JerseyJanice
A Disboards original...
- Joined
- Aug 20, 1999
- Messages
- 10,764
Venting here some. I'm still somewhat in shock that this is happening.
My nephew, who is starting his junior year of college shortly, interned at my company this summer. Yesterday was his last day of work; he's going to Florida with his younger brother today for a week's vacation before he goes back to school.
I asked him to stop by and see me before he left. He came to my cubicle and started crying, so I took him into an empty office to find out what was upsetting him.
His father, my oldest brother, is in ICU in Las Vegas. He, his wife and daughter flew out there for a vacation on Tuesday. On the plane ride, he got very pale and started acting strange. His wife (my SIL) is a nurse, and she thought he might be having a stroke.
They made to the airport, and he passed out there. An ambulance took him to the hospital, and it turned out that he had some major internal bleeding.
He had something I'll try to spell called esophageal varicosa, meaning a blood vessel toward the bottom of his esophagus burst. As of last night, they'd gotten the bleeding down to a slower rate, and he'd had three blood transfusions.
They have suspected that he may have developed cirrhosis; he knew that before going on the trip. This problem confirms it; it was caused by the cirrhosis. He has a bone disease and has been on various drug therapy, including steriods, for nearly 20 years. This in turn caused the cirrhosis.
Today, they're doing a procedure called banding where they'll go down his throat to put in some rubber band-like things to heal the burst blood vessel. If it doesn't work, they'll need to cauterize it. Once they're sure that the blood vessel is O.K., they'll discharge him from the hospital so he can come home and figure out how to deal with the cirrhosis.
He's had anemia for a few months which means he's been bleeding slowly for that long. The change in air pressure on the airplane is probably what caused the vessel to burst. He might not be able to fly home; my sister-in-law will be discussing that with the doctors today.
My nephew, who is starting his junior year of college shortly, interned at my company this summer. Yesterday was his last day of work; he's going to Florida with his younger brother today for a week's vacation before he goes back to school.
I asked him to stop by and see me before he left. He came to my cubicle and started crying, so I took him into an empty office to find out what was upsetting him.
His father, my oldest brother, is in ICU in Las Vegas. He, his wife and daughter flew out there for a vacation on Tuesday. On the plane ride, he got very pale and started acting strange. His wife (my SIL) is a nurse, and she thought he might be having a stroke.
They made to the airport, and he passed out there. An ambulance took him to the hospital, and it turned out that he had some major internal bleeding.
He had something I'll try to spell called esophageal varicosa, meaning a blood vessel toward the bottom of his esophagus burst. As of last night, they'd gotten the bleeding down to a slower rate, and he'd had three blood transfusions.
They have suspected that he may have developed cirrhosis; he knew that before going on the trip. This problem confirms it; it was caused by the cirrhosis. He has a bone disease and has been on various drug therapy, including steriods, for nearly 20 years. This in turn caused the cirrhosis.
Today, they're doing a procedure called banding where they'll go down his throat to put in some rubber band-like things to heal the burst blood vessel. If it doesn't work, they'll need to cauterize it. Once they're sure that the blood vessel is O.K., they'll discharge him from the hospital so he can come home and figure out how to deal with the cirrhosis.
He's had anemia for a few months which means he's been bleeding slowly for that long. The change in air pressure on the airplane is probably what caused the vessel to burst. He might not be able to fly home; my sister-in-law will be discussing that with the doctors today.
