2009-09-01
You Know It's Monday....
When you try to log out of the email program at work (not log in) and it asks you for your password... and then won't accept it. I finally gave up on that and called the help desk. THEY gave up on it after 15 minutes and will try again when it's Tuesday.
2009-08-04
MSA: win the battle; lose the war
For those that are not up to speed on my mother, she is in the end stages of a disease called MSA (Multiple System Atrophy) see www.acnr.co.uk/pdfs/volume3issue6/v3i6reviewart1.pdf if you want the technical details, one of the best articles I've seen on the topic. In short, you lose control of muscles, generally by muscles tightening up so you can't use them. With mom it started with difficulty in going up stairs; her hand would lock on the handrail when climbing stairs - she would have to pry the fingers open with her "good" hand to break the grip. Eventually she couldn't write - no small motor control, couldn't climb over steep objects - like the threshold. Other functions are affected: blood pressure drops when you stand, which causes falls - as if limited muscle mobility wasn't bad enough to induce "clumsiness".
Loss of vocal skills, inability to chew, inability to swallow effectively followed. We now have to insert most of the consonants (and some of the vowels) in her speech, although the occasional "Yes" or "No" are clear. When agitated, the speech becomes somewhat clearer: like "leave me alone" after a gastric tube was placed in her nose. (She was not happy with the surgeon or the nurse).
Other systems are likewise affected (hence the name MULTIPLE system). Swallowing difficulties affect the lungs with the most likely result being aspiration pneumonia. (which brings us to the hospital a week ago).
I asked the attending physician about gastrointestinal complications of MSA as mom was having difficulty keeping food down. He responded that this was not an area of expertise that he could comment on. I've done some research and found some articles:
1. Those with MSA, who were capable of participating in the study, took nearly twice as long to pass food from the stomach to the intestines as the control group.
2. Peristalsis (movement of the intestines) is slower.
3. Tightening of the muscles, makes it harder for MSA patients to defaecate. (BOTOX treatment was suggested in the literature to loosen rectal muscles).
Mom was having trouble keeping ANYTHING down (water, which had to be thickened with corn starch to make it easier to swallow without aspiration, ice cubes, not to mention "solid" foods like yoghurt and pudding). Initial thoughts were that it was pneumonia or stomach bug related. A CT scan showed a hernia with an intestine poking through and being blocked. The surgeon was able to push the intestine back into place during his initial exam and insert a gastric tube to relieve the stomach pressure (a gallon total was drained from her stomach). He also performed surgery to repair the hernia - a minimally invasive hole (about 1" long) was created to insert the patch and check out the colon, which appeared to be good. (THAT'S THE BATTLE THAT WE WON).
As to losing the war, it appears that, so far at any rate, that nothing is passing from the stomach to the intestines, and though uncrimped, nothing is making its way through the intestines and out the back door. The initial estimate was that after uncrimping in a normal patient activity should commence within about 4-6 hours. We're well past 24 hours now. With nothing coming out, nothing else is being allowed to stay in. (Water and ice cubes for comfort in the mouth are removed by the G-tube).
I was watching mom tonight before I left the hospital. She was having trouble swallowing saliva in her sleep. The choking woke her up. The aspiration can't be good for the pneumonia.
Long term, we're losing the war. For that matter, short term, we're losing the war.
Loss of vocal skills, inability to chew, inability to swallow effectively followed. We now have to insert most of the consonants (and some of the vowels) in her speech, although the occasional "Yes" or "No" are clear. When agitated, the speech becomes somewhat clearer: like "leave me alone" after a gastric tube was placed in her nose. (She was not happy with the surgeon or the nurse).
Other systems are likewise affected (hence the name MULTIPLE system). Swallowing difficulties affect the lungs with the most likely result being aspiration pneumonia. (which brings us to the hospital a week ago).
I asked the attending physician about gastrointestinal complications of MSA as mom was having difficulty keeping food down. He responded that this was not an area of expertise that he could comment on. I've done some research and found some articles:
1. Those with MSA, who were capable of participating in the study, took nearly twice as long to pass food from the stomach to the intestines as the control group.
