health

Goodbye to a good man

Suzy Taylor Oakley family, friends, God, health, inspiration, medical

My friend Donny died yesterday. Well, as an adult he was known as Don — by co-workers and others who haven’t known him as long as I have (more than 30 years). I think some of his co-workers probably still called him Donny, though. He had worked at the Kroger in Batesville since he was 16.

I tried to call him Don to his face. But to me he was still Donny, my brother’s buddy.

He was a good man.

Later I’ll write more, when I have permission from Don’s wife to publish a photo of him, plus maybe what the obituary said. She was devastated yesterday, and not at all sure how to tell their son, Josh.

Today is Josh’s 12th birthday.

Pray for them.

It makes a difference

Suzy Taylor Oakley health, inspiration, nature

Many of the people in my circle don’t understand why I care so much about recycling, conserving water and other resources or how we use plastic and toss it away without a thought.

Why does it matter that sea life is harmed by the things we use and carelessly get rid of? For one thing, they’re all God’s creatures, just as we are. They may not have the “higher intelligence” that we humans possess, but He did create them, and He cares about each of His creatures. In fact, sometimes I’m not so sure just how much smarter we really are, when we can disregard another life just because we don’t understand it.

We are all part of the circle.

Click here to read how one woman changed her little corner of the world and how that small change started sending ripples throughout the world.

Go, Rebecca.

The seton is gone

Suzy Taylor Oakley Crohn's disease, family, health, inspiration, medical

If you haven’t talked to me lately (or you’re not a medical professional), you have no idea what that means.

While trying not to gross out all my readers, I haven’t said too much in blog posts about Bruce’s rear end, but this is what we’ve been dealing with for a year. I have been telling people one-on-one about the most recent manifestation of his Crohn’s disease – the fistula in his bottom, which sent us to the hospital for six days in December, or the third time in 2007.

On Dec. 19, he had surgery on a perianal fistula. The surgeon sliced it open, drained the pus (sorry) and inserted a seton. As if Bruce’s bottom hasn’t been sore enough, this seton (a knotted string) has caused even more pain and trouble during bathroom time – and, of course, during sitting, walking and even sleeping time.

The string was supposed to work its way out naturally as the fistula healed. We have returned for follow-up appointments with the surgeon every 10-14 days. On those visits, the surgeon has added rubber bands to tighten the seton and speed healing. After those visits, the pain is a lot worse for a few days. The last two or three times, the doc has said, “It’ll probably come out before your next visit.” But each time we returned, he kept having to add bands. A month ago, when he added the seventh and eighth rubber bands, he said that was a record. Then two weeks ago, he added two more – 10 rubber bands in all.

This week Bruce could tell he was really close to giving birth to the thing, but it just stubbornly hung on. It must have been like a pregnant woman in her 10th month!

And Friday was the visit at which the doctor was tired of waiting. So he sliced it out of there.

I had to leave the room.

Doc used a numbing agent, but it was very mild and the procedure was still painful. And the numbing agent wore off before we even got home. Bruce was in a lot of pain – and still is, but it is better now that he has rested for a few hours and taken some pain medication, something he would never do before last year. I mean, I couldn’t even get him to take ibuprofen for a sprained ankle. But he has taken his pain meds this year, many times without prompting.

He hurts, people.

But the string is gone, and we’re glad.

We had been joking about getting rid of the “string up his butt,” and for days I had my headline already written – “No strings attached” – but it didn’t seem so funny after I saw him nearly crying yesterday (okay, he actually cried for a few seconds, but I’m not sure he’d want me to tell you).

So, if you read his blog and he writes nobly about how strings up your butt can make you philosophical, believe him.

But also believe me when I tell you that philosophical is not the only thing he has been feeling lately.

And, for those of you who have been asking, we are still waiting to hear whether Monday’s CT scan revealed another fistula. His GI doc is supposed to get the results “in 3-5 business days.”

CT scan

Suzy Taylor Oakley Crohn's disease, family, health, inspiration, medical

Bruce will have a CT scan Monday afternoon. We are to be at the hospital by 1:15. Please pray for him.

He has had a sore, swollen area on his hip for several weeks that he keeps mentioning to the doctors, and they simply say it “didn’t show up on the scan.”

But that was two months ago, and the area on his hip is troublesome. He is still trying to heal from the fistula they did surgery on in December, and this other problem could be another fistula. It also could be a pulled muscle. Without getting too graphic, I’ll just say that he has such a sore bottom that when he sits on the potty (which is fairly often), he tenses up to 1) make everything “come out ok” and 2) keep the pain to a minimum, so he possibly has strained a muscle in that area.

So he mentions it every time he has an appointment with the doctor-of-the-week, and they usually tell him nothing showed up on the CT scan. But it has been worrisome for far too long, so today the GI doc scheduled a scan.

Even if it turns up nothing, at least they can tell us it isn’t another fistula.

If you click through to the Crohn’s & Colitis site, you’ll have to scroll a bit to find the explanation of fistulae. They are found mostly in the intestinal tract, but one doc said he had seen them as far down as the thigh.

A fistula is evil and scary. Please pray that this is a muscle thing, not a waste-tunnel thing.