Thursday December 8 2022

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 8, 2022

Good morning!

Joe, glad the prep went well. Good luck and hope you recover from anesthesia quickly.

J22, I don't mind crowds, but I don't like Christmasy stuff much anymore. Although I like the music. I had Chinese at the airport the other day it was good.

Stars, glad that you talked to the doc and I hope the endoscopy gets done.

Dianah, sounds like you had a fun day out shopping, albeit tiring. What is a "Pep Boys", we don't have that around here.

I thought today was Friday. Glad to hear it's only Thursday because that's one more day off for me before going back to work next week. LOL

My long nap kept me up until about 1AM because I wasn't tired. Hope to stay up today and not nap. I got a $70 rebate from the tires I bought last month and used it to renew "Insight Timer" a meditation app that's free but has courses and other things I like with a membership.

Heading to the gym here in a bit as it's been a while. Going to do some cooking since I went through all my food before I left. I took advantage of an empty fridge and cleaned that. It gets so messy and I don't get that. LOL. I cooked some brown rice and opened a can of lentils for dinner last night and had veggie burgers for lunch. Going to try and stay away from the processed veggie burgers for a bit and that was the last of them. Did one load of laundry but have more to do.

Have a great day!

Editorial Team / Admin · Dec 8, 2022

Good morning!

Tweety, "Pep Boys" is a chain of automobile-related supplies/things in a large store (including tires) and some maintenance bays as well, for, say, oil changes, etc. Their logo is the three Pep Boys: Manny, Moe, and Jack! From the web: "In 1921, four Navy buddies spotted an emerging market for auto supplies stores and pooled $800 to open the first one in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since then, Pep Boys has been ahead of its time in the business world as one of the most widely known aftermarket auto parts and service brands in the country."

Slept pretty well, though I was awake a couple hours for who-knows-why. Today is laundry day. I did litter boxes last night.

Joe, good luck today! Hope it goes smoothly and without your knowledge, and that the results are negative! The prep is often worse than the procedure.

Have a good day!

No Stars In My Eyes · Dec 8, 2022

Good Afternoon~

Hubby called me at 11 AM and said they were about to take him for his endoscopy. "They're going to knock me out with anesthesia." I know they wouldn't try to do an endoscopy without anesthesia! Anyway, that was 3 hours ago. So will wait for a call from him whenever...

Nannie was up straightening out the sofa cover, which I mess up by sitting there all evening and I don't bother straightening it out before I go up to bed. Gives her something to do, y'know. Don't know yet if she's made her bed or if the chux was/is wet. Time enough to take care of that in a while.

I had to put a Thera-Wrap around my lower back. It's not hurting, just achey. I don't know what I'd do without Thera-wraps or Lidocaine roll-on!

So, that's about it for now. More later, I'm sure~

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 8, 2022

Good luck to Mr. Stars. I'm surprised the doctor wouldn't call you post-procedure with the findings since you can't be there in person. But hope you hear something soon.

No Stars In My Eyes · Dec 8, 2022

I texted hubby..."Are you okay? Call me if you can. ILY." He called me, he had just woke up from a nap and said he couldn't think or talk too clearly. He said something about "the doctor said he put some bands around the veins...." (?) and that he's on a liquid diet for three days and a soft diet for three days, and he guesses he'll be in the hospital for 5 more days. But he is going to call me back later and maybe he'll be able to explain better. I will tell him to see if he can get the doc or a nurse call me and fill me in!

So, no, the doc didn't call me. But I did get calls from The Police Association, wanting $ donation, and the NRA called asking for hubby and said they will call him back at a more convenient time. I said, "He's in the hospital." and hung up. Why are they calling MY phone to talk to him? No clue! And, again, Spectrum wants me to sign my phone up with them, and Verizon keeps offering me phone upgrades. Ppfftt!

Nannie is only dozing. Maybe she'll nap better now that we've heard from hubby. Oh and get this: hubby was not so sleepy that he forgot to ask, "What are you girls going to have for supper?" Heck, we don't know! 3:45 PM is a little early for supper, y'know?

All for now~

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 9, 2022

Maybe they cauterized something? I wonder what his H&H was and if that contributed to the falls in addition to drinking. I hope his docs there put him on a librium taper and he stays long enough to detox.

Editorial Team / Admin · Dec 9, 2022

2 hours ago, Tweety said:

Maybe they cauterized something? I wonder what his H&H was and if that contributed to the falls in addition to drinking. I hope his docs there put him on a librium taper and he stays long enough to detox.

This. ?

No Stars In My Eyes · Dec 9, 2022

Don't know anything more; he'd said he would call me later, but never did. I thought maybe he'd call in the evening, but so far, nuthin'. I don't know if he is being medicated for withdrawal, or he got some kind of 'bad news' that he is brooding about. I'll not call him tonight. I know just being in the hospital can be exhausting. Even one of my across-the-street neighbors said to me, "Maybe if they keep him a while, he'll dry out!"

At 8:10 PM, miraculously, Nannie asked me, "If I need to lie down, can I go in that room over there?" (Yup, tout suite!) I have to start making her get up from that recliner q2 hrs and relieve the pressure on her large, beefy butt's coccyx. I looked at it earlier because portions that press into the chair, in which she NEVER shifts her position, look blue when she first gets up. I told her that the very last thing she'd want to have to deal with is a pressure sore there because then she'd always have to be positioned on her side. Nope, Nannie with a coccyx dsg would be a horror!

Tomorrow~

nursej22, MSN, RN · Dec 9, 2022

I am guessing Mr. Stars had esophageal varices that were banded. They actually use elastic bands to pinch them off, similar to banding hemorrhoids. This is a not an unusual result from cirrhosis. The hardened liver prevents blood from flowing through the liver, causing an engorgement of veins of the esophagus. In severe cases, these can rupture and bleed. I think Tweety is on the right track about a low H&H. I also wonder about his clotting factors, as liver failure can cause low levels of these. Hopefully, the GI doc who did the endoscopy has a real "come to Jesus talk" (as my favorite cardiologist used to say) about drinking. Not that the personal doc hasn't, but maybe the specialist can convince him.

Anyway, I had a decent day at work. I took a nice walk at noon to check out wildlife in the nearby creek. I only saw ducks, geese and gulls. I keep hoping the coho salmon will run soon, as I understand they swim/jump up the creek on their way to spawn. Dh said he has seen otter in the creek too.

I use the Headspace app for mediation. I think it's really helped me get over some anger issues. And I like the running mindfulness coaching.

I've seen PepBoys stores! Mostly in California. I generally go to Napa for wiper refills, headlights and air filters.

Annie, how is Gma doing? Is you hospital getting hit with the triple respiratory stuff-COVID-Flu-RSV? I talked to our health office today who also works as a pediatric hospitalist. She says she is seeing a lot of bacterial empyema co-infections with flu. Ugh.

Ado Annie, ASN, RN · Dec 9, 2022

I was guessing esophageal varices as well. Another indicator that drinking is really not good for Mr. Stars' health.

Hope all went smoothly, Joe.

Hey to all. We had slight fog delays with the flights yesterday. Just made it in time for my first meeting. Then meetings today until 2 but then we took a boat tour (a 3 hour tour ? ?) that let us watch the sunset (and moonrise). We saw dolphins that swam alongside for awhile. I hope that is a natural behavior for them and not something potentially dangerous for them.

It is the boys' birthday. Twin B is still sick but beginning to feel better. Twin A sent me a picture of the fog he had to drive through going home from the zoo.