2. Peristalsis (movement of the intestines) is slower.
3. Tightening of the muscles, makes it harder for MSA patients to defaecate. (BOTOX treatment was suggested in the literature to loosen rectal muscles).
Mom was having trouble keeping ANYTHING down (water, which had to be thickened with corn starch to make it easier to swallow without aspiration, ice cubes, not to mention "solid" foods like yoghurt and pudding). Initial thoughts were that it was pneumonia or stomach bug related. A CT scan showed a hernia with an intestine poking through and being blocked. The surgeon was able to push the intestine back into place during his initial exam and insert a gastric tube to relieve the stomach pressure (a gallon total was drained from her stomach). He also performed surgery to repair the hernia - a minimally invasive hole (about 1" long) was created to insert the patch and check out the colon, which appeared to be good. (THAT'S THE BATTLE THAT WE WON).
As to losing the war, it appears that, so far at any rate, that nothing is passing from the stomach to the intestines, and though uncrimped, nothing is making its way through the intestines and out the back door. The initial estimate was that after uncrimping in a normal patient activity should commence within about 4-6 hours. We're well past 24 hours now. With nothing coming out, nothing else is being allowed to stay in. (Water and ice cubes for comfort in the mouth are removed by the G-tube).
I was watching mom tonight before I left the hospital. She was having trouble swallowing saliva in her sleep. The choking woke her up. The aspiration can't be good for the pneumonia.
Long term, we're losing the war. For that matter, short term, we're losing the war.
Google Phone... oops
On a lighter note, before I left the office, I forwarded my desk phone so that I could appear to be working while not in the office. I forwarded it to my google phone number.... and tested a call. It worked quite well.
Google phone is pretty cool. It has a number of features that let you control what phone numbers will be called when someone calls the google phone number, even letting you set up a schedule as to when what phone numbers will be called. There are even google phone groups so you can direct calls from specific phone numbers to specific phones... kind of your own mini-switchboard. If a google phone were the home number, calls from the boss could be sent to voice mail, while calls from the daughter's boyfriend could be sent to her cell phone, etc., etc., etc.
When you set up a new phone number as the destination for a google phone, there's a validation process that you have to go through. It prevents you from redirecting calls to a wrong number. You click on "validate", it calls the destination number, you type in the validation code and voila... that phone can now be a target for your google phone.
Before I left town, I set up some defaults for my google phone: send calls to the house between 5 pm and 8 am, send calls to my desk from 9 am to 5 pm, send calls to my cell phone anytime. I even validated my cell phone and my home phone. Note: the office phone hadn't been validated, so no google phone calls were being redirected to the office phone (which is just as well - I'm not in town).
Then over the weekend, I had one of my less lucid moments. (I've been out of town long enough that I've had to do laundry). I thought: I can validate my desk phone. Since it's redirected to my google phone, it will ring my cell phone. It did and I did.
I got a call on my cell phone from the office today. Seems my office phone number was being reported as "out of service". If you haven't figured out yet, I nominate myself for the genius of the year award: my google phone was forwarding calls to my desk phone, which was forwarding then to my google phone which was ...
Google phone is pretty cool. It has a number of features that let you control what phone numbers will be called when someone calls the google phone number, even letting you set up a schedule as to when what phone numbers will be called. There are even google phone groups so you can direct calls from specific phone numbers to specific phones... kind of your own mini-switchboard. If a google phone were the home number, calls from the boss could be sent to voice mail, while calls from the daughter's boyfriend could be sent to her cell phone, etc., etc., etc.
When you set up a new phone number as the destination for a google phone, there's a validation process that you have to go through. It prevents you from redirecting calls to a wrong number. You click on "validate", it calls the destination number, you type in the validation code and voila... that phone can now be a target for your google phone.
Before I left town, I set up some defaults for my google phone: send calls to the house between 5 pm and 8 am, send calls to my desk from 9 am to 5 pm, send calls to my cell phone anytime. I even validated my cell phone and my home phone. Note: the office phone hadn't been validated, so no google phone calls were being redirected to the office phone (which is just as well - I'm not in town).
