DDA Chapter 27

[my3princes]

I think I missed something...Bob's surgery?

 

[PNO4TE]

I think I missed something...Bob's surgery?

I am not surprised that your life has taken you on an inward journey, Deb.

After it was discovered that Bob had an abrasion on his cornea that healed as a significant scar, his eye surgeon determined that doing cataract surgery might help improve his vision. With correction before the surgery, the best he could offer Bob was 20/70. We decided to have the simplest of all cataract removal procedures and that surgery was on Wednesday.

We had a follow-up appointment yesterday afternoon and the surgeon is delighted. Bob's eyesight without correction in his left eye is now 20/30! He will need new glasses but we popped the lens out of his current pair this morning. I had to put it back in because the lack of the rest of his progressive prescription made him dizzy. We can have an exam done in about a month to five weeks. It worked!

 

[PNO4TE]

Good morning, DDA!

 

[Tammi67]

It worked!

I've been waiting all morning for Verizon to get here, which was supposed to be between 8-12. I finally decided to bite the proverbial bullet and bundle my services (tv, internet and phone), so I'm switching to Fios.

 

[bethbuchall]

I am not surprised that your life has taken you on an inward journey, Deb.

After it was discovered that Bob had an abrasion on his cornea that healed as a significant scar, his eye surgeon determined that doing cataract surgery might help improve his vision. With correction before the surgery, the best he could offer Bob was 20/70. We decided to have the simplest of all cataract removal procedures and that surgery was on Wednesday.

We had a follow-up appointment yesterday afternoon and the surgeon is delighted. Bob's eyesight without correction in his left eye is now 20/30! He will need new glasses but we popped the lens out of his current pair this morning. I had to put it back in because the lack of the rest of his progressive prescription made him dizzy. We can have an exam done in about a month to five weeks. It worked!

I am very happy that it worked!

 

[my3princes]

I am not surprised that your life has taken you on an inward journey, Deb.

After it was discovered that Bob had an abrasion on his cornea that healed as a significant scar, his eye surgeon determined that doing cataract surgery might help improve his vision. With correction before the surgery, the best he could offer Bob was 20/70. We decided to have the simplest of all cataract removal procedures and that surgery was on Wednesday.

We had a follow-up appointment yesterday afternoon and the surgeon is delighted. Bob's eyesight without correction in his left eye is now 20/30! He will need new glasses but we popped the lens out of his current pair this morning. I had to put it back in because the lack of the rest of his progressive prescription made him dizzy. We can have an exam done in about a month to five weeks. It worked!

That is fabulous. I was hoping that it was correcting his swallowing issue so that he can eat again, but seeing is so very important

 

[MrsHeg]

Such wonderful news Elin

 

[PNO4TE]

I've been waiting all morning for Verizon to get here, which was supposed to be between 8-12. I finally decided to bite the proverbial bullet and bundle my services (tv, internet and phone), so I'm switching to Fios.

Did you add your cell phone into the bundle or is that still not an option?

 

[PNO4TE]

That is fabulous. I was hoping that it was correcting his swallowing issue so that he can eat again, but seeing is so very important

Unfortunately, the ability to eat and drink through the mouth is a tougher fix. He can swallow just fine. It is where the stuff in his mouth ends up that is the problem: You have two "tubes" that are connected to your mouth. One is the trachea and the other is the esophagus. When you are not swallowing the trachea is open and the esophagus is closed. When you swallow, a complicated series of things occur that close off the trachea and open the esophagus. The most important part of this process is that your esophagus has to open so that food and drink go into your stomach and not into your lungs (through the trachea). Since the sphincter at the top of his esophagus is paralyzed in the closed position nothing can get into that "tube" and into his stomach. Instead it would go into his lungs through the trachea and he would inhale (aspirate) everything that he eats. That leads to aspiration pneumonia. He had that twice in the hospital and it can kill a person in a matter of hours if is goes undetected. Luckily Bob is able to protect that trachea pretty well, and if he does have something like water in his mouth he can spit it back out without inhaling it.

 

[ReAnSt]

Thanks!!

Thinking about it a bit more there is SO much I want to see in Utah that I think we should plan a trip some other time for all of that.

I think we should look into flying into SanFran and stick to all CA this time. I don't want to be completely wiped out before the race.

Just so you know San Francisco to the Anaheim area is about a 7 hour drive.

We spent about a day and a half in San Francisco on our cruise last spring. We saw the sea lions and spent some time at Pier 39, went to the Walt Disney Family Museum and did Alcatraz all in one day. Then on the second day we did a tour that took us to Muir Woods and Sausalito. It took us over the Golden Gate bridge It was a lot for the time period we were there but didn't have the ability to change the length of time we were there.

I would love to go back. I wish we would have got to ride a street car, visit Ghiradelli's, spent more time at Boudin Bakery cafe. As they have a museum and exhibit there. Just to name a few things.

 

[Tammi67]

Did you add your cell phone into the bundle or is that still not an option?

