out. I guess at a big hospital they have so many patients that they can't cater to anyone, but all the drugs they gave him made him really, really nauseated. He was sick all evening and the bulk of today. We didn't get home until much later than we expected because he just didn't feel well enough to leave Chicago. I'll say it again: there's something to be said for small town care. We also had our first not-so-caring nurse. And no matter where we go, so far the nurses have been awesome. So it was a bit of a disappointment, especially because we've come to rely so heavily on the nurses for moral support, for comfort, and to insert an IV with a bit of a gentle hand.

So his actual microspheres procedure is on Thursday, August 9th. The longest day was actually yesterday, so he's over the hump in terms of tests and scans. We are looking forward to the 9th. I am hopeful that this will bring him some pain relief, and that he'll be able to go back to solid foods after this procedure. FYI, it's not uncommon to have to do shakes or some such diet and then later return to a normal diet.

Chicago was fabulous. Northwestern Hospital is literally one block off the Miracle Mile, so we even got to do a little shopping while Jim was in his angiogram. (It was six hours long...don't look at me like that.) I had fun getting a couple of school outfits for Rachel. I love Chicago. It's a very pretty city. The hardest thing about being there is that I typically do everything with Jim. It's really hard to have fun without him. He's the first one I tell...anything. He's my best friend and I am always disappointed when I can't share something really exciting with him. Being in Chicago is a treat because it's Chicago, but it was tough because I just don't have the same kind of fun without my sweetie by my side. I keep saying it. Next year. Next year we'll hit the Windy City running.