Then over the weekend, I had one of my less lucid moments. (I've been out of town long enough that I've had to do laundry). I thought: I can validate my desk phone. Since it's redirected to my google phone, it will ring my cell phone. It did and I did.
I got a call on my cell phone from the office today. Seems my office phone number was being reported as "out of service". If you haven't figured out yet, I nominate myself for the genius of the year award: my google phone was forwarding calls to my desk phone, which was forwarding then to my google phone which was ...
Sukie's Right!
This past week, I've eaten several times at the Hospital Cafeteria. If the food here (at the smaller satellite hospital) is the same as the hospital she likes to frequent, she's definitely got a good deal. I've eaten twice at the grill - outside of the main meal time; the hamburger's are better than DQ's - grilled buns and fresh cooked off the grill. When I asked about the "Halibut Burger", the cook said with a twinkle - "It's good. It's deep fat fried".
The quirk is that french fries and onion rings (with REAL batter, not bread crumbs) are sold by the ounce, so you're not sure what you're getting.
I also had the fried chicken for lunch today (actually at lunch time), and the sides (mashed potatoes and gravy & veggies - broccoli and squash) were better & fresher than Popeye's (I can't eat KFC due to the MSG, so Popeye's is the fast food standard).
The quirk is that french fries and onion rings (with REAL batter, not bread crumbs) are sold by the ounce, so you're not sure what you're getting.
I also had the fried chicken for lunch today (actually at lunch time), and the sides (mashed potatoes and gravy & veggies - broccoli and squash) were better & fresher than Popeye's (I can't eat KFC due to the MSG, so Popeye's is the fast food standard).
2009-08-03
Medical Stuff
It's been an interesting past few days. The Crew was good preparation for the past few days, but I've had more "patient contact" in the past few days than all of what I've done as a First Responder on our various activities. And that patient is my own mother. Mom is nearing the end stages of MSA (Multiple System Atrophy), so at this point her movement is nearly totally compromised - including her speech. It's been difficult because of the patient. I've worn more nitrile gloves in 5 days than ever before. Most of the contact has been cleaning up, and trying to figure out what's going on with mom.
If she's healthy enough, there will be surgery tomorrow to repair a hernia that's been constricting her intestine. We'll see if she continues to respond to the antibiotics for the pneumonia.
Glad I could be here
If she's healthy enough, there will be surgery tomorrow to repair a hernia that's been constricting her intestine. We'll see if she continues to respond to the antibiotics for the pneumonia.
Glad I could be here
2009-06-25
Self Inflicted Damage
So, I got a call from a daughter that the car (on loan) had been the victim of a hit-and-run accident. The policeman that responded to the call couldn't quite figure out how the damage was caused. After looking closer at it, I determined that the cause was a parking lot block, that parking too close had caused the bumper cover to be snagged on the cement block, which pulled the bumper cover off when backing out.
This isn't the first damage that has been caused to this car by being too close to the road; most of the damage has been my fault - - - driving on snow-packed roads has ripped of 2/3 of the under car shields. In this case, the bumper cover was snapped back into place, and for the moment secured with a twist tie (and a promise to find a nut and bolt for later).
2009-06-21
My Week At Girl's Camp
Our Girls' Camp was at a new facility that the Church is developing. I say is developing because the construction is about three weeks behind schedule. Even so, the facilities available exceed that which we have had in the past. Since the Father and Son Campout, a lot of work has been done: the main Stake Pavilion was largely built; the rest of the tent pads were built; an amphitheater was built; an archery range and and a canoeing facility was also setup; and the latrines, which had been empty open vaults in May (some even slept in them - the vaults were clean and level), were now completed cement structures - likely solid enough to withstand tornadoes or bears. It was amazing to see the change.
What was even more amazing was to see the changes that occurred during the week - and to be part of the changes (I have not worked so hard for a long time, and am still nursing a strained shoulder / kinked neck - most likely caused by sleeping in the car, instead of one of the tents. I was led to believe that there was electricity in the gathering areas of the campsites - such was not the case, although the Priesthood campsite will have electricity).
