Books on Health

  • Dr. Mom's Healthy Living
  • Transfiguration Diet
  • The School of Natural Healing

Saturday, July 11, 2009

The end to the beginning

They did surgery on John. The procedure itself went well. They put in a rod and screws into the arm. John did not come out of the anesthesia well though. He had dementia like symptoms. He was confused, disoriented and sometimes combative. He wouldn't remember that I had been there the day before, so he would think that I was leaving him or whatever crazy story he would come up with. He didn't remember much of went on for the next 3 months. It wasn't until the first week in December that he came out of it. They did all kinds of testing, changed his psych meds to try to figure out what the cause for this new condition. We had even started talking about the possibility of putting him in a mental hospital. During this time he was at a rehabilitation place. I came to see him almost everyday. My daughter worked there and my good friend ran the place so I knew he was in good hands. I had to keep a journal for him to remind him what he did and that I hadn't deserted him. In November, he went back into the hospital for gastritis. His dementia was the worst then. They put him in a netted tent to keep him in. The Security was called several times. During that time is when they found the right antibiotic to treat whatever infection that was causing his dementia. About a day or so after he came around, they did another minor surgery. We were scared that he would regress again. Right when he opened his eyes though he made sure we knew he was in the here and now. For Christmas, we went out of town. It was a nice break. He was in the rehab place until March 2008.

Since then, John has been stable. His mental capacities never did come back 100% since the bout of Dementia. Socially he is like a child. His long term memory is still intact. Short term though is not so good. He can carry on a conversation well enough, but there are many times that he just acts like a child. He can't add simple math. There are many times that he remembers things though, like Doctors appointments, so it just seems hit and miss.

We made a move from high altitude to sea level in August 2008. He went without oxygen for about 6 weeks. And his sugars were controllable for the first time in years. Within 3 months John was back on oxygen and sugars were not so easy to control. He had a chest catheter for dialysis until the winter when he had an actual Fistula put in. That has helped for cleanliness and keeping infection down. He also hasn't fallen since he has been back home. He does burn his fingers often and will get an ulcer on his feet occasionally. I have been able to heal them all with Tea Tree Oil.

So now for a list of the complications and symptoms John has:

  • Diabetes (1991)
  • Truck accident (Semi)-Herniated discs in back (1992)
  • Heart Failure (1994)
  • Kidney Failure (2002)
  • Hemochromatosis (1998)
  • Ruptured Achilles Tendon (one in 1997, the other in 1998)
  • Impotence (1997)
  • Hiatal Hernia
  • Chronic Diarrhea
  • Depression
  • Anxious
  • Neuropathy-hands and feet
  • Bones spurs C4-6, T10-11, L5-S1 the worst
  • Very picky eater
  • Sleeps up to 20 hours a day
  • Hands crippled
  • Many nights he can't sleep
  • Can only walk short distances
  • Gets painful pressure when he urinates (what little he does)
  • Gets very restless
  • Coughing spells
  • Can't feel many times when he has had a bowel movement.
  • Will have bowel movements many times in the middle of the night.
  • Gets shooting pains in his hands and feet at anytime
  • Basal cell skin Cancer on his face (surgery for it in July 2009)