No, I don't believe that can be done yet. I have a govt plan through work tho, so my rate there is pretty good. So far I'm pleased. The hi def is amazing!

 

[PNO4TE]

No, I don't believe that can be done yet. I have a govt plan through work tho, so my rate there is pretty good. So far I'm pleased. The hi def is amazing!

I think if they ever offered a bundle that included their family cell plan we might be tempted. Otherwise, we will stay with what we have now. No HDTV in the house so that is not an issue. yet...

How much "rewiring" did they have to do to get it all set up for you?

 

[PNO4TE]

Good morning, DDA!

 

[Tammi67]

I think if they ever offered a bundle that included their family cell plan we might be tempted. Otherwise, we will stay with what we have now. No HDTV in the house so that is not an issue. yet...

How much "rewiring" did they have to do to get it all set up for you?

None, since my house is only 10 years old. The most time-consuming was installing the battery back-up unit for the phone in the basement. I still refuse to give up the land-line. Cell phones are too unrealiable in a true emergency. We get calls all the time at work and have no idea where the call is originating from. It takes a considerable amount of time to pinpoint the address. Anyway, he installed a wireless router, got my desktop and laptop connected, then installed boxes on 2 tvs. I think he was out of here in about 3 hours. He was a bit chatty, so that added a little extra time.

 

[PNO4TE]

None, since my house is only 10 years old. The most time-consuming was installing the battery back-up unit for the phone in the basement. I still refuse to give up the land-line. Cell phones are too unrealiable in a true emergency. We get calls all the time at work and have no idea where the call is originating from. It takes a considerable amount of time to pinpoint the address. Anyway, he installed a wireless router, got my desktop and laptop connected, then installed boxes on 2 tvs. I think he was out of here in about 3 hours. He was a bit chatty, so that added a little extra time.

That is a good deal, then! I am with you... I won't give up our land line either. It was a lifesaver last January.

 

[PNO4TE]

Good morning, DDA!

It feels like winter here in Virginia this morning! But tomorrow we are back up in the 60s.

 

[Glynis]

Unfortunately, the ability to eat and drink through the mouth is a tougher fix. He can swallow just fine. It is where the stuff in his mouth ends up that is the problem: You have two "tubes" that are connected to your mouth. One is the trachea and the other is the esophagus. When you are not swallowing the trachea is open and the esophagus is closed. When you swallow, a complicated series of things occur that close off the trachea and open the esophagus. The most important part of this process is that your esophagus has to open so that food and drink go into your stomach and not into your lungs (through the trachea). Since the sphincter at the top of his esophagus is paralyzed in the closed position nothing can get into that "tube" and into his stomach. Instead it would go into his lungs through the trachea and he would inhale (aspirate) everything that he eats. That leads to aspiration pneumonia. He had that twice in the hospital and it can kill a person in a matter of hours if is goes undetected. Luckily Bob is able to protect that trachea pretty well, and if he does have something like water in his mouth he can spit it back out without inhaling it.

So what is the prognosis on the sphincter relaxing at some point?

 

[Glynis]

Just so you know San Francisco to the Anaheim area is about a 7 hour drive.

We spent about a day and a half in San Francisco on our cruise last spring. We saw the sea lions and spent some time at Pier 39, went to the Walt Disney Family Museum and did Alcatraz all in one day. Then on the second day we did a tour that took us to Muir Woods and Sausalito. It took us over the Golden Gate bridge It was a lot for the time period we were there but didn't have the ability to change the length of time we were there.

I would love to go back. I wish we would have got to ride a street car, visit Ghiradelli's, spent more time at Boudin Bakery cafe. As they have a museum and exhibit there. Just to name a few things.

However, it's a great drive through the redwoods! We did that a couple of years ago. We took a couple of days, and it was wonderful! We did San Francisco, and the Redwoods before ending our trip at Disneyland. It was a dream vacation for us!

 

[Glynis]

Howdy all. Here's hoping this week is better than last week! We had some major stuff happening here. Our main sewer line backed up into our house on Thursday, and we had to call an emergency plumber who came at 2:00 in the morning. Then, on Saturday, our van stopped working. Alan promises me that's fixed... for now... but I'm terrified to drive it today, and of course I have tons of errands to run. He's at school until 11:00 tonight, so I'm in a bit of a quandary! Oh well.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

 

[PNO4TE]

So what is the prognosis on the sphincter relaxing at some point?

Hmmmm... wish there was a definitive answer for that one!

The sphincter is closed due to the severed nerves in the brain stem that he suffered during his stroke. That is also the cause of his paralyzed vocal cord and the other issues that still exist. Nerve damage can heal but it takes a loooong time. That being said, nerve damage can also be permanent. At this point, we have no prognosis. We are to have a follow-up with the neurologist who treated him initially. Maybe then we will have more answers. But I fear Bob keeps putting off that appointment because he really doesn't want to know what she will have to say.