CoCo's Corner

I've been hanging out in my house for the most part.  Hiding from germs.  Hiding from phlegm.  Hiding from coughs.  Hiding from sneezes.  Hiding from snot. Trying to stay healthy until surgery day.  Not that I can hide very well.  Roommate daughter is literally coughing a lung up.  So, she can only hang out with me if she is wearing a mask.  I am bathing in hand sanitizer when I remember.  I'm taking elderberry gummies with a bunch of zinc and vitamin C in order to boost my immunities.   Poor Roommate. Not that I would know much if I did have a cold.  My nose has been running constantly since the day Jeff was pushed up my nostril.  I have a constant sore throat, due to the tube rubbing in the back of my throat.  The worst part is when I'm laying down and roll onto my left side.  It starts to move around and I feel like I'm choking.  It doesn't do it every time, but most of the time.  And I don...

  Well, the day has come and gone.  I got my new and fancy attachment coming out of my face.  It was a horrible experience.  I thought I was going to go absolutely insane and take out the people putting it in me.  But, let's talk about it real quick. I got an NJ tube.  I thought I was going to be getting an NG tube.  What is an NJ tube?  It's a tube for feeding that is placed through the nose and snaked down past the stomach and into the jejunal.  The jejunal is in the small intestine.  The nasojejunal tube is more complex and has a few more risks than the nasogastric tube.  But, apparently, it's the best choice for me.   So let's talk about the actual procedure.  I knew from the beginning, when they squirted lidocaine in my two nostrils to kind of deaden it that it was going to be COMPLETELY horrible!!!  And then needed me to sniff it down to kind of deaden my throat, to make the tube a little more comfortable g...

  It is a never-ending cycle.   People thinking I do not eat, and that if I did, all my issues would be solved.  All my issues would be corrected.  That I'm just doing this to myself, because I refuse to eat.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I may not eat what many people do.  Not as many calories, because I really have the smallest of pouches, so I get full faster.  My meals tend to be cut into smaller and more frequent.  For example, I have first breakfast.  I have second breakfast.  I have lunch.  I have midafternoon meal.  I have dinner. Then a snack a while before bed.  And finally, I take a snack to bed with me.   My gastric surgeon told me, that when I get my NG tube, I will need to keep an intricate diary of my food, to see what I am taking in.  What I am eating.  And how many calories.  So, I did a practice run and by the end of the day, I was around 1450 calories....

Sun wasn't even up when I headed to the hospital Today, I had my first albumin infusion.  I have it at the Cancer Center.  It lasts about four hours.  They get an IV started and slowly infuse the albumin.  Today, I learned a lot: Don't take your own snacks.  They have great snacks and beverages.  And you don't have to haul all that stuff. Four hours, sitting in a little curtained room, is really not bad.  I snoozed, I snacked, I watched TV, I played on my phone. Make sure you take your power pack. If they ask you if you want a heated blanket, the answer is always YES.  I had three by the time I left.  I told the adorable CNA fella that I planned to just look like a pile of blankets by the time I was ready to leave. In October, we wear Halloween fare The side effects are headaches and achy muscles.  I'm the lucky one that gets both.  I'm doing ok tonight.  I don't get headaches, I'm used to achy muscles.  I limit my intake ...

I am exhausted.  Physically.  Mentally.  Is there anything else??  Because I'm sure that is exhausted, too. I went to the doctor today.  I knew it was going to be a lot of information.  I had made a list.  I had my notebook.  I printed out all of the information from my emergency room visit on Saturday to take with me.  Blood tests.  CT Scan.  Urine test.  Plus, I brought my CT scan from March, because I noticed on it that I have a small umbilical hernia.  I was ready.  And I knew what I needed to fight for. I also came armed with gifts.  I love this doctor and his medical assistant so much.  I took them a gift of tortilla chips and homemade salsa.  And I wrote a love note on the bag.  That is how much I appreciate him.  They both loved it.  It even made Hayley get a little weepy, cuz she was having a bad day. I gave him all of my documents, and he went through the blood tests and such fr...