My week went as follows (skip the rest of the post, if you don't want the travel log). Also, the timing may be off a bit - the week was a bit of a blur, but I think that I got most of what I did included. I know Samara had an entirely different experience:
Monday: "Ward" pavilions had not been set up. It is intended that there will be permanent structures, but likely not this year. We set up screened canopies; the first one took the better part of an hour and a half. Others went up considerably faster as we first figured out, then followed, then improved upon the assembly instructions, although it was not until Wednesday we were able to finish them all up (The overseeing Stake President found two more pavilions that needed to be set up, if we could find the appropriate camp sites).
Tuesday: We almost finished setting up the Ward pavilions. I think there were 8 pavilions set up between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.
There was a general gathering after the girls arrived on Tuesday in the amphitheater. The benches are made from logs that have been cut down the middle, supported on 6" X 6" X 2' blocks, with a curve cut in them to seat the log. The bench I chose to sit on was not well assembled, which let to a comment to the overseeing Stake President, who gave me a 16" long drill bit, instructions on where to get a drill, where to find the rebar, and how to fix the assembly. We also were involved working on pavilions and misc camp related tasks.
I drove into the nearby "big town" to visit a Radio Shack and buy spare parts to hook up my CPAP machine. It made for peaceful sleep, although sleeping in the car is not the most comfortable sleep.
I spent a good deal of time on Tuesday afternoon "helping" to light campfires and encouraging the Young Women to burn any of the scrap wood they could find. I first taught a group second year girls how to build a fire, and helped them start one; then I described to a different group of second year girls the process of building a fire, while one of the second year girls from our ward started their fire with flint and steel and dryer lint that she'd brought from home. Fires were critical to the campers as they were cooking dinner on these fires. The second year campers cooked 50 baked potatoes in the coals of these first two fires, although the one that our ward's pyromaniac/pyrophiliac started was stoked enough to have coals to cook on, whereas the one that was left to the leaders to feed, was barely adequate to serve as a warming oven. I started the fire for the first year campers - their YCL's would release them from instruction to start a fire as their certification included only how to put out a fire (starting fires is a second year's class). There were coals, and as I had no matches, it was more a matter of reviving the previous fire and instructing them that if they wanted to eat, they needed to keep stoking the fire so that there would be coals. They did end up with enough that the tin foil dinners were mostly cooked. The fourth year girls only needed instructions on where to build their fire - there was a fire left over from before they arrived outside of their fire ring, with enough coals to survive a rainstorm and after not being fed all day, still being hot enough to burn anything put on the fire. They didn't want a fire started, as they were only cooking hot dogs (something wrong with that in my mind - I'd think the fourth year's should be doing some significant cooking, not hot dogs). The third year girls only needed to be told that if they wanted to eat, they needed to build a fire, so we observed their fire starting, while we set up their canopy.
Wednesday: First task was scouting out the course for the 5 mile hike. I drove the truck on our quest; ultimately we decided that the logistics of driving the girls to the trail head was too great, so the hike was changed to 2.5 miles out of camp down the county road, and then 2.5 miles back. Out was almost all up hill. Then work on the amphitheater started. I couldn't keep up with the pounding of the rebar into the benches, but fortunately John, who came up Wednesday morning, could. We fell into a rhythm of me drilling most of the holes, and him pounding. We finally took a break for lunch at 2 pm. The cooks were good to accommodate us. Then there was setting up one of the last two pavilions, then back to the amphitheater. We started the amphitheater on the premise that there were a few benches that were not attached to the support blocks; we found the opposite to be true. After dinner we finished the last canopy.
Wednesday was also Bishop's night, so I got to play games with the girls from our Ward, eat ice cream and peach cobble / peach dump cake; we also had the "singing trees", a camp tradition that Samara can blog about, if she chooses.
Thursday: I was hanging around the Stake pavilion while waiting for breakfast, I got to help put the last window in the kitchen, while eating. (The other windows and door had been installed by another crew the previous day). Then we went down to the archery range to replace the lock on the door; then over to the amphitheater to help put in the power pole and wire a temporary connection for the sound system (which was "borrowed" by the Stake President from the institute in a near by city). There were a few issues getting power to the amphitheater, which were finally determined to be a broken wire.
