12 blankets and 4 pillows

For this post I have to start back on Thursday 10/24.  That day everything was fine and normal as far as I knew until bed time happened.  It was during the night I develeoped a fever with chills and felt fine after getting up and getting through a shower and my typical morning routine.  The plan for Friday included me working in the morning and then Leah and I heading to Holland for our typical fall weekend away at the cottage.  Friday was her Birthday so we frist had lunch with Lydia and Leah's Mom and then walked around downtown.  After we were finished downtown we headed to Salt & Pepper for her "birthday dinner".  

The rest of the weekend included plans from Hope College's "One Big Weekend" as in the football game and the Nykerk performance.  And then we all planned to relax and enjoy the rest of the weekend. We got back to the cottage and watched a little tv and then headed to bed.  Again Friday night my fever showed up yet again and the only consistent thing besides the fever was darker color urine.  Friday I just coulodn't sleep very well so much of Saturday's plans were scrapped and I napped several hours during the day Saturday.  I woke up in enough time to watch the rival Michigan College football game.  Late into the game we headed up to bed and only minutes befroe I started having chills and shaking which continued for the next several hours and kept both Leah and I awake for different reasons.

I survived Saturday with slightly more sleep Saturday but not much and so now we got to Sunday.  We had originally planned on leaving for home after church and lunch and packing up.  Since the previous 3 night had gotten worse a little every night,  we planned to watch church online and then head home shortly after having food.  So we got through church online and since my appetite had tanked during the weekend, we headed home right after packing up after church.  On the way home (me driving of course) my chills and Shaking came back.  I made it home but I'm sure not without making Leah very nervous I'm sure.  After arriving home I turned on the heat in the house since the heat and air had been off for weeks and it was only 62 in the house.  I crawled under a blanket on the couch and tried warming up.  Leah called my Oncologist's On call service and explained what was happening and the doctor on call urged Leah to get me to the hospital.  So by 12 p.m. Sunday my mom arrived and we were all on our way to what became a really long week.

Around 12:30pm on Sunday we arrrived at what some might call hotel Zeeland.  I'm not sure I can call it a hotel but it seemed through the process it really became one although not intended.  We checked into the ER and were told to take a seat and wait.  We were deciding where to sit and the triage nurse called my name.  We quickly explained the problem that brought us and and were brought back to a room.  Inside that room I was given the gown and things moved along relatively quickly for a short time.  I first had my port accessed and blood drawn from there.  Then they wanted blood cultures so they got 2 vials from my left arm and spent way to long trying in the right.  By then I was called back for a CT scan immediately followed by a chest X-ray.  When I got back to the room my nurse tried getting the second set of cultures through the left arm which involved the needle some fishing and then an ultrasound machine got added.  At last it was decided she needed to place an IV in my arm.  After the battery of test were complete 2 things were found.  1. An infectoin was discovered in the blood taken from my port and 2. It was discovered that something was blocking the bile duct. By the time we heard this it was from the second doctor we met in the ER.  Part of the news he delivered was that I needed an ERCP procedure which they cannot do in Zeeland .  We were told that we were headed to Blodgett Hospital but we were still waiting for a room before we could go there.  After many times talking with a nurse or doctor we discovered we were staying the night in the ER and I would be getting a room on Monday.  During one of our exchanges we asked for a hospital bed for the night.  Leah and my Mom went home to get my C-pap and then back home for rest.

I got my cpap at 9 p.m. and it was 12:30am when staff showed up with the hopsital bed.  Prior to the hospital bed I had 1 blanket and 1 measly pillow.  I was also sleeping so I woke up stood up and moved my belongings to a chair and held on the the 2 IV fluids while they moved my ER bed out and my new hospital bed in the small room.  During the exchange it seemed like the pillows and blankets multiplied.  It seemed as though I had about 12 blankets and 4 pillows.  Through my faith I believe that Jesus was in that room with me but I'm confident he wasn't there to multiply blankets and pillows.  He was there to meet my needs and that was getting rest, getting calm and getting to a place whe I could effectivly heal me from the things gone awry.  In all actuality I had 2 pillows and 3 blankets along with a fever.  I belive the rest of the night went relatively well.  By the morning I was ready for the transfer to Blodgett.  It was much later in the morning before we found out we were close on the list and then assigned a room.  4 p.m. on Monday I was given an ambulance ride from Zeeland to a room in Blodgett Hospital on the 4th floor overlooking Fisk Lake in Grand Rapids.  Monday at blodgett consisted of resuming antibiotics that were started in Zeeland and working at getting the ERCP scheduled. 

It was Tuesday Doctor rounds (which happen between 10 and 12 ) with GI in order to find out the ERCP was scheduled at 4:00 P.M.  I braced for a day without food and then at 1 p.m. someone was at my room to take me to the ERCP.  We had only a few minutes warning in order to get ready in the appropriate clothing.  Then we all walked down to a different floor with my family stopping at the surgical waiting area.  From there I went down the hallway to the endoscopy area.  I got in there met the doctor and anesthesiaologist and then signed the paperwork and got wheeled into the room.  I was given an oxygen mask then they pushed the sleeepy meds through my port and I quickly remember the room fade.  The next thing I rememebr is waking up in recovery and then back to my room where I met my family again.  I knew what I was told by the Doc before and it was only a matter of time before he stopped into my hospital room.  He claimed he place a temporary Stent inside my permanent one and inspected and biopsied a tumor by the bile duct.  He then asked for my medical history.  I explained how in May of 2023 I had the same symptoms due to a tumor pressing on the bile duct.  I then told him what happened to all parts of the tumor and he said where he had taken the biopsy was likely what already existed and treated.  We would need to do a few things in regards to this ERCP  1. I would need to schedule this outpatient again in 8 weeks in ordrer remove the temporary stent and 2 there was some growth inside the bile duct the Doctor will want to cauterize at that next visit.

During the remainder of Tuesday and the First time today (Wednesday) I got to try catch up on meals, continue antibiotics, and carefully watch my high Liver number begin to drop. (5.7 to 2.1 leaving hospital)  (Normal number is .2 to 1.2) This morning at rounds I heard from both doctors they were willing to discharge me today.  It was about 1:30pm when we finally left the hospital for my first trip home since Sunday Morning.

When getting home I attended to items needing to happen for me to continue work tomorrow. And then of coure tried resting and watching tv.

I'm still on the improvement trend and will have another appointment with my primary doctor to complete anothe blood test to check those liver levels again and then talk my him about resuming my blood pressure meds.  We'll also need to follow up with my oncologist in order to see what she wants to do with the pet scan (if she wants to bump it up or leave it scheduled as is).

This was a few days with a bit of anxiety for me and for those of you who already knew we felt those prayers.  And will continue to appreciate those as this continues to be something we need to talk about for at least a couple months.

So until the next moment.  We apprciate your prayers for this medical bump.

~Kent