At Fri, 6 Jun 2003, Karla wrote:
>
>Hello to everybody!
>
>I have not posted in quite some time, but I wanted to let everyone know
>that I am still here and am able to help...in a limited capacity.
>
>Where have I been? Well, you all know how sick I was...well any of the
>oldtimers that might still be around (where is everyone???). I had an
>opportunity present itself to me in mid-March and I decided to jump at
>the chance...regardless of what the outcome might be for my own
>individual case. Anyway, I happened to stop at Bev's house one
>afternoon to learn that she would be going to Amsterdam in early April
>for a conference that was entirely focuesed on adhesions. She was
>traveling alone and my mind of course started thinking back quite a few
>years to my younger days when I visited Amsterdam and fell in love with
>the country...I would do anything to get back there. I decided that
>same afternoon that I was going to go come hell or high water. (It was
>almost hell getting there as my doctor told me about a week beforehand
>that I would not be able to go...at least not until I had a scope
>done...the results were pretty good thankfully.)
>
>Bev and I made the long trip over and ended up staying at a most
>wonderful hotel that dated back to the 1600's. It was located along the
>canal routes and was absolutely incredible. I did bring along some of
>my medical records...in hopes of presenting them to someone and getting
>their personal opinion of my case. While I did not learn any favorable
>information to help me out, I did learn a lot about adhesions and the
>work being done to find a solution. (By the way, my own personal
>opinion still is entirely favorable to using Spraygel.) I also had the
>opportunity to meet a most incredible individual, Dr. David Wiseman;
>the founder of this website. We had the opportunity to discuss things,
>but I only wish that our time together had been longer so that I could
>have found ways in which I, personally, could help the IAS out. I am
>forever grateful to Dr. Wiseman for making this site available to me,
>even though my personal participation has been greatly limited of late.
>
>Our trip to Amsterdam was in the height of the SARS epidemic and my
>doctor and I felt it best that I wear a mask during the flights to and
>from. However, I did feel extremely uncomfortable with the stares that
>were directed my way. But, if it meant that I would not be at any risk
>to be exposed, I would gladly put up with it.
>
>Two days after my return home, my sister and I flew down to Miami for a
>couple of days before we boarded a cruise to St. Maarten, Martinique
>and Barbados. My sister had given the cruise to me after I came off of
>the respirator in January. We used this trip as incentive for me to
>make it through all of my subsequent hospitalizations and even when the
>doctor told my sister and later me that I would not make it on the trip,
>I was determined that I was going. The trip was not without its scary
>moments. After we arrived in Miami, my hands (my fingers too...but for
>the only time other than when I was on the respirator my hands) swelled
>up a lot. My urine turned black or at other times very bloody, but I
>was bound and determined that I was going to make it thru the 8 day
>cruise. I came to realize that I could not sit out in the sun around
>the pool. It was too hot for me, so while my sister and the others
>sunbathed, I took naps. I would also go to bed after dinner each
>night...ours was the late meal and we were never done before 10:30 so
>there was never any "nightlife" for me, but that did not bother me at
>all. I was able to visit each island and take in a few excursions. I
>was even able to go snorkeling in St. Maarten, even though I jumped
>into the water wearing my passport around my neck. Snorkeling was a
>first for me (well, I had done a tiny bit a few years ago in Key West,
>but so little I wouldn't call it snorkeling.) and was the highlight of
>the cruise. The brilliantly colored fish and coral was absolutely
>amazing.
>
>I returned home having successfully completing the cruise, to my
>doctor's amazement, but was quickly hospitalized to try and resolve the
>issue with my kidneys. I have been hospitalized several times since my
>return and this week my pcp informed me that my kidneys are now
>beginning to show signs of significant damage. He explained to me (and
>I still don't really understand) that my kidneys are so enlarged now
>that they are, in addition to my adhesions, preventing my bowels from
>functioning properly. I have been having problems with severe, severe
>lower abdominal pain and vomiting every day. When I vomit, it is
>undigested food from the prior day. He explained that the size of my
>kidneys is preventing the food from properly working its way throughout
>my intestines. Its almost like an obstruction. I was told that this is
>only going to get worse. He put me on Reglan to try and help things
>work there way thru better while at the same time stopping the vomiting.
>I never feel nauseated. It just comes without notice.
>
>The two of us, my doctor and I, had a discussion and he told me that he
>was glad to see that I was getting out once in awhile (he had ran into
>me at the theatre....my first movie in over a year) and asked me if I
>liked to travel, which I do. He encouraged me to keep traveling, that
>it was good for me in that it keeps my spirits up despite my worsening
>condition. Its really kind of scary. Anything and everything that I
>ask for he will give me. He even asked me if I wanted him to increase
>my morphine doseage, which I gratefully declined. As bad as it is, I
>still want to function. I want to remember without any fogginess the
>highlights of my life, which my grandchildren are so much a part of.
>
>The other thing that has happened in the last couple of months is that
>my daughter gave birth (while I was on the cruise) to my second
>grandson....Brennan Steven Karl (that's for me!!!! Even though I feel
>sorry for the child)Cyr. He is the apple of his mom's eye, but she
>lives each day in fear that she, for some reason, will lose him as she
>did his brother two years ago. The likelihood of that happening is so
>infintessimally small, but the fears are still there. She thought that
>she had gotten through all of the stages of grief, but as I had thought,
>a lot was shoved to the backburner. She will get through it though.
>
>Well, thats an update of my life. I'm hoping to see some of the
>oldtimers posting. Not that I do not welcome the new people....I just
>don't know anyone anymore. Please feel free to read my story on the
>quilt. You will understand why I cannot post much anymore.
>
>God's blessings to all!
>
>--
>Karla
>