Thursday, March 29, 2007

Wild and Wooly Ride

The last ten days have been, as they say, Wild and wooly! A week ago Tuesday, my husband started having pain in is upper back and shoulder area. He had a chiropractor appointment the next day and didn’t feel any better when he left. He worked all day Wednesday and then worked at the temple that night. The pain was getting worse, so we decided that he needed to go back to the chiropractor and see if they could do something to relieve, what he thought was, a pinched nerve. They worked on him for about 3 hours off and on and couldn’t seem to relieve the pain. His pain was pretty intense and even the pain killers and muscle relaxants didn’t help. He couldn’t get comfortable and any position and didn’t get much sleep.

Friday morning he realized that he couldn’t feel the little finger, and the one next to it, on his right hand. At this point he hurt in the middle of his upper back with the pain going all the way thru his chest. His neck was hurting as well and now he had severe pain going down his right arm all the way to the tips of his fingers and he couldn’t feel two of them. Those two fingers were totally numb and he said they felt like rubber. When he moved his neck up or down the pain got worse. The muscle relaxants and pain killers that he was on were knocking him for a loop and barely killing the pain. He hadn’t worked now for two days and this bothered him greatly. A friend of ours worked for a chiropractor who was also a “natural health care doctor”. He took us in right away and proceeded to tell us that he thought TF had a heart attack. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and for a few minutes was totally stunned. He had some kind of “laser” that he put on TF to help revitalize the heart cells and tissue. He shinned his light on TF and told him he had some Gall stones, two stones in his pancreas and two in his liver. He also told him that he had dissolved them and he wouldn’t have to worry about them any more. At this point I started having some doubt about this doctor. We left there wondering what was really going on. TF, still in severe pain, tried to get some much needed sleep.

TF’s pain started getting worse around 4:00am. Saturday morning. He woke me up and told me to take a shower and get dressed. While TF was showering I called our HMO and told them what was happening and she told me to hang up and call 911, that it sounded like he was having a heart attack. I told TF what they had said and he finally decided he had better get “medical” attention. The ambulance arrived very quickly and the ambulance crew evaluated him and said that his EKG didn’t show a heart attack but that he needed to go to the hospital anyway. I followed the ambulance in my car and TF was admitted in emergency room. I gave all our insurance information and they immediately started checking him out. After six hours of tests, they ruled out heart attack, blood clot to the lung and a torn artery in the chest. He had been given two x-rays, an MRI and a Cat Scan. The emergency room doctor said he had gall stones. I asked him how many and they said it looked like a sack of marbles. He couldn’t find a pinched nerve but he said that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have one. He sent us home with more pain killers and muscle relaxants and told us to go see the regular doctor on Monday. TF is still in pain and still can’t sleep. I call the HMO and get an appointment for Tuesday because the doctor will not be in on Monday.

Tuesday morning we go to the doctor and tell him the whole story and he excuses himself to go take a look at the MRI, x-rays and Cat Scan. He comes back in and says that he didn’t see a pinched nerve but he thinks that is what is the problem. He did tell us that they noticed a “mass” on his liver and now they want another MRI to check that out. They took blood to see if he has hepatitis. The doctor got us an appointment with the nerve doctor for the next morning. TF is still in server pain and not sleeping. Yesterday we went to the nerve doctor and she said that his C8 nerve is “inflamed” and it will have to heal. She told gave him a shot of some kind of liquid ibuprofen and gave him some different pain killers and a new muscle relaxant and a steroid pack. He will have to go to physical therapy twice a week for four weeks. This new pain killer and muscle relaxant does not make him sleepy and he now thinks he can go to work…He is in business for himself and when you don’t work you don’t get paid…He started feeling better and he actually did work for about four hours yesterday. He came home exhausted but feeling better that he can do some sort of work. Last night he got some sleep…Thank God! I got some sleep too. Yea!

I still have to make several appointments, to get the new MRI and to start his physical therapy. I am more worried about the mass on his liver than anything else. What’s the old saying, “When it rains, it pours”. Well, it’s pouring!! I am thankful that he didn’t have a heart attack and I tell myself that things could have been much worse… While all of this was going on, I had to hold the fort down and try to take care of myself. The project that I had been working on for the church was last Tuesday and it couldn’t be cancelled. If it weren’t for some very good friends, who basically took over the project, I don’t know what I would have done. (I did go in and work for several hours after TF’s doctor appointment.) I thank God for my friends and family. I also thank God for all my blessings and that I still have a husband to take care of. Now I have to finish the taxes, I was almost done when all of this started…It will be a great load off my mind when that is turned in………….As TF. Says, “It’s never boring around the Stern house.”

Now, to stay with the idea of my frugal living blog: Frig Clip: Smelly cutting board?
Manufacturer John Boos & Co. recommends you sprinkle it liberally with salt, then use lemon or lime quarters to rub the salt in. Let it sit for a few minutes, then wipe with a damp cloth. Boos president Joe Emmerich says a good board rubbed periodically with food-safe mineral oil will last indefinitely. “I have some at home that are more than 25 years old,” he says.

17 Comments:

At 11:11 AM, Blogger Mountain Mama said...

Wow! You must have been under a lot of stress! I hope the tests come back favorable and all is well.

 
At 11:13 AM, Blogger Big Dave T said...

Hope everything works out with TF. The hardest part sometimes is not knowing what's going on.

