shatto
05-30-2013, 08:10 PM
Hi all.
This ought to be the last of the; "10 Hours in Emergency" - "Judy Update" stories as there is nothing more to add, I reckon.
The people reading this, you, have offered prayer, good wishes and warm, supportive comments that have been incredibly uplifting and supportive and they have deeply touched my very private and reclusive wife. After her outrage that I would dare to talk about her private condition, that is.
As you cannot experience her gratitude, allow me to say thank you, for us, for your compassionate caring.
A week ago I took Judy to an appointment with the surgeon who would remove the tumor in her rib-cage.
To call the meeting educational and enlightening might cover the experience. He definately was not Dr. Mark Craig of St. Eligius Hospital in the St . Elsewhere TV show.
Breathing is something he told us about because normally we don't think about it. Ribs aren't armor-plating to protect the heart. Their job is to provide a solid container so the expansion of the ribs and diaphragm can create low-pressure so air is sucked into the lungs, which function like balloons inside and, like a balloon, the lungs elasticity aids the pushing the bad air back out. Judy's emphysema, which is an irreversible degenerative condition, makes her lungs like an old, stiff balloon because the lungs become stiff with fibers and become less elastic, which increases the wor*k of the respiratory muscles. In other words, it is hard to breathe.
Emphysema is a downward-spiral disease Judy would not have, but for half a century of smoking.
But Judy has emphysema and it's by-products, and part of that is an increased inability to get rid of the waste product Carbon Dioxide, which may delight the Global Warming/Climate Change crowd because she won't be polluting the air, but is in fact a great way to slowly suffocate so she has the oxygen generator a thin long green hose she drags behind as she navigates the house, terminating at her nose, and she has a brace of green oxygen tanks for traveling and a mask and a machine that provides high pressure assistance with her breathing which gets rid of the CO2. in her system. The result of her now more properly functioning body is an appitite that has gone from 1/2 an oatmeal-raisin cookie in the morning to a couple bites shy of two ham and egg muffins; and mine are 'larger' than those you buy at restaurants and stores. Now she's eating like a P.... P.... P.... Person. ;)
We've all seen, read or heard about a drowning or frozen person being saved from the brink of death and we know that the body can shut down blood flow to the extremities, sacrificing them to preserve the brain. The doctor agreed that that scenario would be similar to what happened to Judy, so slowly, that her dramatic and extreme weight loss, which I thought was Gods bad joke after Menopause, was, in fact caused by lack of oxygen and her body reacting the only way it could because the message never made it to the conscious part of her brain.
The doctor explained the tumor had grown to about the size of a fist but was fortunately located low and to the side enough to not interfere with breathing. We went over the various chemical, radiologic and surgical treatments. I asked and he answered and no, there are no stem-cell treatments but the simple bottom line was based on lung function; after surgery everybody loses about 25% of their ability to exhale CO2. Judy doesn't have that margin. She could not recover from a successful surgery.
And doing anything to stop, kill, shrink or otherwise affect the slow growing tumor would be pretty much a waste of time.
So we are comfortably ensconced in our cottage, cat on lap, enjoying being with each other. And we expect to continue doing so for at least the next few years.
There are lessons I hope were imparted by sharing this story;
Smoking can really mess up the smoker. Eventually.
People are good. People care. People are compassionate and helpful.
Behaviors have consequences.
And commitment, as in marriage vows, can make all the difference in the world;
Silent rage could describe the behind my facade feelings after a decade of no sex.
I considered the vows and commitment and pro and con and concluded that
I needed to be with Judy. She was my life vision.
Now that we know what happened and have discussed it and understand that her body
didn't hate me, it was trying to stay alive for me, we have a comfortable closeness and
togetherness that has grown and, it is wonderful.
Michael Shatto
This ought to be the last of the; "10 Hours in Emergency" - "Judy Update" stories as there is nothing more to add, I reckon.
The people reading this, you, have offered prayer, good wishes and warm, supportive comments that have been incredibly uplifting and supportive and they have deeply touched my very private and reclusive wife. After her outrage that I would dare to talk about her private condition, that is.
As you cannot experience her gratitude, allow me to say thank you, for us, for your compassionate caring.
A week ago I took Judy to an appointment with the surgeon who would remove the tumor in her rib-cage.
To call the meeting educational and enlightening might cover the experience. He definately was not Dr. Mark Craig of St. Eligius Hospital in the St . Elsewhere TV show.
Breathing is something he told us about because normally we don't think about it. Ribs aren't armor-plating to protect the heart. Their job is to provide a solid container so the expansion of the ribs and diaphragm can create low-pressure so air is sucked into the lungs, which function like balloons inside and, like a balloon, the lungs elasticity aids the pushing the bad air back out. Judy's emphysema, which is an irreversible degenerative condition, makes her lungs like an old, stiff balloon because the lungs become stiff with fibers and become less elastic, which increases the wor*k of the respiratory muscles. In other words, it is hard to breathe.
Emphysema is a downward-spiral disease Judy would not have, but for half a century of smoking.
But Judy has emphysema and it's by-products, and part of that is an increased inability to get rid of the waste product Carbon Dioxide, which may delight the Global Warming/Climate Change crowd because she won't be polluting the air, but is in fact a great way to slowly suffocate so she has the oxygen generator a thin long green hose she drags behind as she navigates the house, terminating at her nose, and she has a brace of green oxygen tanks for traveling and a mask and a machine that provides high pressure assistance with her breathing which gets rid of the CO2. in her system. The result of her now more properly functioning body is an appitite that has gone from 1/2 an oatmeal-raisin cookie in the morning to a couple bites shy of two ham and egg muffins; and mine are 'larger' than those you buy at restaurants and stores. Now she's eating like a P.... P.... P.... Person. ;)
We've all seen, read or heard about a drowning or frozen person being saved from the brink of death and we know that the body can shut down blood flow to the extremities, sacrificing them to preserve the brain. The doctor agreed that that scenario would be similar to what happened to Judy, so slowly, that her dramatic and extreme weight loss, which I thought was Gods bad joke after Menopause, was, in fact caused by lack of oxygen and her body reacting the only way it could because the message never made it to the conscious part of her brain.
The doctor explained the tumor had grown to about the size of a fist but was fortunately located low and to the side enough to not interfere with breathing. We went over the various chemical, radiologic and surgical treatments. I asked and he answered and no, there are no stem-cell treatments but the simple bottom line was based on lung function; after surgery everybody loses about 25% of their ability to exhale CO2. Judy doesn't have that margin. She could not recover from a successful surgery.
And doing anything to stop, kill, shrink or otherwise affect the slow growing tumor would be pretty much a waste of time.
So we are comfortably ensconced in our cottage, cat on lap, enjoying being with each other. And we expect to continue doing so for at least the next few years.
There are lessons I hope were imparted by sharing this story;
Smoking can really mess up the smoker. Eventually.
People are good. People care. People are compassionate and helpful.
Behaviors have consequences.
And commitment, as in marriage vows, can make all the difference in the world;
Silent rage could describe the behind my facade feelings after a decade of no sex.
I considered the vows and commitment and pro and con and concluded that
I needed to be with Judy. She was my life vision.
Now that we know what happened and have discussed it and understand that her body
didn't hate me, it was trying to stay alive for me, we have a comfortable closeness and
togetherness that has grown and, it is wonderful.
Michael Shatto