Things were going along smoothly. We ate Bear’s birthday dinner at a local steakhouse… a little early, because the birthday isn’t til Monday, but scheduling meant that we were celebrating beforehand. We ate, enjoyed ourselves, went home, and settled in on our respective computers to watch movies and game and cuddle the cats.
Suddenly Bear had an excruciating, stabbing pain in his gut. He thought it was constipation, but defecation didn’t help at all, and it didn’t ease, it kept stabbing him when he moved, and randomly at intervals when he tried to sit still. New pain, sudden onset, strange symptoms…. that equals do not pass go, do not collect $200, go straight to the ER.
A CAT scan showed that his diverticulitis is acting up, and he has a bowel perforation.
Whether they do surgery on it, or whether they let it close up on its own is something we don’t know yet. (Updates later today, when I talk to the doctor.)
What I do know is that we recently got hit with a large dose of medical bills related to his last hospitalization, and due to the timing of a necessary car repair, we are about $650 in the hole and if I can’t get it paid off in a few days, I lose my checking account and debit card. That would be problematic. If I pay it with the money I have now, I can’t pay this month’s utilities.
My paypal is theladyherself1971@yahoo.com. I know most of us are spending on the holidays, but the best present I could have would be to get the massive financial worry off my back so that I can focus on Bear and what he needs to handle this latest health crisis. I hate to ask again, given that this community has been so generous to me, but this is where I’m at, and honestly, I’m at my wits end.
I thank you all for recs and comments of support; since I haven’t slept since seven am, I don’t know how much diary tending I’ll be able to do, but I promise to update when I know what’s going on, and to check it when I do finally wake up.
Sunday, Dec 4, 2016 · 5:18:20 PM +00:00 · Alexandra Lynch
We’ve seen the doctor and the surgeon, and it is a small tear, and they think that with antibiotics, resting the bowel, and a few days of letting it heal, he won’t need immediate surgery.
However, the modern standard of care for diverticulitis is just to take out the offending portion of the colon, and the surgeon we saw today isn’t willing to do this on a 350 pound man. He recommends we go down to Indianapolis and see the people there who do bariatric surgery, as they are used to operating on the GI tracts of obese people. Hopefully this doesn’t have to happen this December, and we can take care of it sometime next year. It does have to happen, as having had this happen once, the likelihood that it will happen again, and in a worse fashion, goes up.
The observant will remember that I am seeing a surgeon about my torn ankle tendon in January. When we do his surgery is going to be influenced partly by what they recommend for me.
I’m so grateful for what you all have done so far, and am optimistic at this point that he’ll go home at the end of the week.