After lunch we went down to assemble the sound system. Ultimately we figured out what parts were needed to build a sound system. We had to set up a pre-amp for the mike, which had to be wireless, as there were no mike cables in the raided kit, but fortunately a hi-fi jack from the wireless receiver which could be plugged into the pre-amp. There was a single scrap cable with a mini-jack on one end and bare wires on the other which fit into the headphone jack of the CD Player. The bare wires were duct taped to a hi-fi cable (no hi-fi cable was harmed in the process), so that we could hook the CD Player up to the amplifier. There was plenty of cable to have the speakers spread out far enough to avoid feedback. All was well. We went up to have dinner and a bit of rest.
I headed down after dinner to hang a flag with the camp theme on the makeshift flag pole that we'd strung up in the amphitheater on Tuesday. (We also had made a makeshift flag pole in the Stake pavilion, which was used for the American flag, starting on Wednesday). I double checked the sound system, and the CD player wasn't working. Turns out the if the pre-amp for the mike was plugged in and on, the CD player wouldn't work. Once that was solved, I went back up to camp so that I could lead the ward into the campfire program. The lead in was a "Lehi's Dream / Nephi's Dream / Tree of Life" experience. Our ward was about 4th in line. I got the girls to the top of the amphitheater, when I was approached by someone with a bit of a problem - they'd tried to start the background music and the circuit breaker had popped... and did I know how to fix it? Yes - I passed off the girls and went running down the hill, reset the breaker, got back into the theater and started tthe music.
The Stake President spoke before the testimony meeting and the rest of the evening went off without a hitch. The testimony meeting was well represented by girls from our ward. Also, thanks to Steve for helping in breaking down the sound system after the event.
Friday: Break camp and go home. Not much to do, as we had no tents to take with us; they were all being used for the next week's girls. Mostly just pack and clean up and leave.
Pictures later.
What was even more amazing was to see the changes that occurred during the week - and to be part of the changes (I have not worked so hard for a long time, and am still nursing a strained shoulder / kinked neck - most likely caused by sleeping in the car, instead of one of the tents. I was led to believe that there was electricity in the gathering areas of the campsites - such was not the case, although the Priesthood campsite will have electricity).
My week went as follows (skip the rest of the post, if you don't want the travel log). Also, the timing may be off a bit - the week was a bit of a blur, but I think that I got most of what I did included. I know Samara had an entirely different experience:
Monday: "Ward" pavilions had not been set up. It is intended that there will be permanent structures, but likely not this year. We set up screened canopies; the first one took the better part of an hour and a half. Others went up considerably faster as we first figured out, then followed, then improved upon the assembly instructions, although it was not until Wednesday we were able to finish them all up (The overseeing Stake President found two more pavilions that needed to be set up, if we could find the appropriate camp sites).
Tuesday: We almost finished setting up the Ward pavilions. I think there were 8 pavilions set up between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.
There was a general gathering after the girls arrived on Tuesday in the amphitheater. The benches are made from logs that have been cut down the middle, supported on 6" X 6" X 2' blocks, with a curve cut in them to seat the log. The bench I chose to sit on was not well assembled, which let to a comment to the overseeing Stake President, who gave me a 16" long drill bit, instructions on where to get a drill, where to find the rebar, and how to fix the assembly. We also were involved working on pavilions and misc camp related tasks.
I drove into the nearby "big town" to visit a Radio Shack and buy spare parts to hook up my CPAP machine. It made for peaceful sleep, although sleeping in the car is not the most comfortable sleep.