 Defnition: Purpura - noun - the appearance of purple or red spots on the skin and mucous membranes caused by bleeding underneath the skin due to small blood vessels bursting.  These spots can range in size from small dots (petechiae) to larger patches (ecchymosis or bruises) and may indicate underlying health issues.   Sadly, when people see my arms, I get many responses and questions.   From how are you doing?  How are you feeling?  OR what is up with your arms???  My BFF literally said, what the hell is wrong with your arms?? Like I had been out in the parking lot bruising myself up intentionally.  And we had just talked about it a couple of weeks before when she saw it. Are they pretty??  No.  But, they truly are the way I know the status of my health.  Between seeing this stuff show up on my arms and my overall general state of strength lets me know if I should be concerned.   Right now, my arms are actually look...

  I kind of referred to Ted and my "effing burger" saga that turned into a full-on tradition for us on a Facebook/Instagram post.  I added that if anyone wanted to hear the story, let me know, because I love this story.  A couple of people said they wanted to hear it - so I'm sharing. It was my 50th birthday.  It was a pretty significant birthday.  Now, in all honesty, a couple of people had gone against my express wishes and planned a whole surprise birthday party with family, friends and all sorts of people.  The funny thing was the person who was behind the whole thing had planned one for her mother a couple of months before.  She told me the story, and I said, I would kick your ass.  I'd be so mad!!!  Yeah, she took it as a challenge.  I had planned out a day of dinner out and the Muppet Movie at the dollar theater and I was excited to spend that time with my family.  When Ted started driving the wrong direction, I knew there we...

 I get asked at times if I "regret" making decisions I made as far as having gastric bypass.  First off, if you ask questions like this to people, DON'T!!!  Why on earth would you ask someone, who made a decision that was right for them at the time, if they regret it is a non-sensical question.  None of us know how a decision today will affect our tomorrow.  I'm sorry, but if you knew you were going to get into that nasty divorce, would you ever have married them in the first place? The other question I get asked is, if you knew what was going to happen would you still have gastric bypass?  Again - you're asking for crystal ball revelations.  Nobody knows how a decision we make today will affect our tomorrow.  If you knew you were going to go flying off that cliff, would you have gone a different way?? First off - I didn't have gastric bypass to lose weight.  Was I excited to lose weight, yes.  But, it was also a very soul-searching time...

Enough said!!!  It's been a rough couple of weeks.  But, this whole drama started on March 17.  Yep - St. Patrick's Day.  I woke up in the middle of the night and was in crazy pain.  I was sure my appendix was about to burst or something.  I laid there for a bit and dozed.  About an hour later, I woke up again and was in so much pain I couldn't think.  I called in sick to work.  I was so disappointed, I had my green beads and my four leaf clover earrings all ready to go.  Got up and simply dressed myself and dragged myself out to the garage and drove myself to IHC Hospital in Murray.  I just didn't want to wake anyone up, so I just did it myself.   Tests were run; blood, urine, CT scan and all that regular stuff.  I was given medication for pain.  I was told that I had a kidney stone that was making it's way down to pass and that is what the pain was.  My emergency room doctor was amazing.  She said I s...

This is not a health update. I decided to talk about life, in general, since 2014.   Today, I realized that eleven years ago today was my last day at my previous job, my previous career, my previous life.  I loved my previous life, until I didn't.  And that all turned around the end of 2013.  I was a 911 dispatcher for 32 years.  I started on March 1, 1982 as a records clerk.  Moved into dispatch as a call taker and dispatcher, was promoted to supervisor and finally was the deputy director at the end of my career.  That last part was probably the worst decision I ever made.  And maybe the best.   I was there through so many crises and events.  The day I took my application in, I was told pretty much everyone was gone "to the funeral".  A police officer had been shot and killed the week before and nobody was there to take my application.  This was LONG before the internet.  It was a handwritten application and ba...