I'm atop our family leaderboard in our on-line hoops bracket challenge. I have the "enforcer" beat for sure. He's vacationing in Mexico right now and doesn't know that. I'm trying to get his cell phone number so I can tell him. It's an international call, but I figure he would want to know regardless of the cost.

I can still lose first place if Georgetown wins, so I'll have to cheer for Ohio State to win. (God, as a Wolverine fan it's hard to do that)

 
At 1:50 PM, Blogger Evey said...

Poor guy, thats sounds like a horrible time and not knowing what was wrong. Sheesh!

 
At 2:14 PM, Blogger Oh great One said...

Goodness! I'm glad she found the problem with the nerve. I hope everything is ok with his liver. Take care.

 
At 8:29 PM, Blogger Rachel said...

Wow, you have been through the wringer haven't you? and especially your husband. I hope the MRI shows that the liver thing is nothing after all. I will keep you both in my prayers.

 
At 2:13 AM, Blogger Live, Love, Laugh said...

I will definately be praying you find the answer to what is going on with TF. I will pray for a good report, after all, our Creator made us and He can fix us!!

 
At 8:07 AM, Blogger Lucy Stern said...

Mountain Mama - I was pretty stressed and I am praying that the tests come back favorable too.

Dave - Please don't pick on the enforcer too much, it may come back to bit you in the ...... Not knowing what's going on it the worst part.

evey - I could say we were on pins and needles waiting for results. Ha ha.

Oh Great One - we are going day by day and hopefully everything will work out in our favor.

rachel - Please keep us in your prayers.

live, love and laugh - Thanks for the much needed prayers....Yes, he can fix us if it is his design to. Please keep praying.

 
At 2:15 PM, Blogger Jamie Dawn said...

That's quite a saga!
How sad that he endured so much pain, plus the scare of a possible heart attack.
I'm glad he got thoroughly checked out though, and I hope the spot on his liver turns out to be nothing significant.
It's good to hear he finally got some relief and was able to get back to work.
I hope this all resolves very soon.

 
At 11:21 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Oh, My.

I'm really glad that it wasn't a heart attack. I'll say a prayer for you that the mass will turn out to be something easily reversible or not worthy of concern.

Very glad it wasn't a heart attack! Your husband sounds like he is a very hard worker. I think that is cool. And I think you're cool for not opting out of the project-- you're a very loyal church member. I'm impressed. And I've learned an important lesson, I think. Thank you, Lucy. Will definitely keep your family in my prayers.

 
At 6:25 AM, Blogger Live, Love, Laugh said...

how's TF, I will lift the two of you up again today in prayer, God Bless you both!!!

 
At 11:40 AM, Blogger Lucy Stern said...

jamie dawn - He's doing better and that's good...

shepra - keep those prayers coming.

nosurfgirl - He is a hard worker and he has been living with a certain amount of pain for the last twenty years, but this pain was more intense.

live, love, laugh - TF is doing better. He had his first physical therapy appointment today and he thinks it will do him some good. I bought some Almond carrier oil yesterday and mixed some Lavender oil into it and massaged it on his back, shoulder and arm last night. The Lavender oil is supposed to be a muscle relaxant, so I decided to give it a try. He came home yesterday with a lot of pain again so I chose last night to give it a try. He seemed better this morning. Let's keep our fingers crossed (and with God's help) hope that the physical therapy works.

 
At 2:27 PM, Blogger Tracy S said...

I pray that all of TF's tests come out well and that they get to the bottom of his pain soon. I know how stressful all the testing ans wondering can be. Just keep leaning on and trusting God... He is good and faithful!!

Thank you for stopping by to enjoy my weekend pics with me.

 
At 5:42 PM, Blogger Drywall Mom said...

It was not you that did not trust that "Dr. Jack", it was the rest of the family. We all told you that you needed to take dad to the regular doctor. And wasn't it you that said "if he had cancer, we would take him to Dr. Jack over the regular doctors". You said this after we were telling you to take him to a specialist and called Grandma to yell at him for not going to see a specialist. And your "Doctor Jack" said that those were dissovled and they were not so what does he know anyways? Nothing if you ask me. I'm just glad that he decided to go to the ER so that we wouldn't have to hit him across the head with a frying pan until he did.

 
At 5:43 PM, Blogger Mrs. Geezerette said...

Lucy, I am sorry to hear about your husband's health problems. I will keep both of you in my prayers.

There may be several unknowns, but one thing for sure is that he is in good hands, both yours and God's.

My husband is having health problems, too, right now. He developed a blood clot in his leg while we were on vacation. While he was in the hospital getting that treated with coumiden (sp.?), his blood pressure went sky high. That is under control, but now he is having trouble with his legs swelling. He has been through a series of diagnostic tests to determine why the elevated blood pressure happened and why the swelling. So far everything checks out okay. But the condition continues. We don't know what to think.

 
At 6:57 PM, Blogger Lucy Stern said...

Present Storm - Thanks for your prayers....I loved your pictures.

Jen - Dad is the one that didn't want to go to the hospital....I had to talk him into it, he finally decided to go after seeing Dr. Jack. He scared Dad enough that dad decided to go.

susieq - Sorry to hear that your husband is having health problems too. Make sure your doctor checks him out for phrifieal artery disease. It is basically, hardening of the arteries in the legs. Good luck!

 
At 12:51 AM, Blogger Lisa said...

Lucy-
I hope everything works out for your husband, and I hope for less stress for you and your family.

 
At 12:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow, sounds like a scary few days you've had there.

 

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