I spent a good deal of time on Tuesday afternoon "helping" to light campfires and encouraging the Young Women to burn any of the scrap wood they could find. I first taught a group second year girls how to build a fire, and helped them start one; then I described to a different group of second year girls the process of building a fire, while one of the second year girls from our ward started their fire with flint and steel and dryer lint that she'd brought from home. Fires were critical to the campers as they were cooking dinner on these fires. The second year campers cooked 50 baked potatoes in the coals of these first two fires, although the one that our ward's pyromaniac/pyrophiliac started was stoked enough to have coals to cook on, whereas the one that was left to the leaders to feed, was barely adequate to serve as a warming oven. I started the fire for the first year campers - their YCL's would release them from instruction to start a fire as their certification included only how to put out a fire (starting fires is a second year's class). There were coals, and as I had no matches, it was more a matter of reviving the previous fire and instructing them that if they wanted to eat, they needed to keep stoking the fire so that there would be coals. They did end up with enough that the tin foil dinners were mostly cooked. The fourth year girls only needed instructions on where to build their fire - there was a fire left over from before they arrived outside of their fire ring, with enough coals to survive a rainstorm and after not being fed all day, still being hot enough to burn anything put on the fire. They didn't want a fire started, as they were only cooking hot dogs (something wrong with that in my mind - I'd think the fourth year's should be doing some significant cooking, not hot dogs). The third year girls only needed to be told that if they wanted to eat, they needed to build a fire, so we observed their fire starting, while we set up their canopy.
Wednesday: First task was scouting out the course for the 5 mile hike. I drove the truck on our quest; ultimately we decided that the logistics of driving the girls to the trail head was too great, so the hike was changed to 2.5 miles out of camp down the county road, and then 2.5 miles back. Out was almost all up hill. Then work on the amphitheater started. I couldn't keep up with the pounding of the rebar into the benches, but fortunately John, who came up Wednesday morning, could. We fell into a rhythm of me drilling most of the holes, and him pounding. We finally took a break for lunch at 2 pm. The cooks were good to accommodate us. Then there was setting up one of the last two pavilions, then back to the amphitheater. We started the amphitheater on the premise that there were a few benches that were not attached to the support blocks; we found the opposite to be true. After dinner we finished the last canopy.
Wednesday was also Bishop's night, so I got to play games with the girls from our Ward, eat ice cream and peach cobble / peach dump cake; we also had the "singing trees", a camp tradition that Samara can blog about, if she chooses.
Thursday: I was hanging around the Stake pavilion while waiting for breakfast, I got to help put the last window in the kitchen, while eating. (The other windows and door had been installed by another crew the previous day). Then we went down to the archery range to replace the lock on the door; then over to the amphitheater to help put in the power pole and wire a temporary connection for the sound system (which was "borrowed" by the Stake President from the institute in a near by city). There were a few issues getting power to the amphitheater, which were finally determined to be a broken wire.
After lunch we went down to assemble the sound system. Ultimately we figured out what parts were needed to build a sound system. We had to set up a pre-amp for the mike, which had to be wireless, as there were no mike cables in the raided kit, but fortunately a hi-fi jack from the wireless receiver which could be plugged into the pre-amp. There was a single scrap cable with a mini-jack on one end and bare wires on the other which fit into the headphone jack of the CD Player. The bare wires were duct taped to a hi-fi cable (no hi-fi cable was harmed in the process), so that we could hook the CD Player up to the amplifier. There was plenty of cable to have the speakers spread out far enough to avoid feedback. All was well. We went up to have dinner and a bit of rest.
I headed down after dinner to hang a flag with the camp theme on the makeshift flag pole that we'd strung up in the amphitheater on Tuesday. (We also had made a makeshift flag pole in the Stake pavilion, which was used for the American flag, starting on Wednesday). I double checked the sound system, and the CD player wasn't working. Turns out the if the pre-amp for the mike was plugged in and on, the CD player wouldn't work. Once that was solved, I went back up to camp so that I could lead the ward into the campfire program. The lead in was a "Lehi's Dream / Nephi's Dream / Tree of Life" experience. Our ward was about 4th in line. I got the girls to the top of the amphitheater, when I was approached by someone with a bit of a problem - they'd tried to start the background music and the circuit breaker had popped... and did I know how to fix it? Yes - I passed off the girls and went running down the hill, reset the breaker, got back into the theater and started tthe music.
The Stake President spoke before the testimony meeting and the rest of the evening went off without a hitch. The testimony meeting was well represented by girls from our ward. Also, thanks to Steve for helping in breaking down the sound system after the event.
Friday: Break camp and go home. Not much to do, as we had no tents to take with us; they were all being used for the next week's girls. Mostly just pack and clean up and leave.
Pictures later.
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