Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
As you may remember, I have been in the hospital at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland since 23 July -- when it became evident that, after having a prostatectomy on 25 June, I had incurred a condition called lymphedema -- which is to say, the production of fluids in excess of what the body could reabsorb and their pooling in a place within the body where they cause trouble.
In my case, the fluids had pooled in a cavity near my left kidney, where they were putting pressure on the muscles that control axial motion in my left leg. Put more simply, it became an agony to get into a bucket seat in a car, and things were going to get worse.
In the weeks that I have been here, the physicians and technical staff drained about a liter of liquid out of the cavity and left the catheter in to drain any fluid that might collect thereafter. It was their hope initially that the flow would dry up and this would do the trick. When the flow continued at about one-fifth of a liter a day, they tried sclerosis -- using a drying agent, in my case rubbing alcohol, to cause the cavity to crumple up and shrink. This had the requisite effect on the cavity but the flow continued at the established rate.
On Friday, they pulled the catheter on the presumption that it was acting like a wick and eliciting flow. On Monday, they did an ultrasound to see whether the liquid was pooling once again in the pertinent cavity. It was -- but where, in the past, almost a liter had collected -- there was roughly 16% of a liter: not enough to cause me muscle problems.
Today they did a second ultrasound with similar results, and by this evening I will be released from the hospital. My wife is up north collecting our children from their long-suffering and generous grandparents. When she returns with our munchkins in tow at about 9 p.m., we will all head home.
With luck, I will not have to return for further treatment. If that happens, however -- if the lymphedema once again causes tendonitis or something like it -- it will mean surgery.
Thank you all for your prayers, for your visits, for the books you sent or dropped off, for the fruit and chocolate delivered, and for your offers of help. It has been a bit of an ordeal, and your concern bucked me up.
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Jul '11
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Awesome and good luck sir! Our only benefit was your rather prolific articles in this time of need.
Dec '10
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
God bless, Dr. Rahe! You and your family will continue to be in my prayers.
Football, crab-cakes and mending historians from Hillsdale: it's what Maryland does best!
Jun '12
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Our prayers have been answered!
Jan '11
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Can we get some of the medication that allowed you to see so clearly the coming landslide?
Jun '12
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Bene! Thank the Lord!
Oct '10
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Let me hand out some homework this time. Collect your posts written from hospital, have someone clean them up, and publish them as a Kindle quicky with a catchy title like As I Lay Draining...
Jul '10
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
You have been a model of restraint about hospital cuisine.
Jul '10
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
I hope you enojoy a good nights sleep in your own bed ....
Gods Speed
Nov '11
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Praise and thanks be to God! Prayers continue for you and yours...
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
The engineers and the economists might send out a posse.
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
The food at the National Institutes of Health is pretty good. Being on a 40-gram fat diet is a bit boring, and eating at the same "restaurant" every day for a month can be a bore. But it was not awful.
Last night and the night before, I was given a "pass," and my wife and I took the Red Line from Medical Center (NIH) to Faragut North and dined at the Bombay Palace and The Oval Room. Not cheap, but fabulous.
I even had a Scotch, and that reminded me that I had been on the wagon for almost a month. Horribile dictu!
Jul '10
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
We are all so happy and thankful that your ordeal is over. Oh, the power of prayer.
And we are thankful for all the posts you wrote to keep us entertained and educated while confined in NIH, Bethesda.
Nov '11
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Home Sweet Home!
Home sweet home will invigorate you amazingly. You'll almost think you feel better than you did before the surgery . . . but be careful . . . don't overdo things.
I can't resist offering advice. With classes starting so soon, you probably feel like the butcher who backed into the meat grinder and got behind in all his work. But it is vitally important to take time, several times a day, to get out of the reading and writing chair and move around, outdoors if possible. (I don't think walking can ever hurt you.) Besides following the usual advice not to pick up anything heavier than a phone book, please don't do any extravagant pushing or pulling or twisting or stretching for a while either, (e.g., be careful getting in and out of those bucket seats).
Thanks for keeping us so well entertained, and provoked, during your sabbatical.
May '12
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
This post reminds me that there are stories infinitely more important and worth following than the self-inflicted wounds of Nameless Idiot in Missouri.
Jun '12
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Prof, glad to hear you're going home! And I hope that I am wrong and your lymphedema is NOT chronic, and you won't have to return to the hospital! I'm still battling getting my legs down enough for custom garments - I've lost 7 pounds, but I don't think it's in my legs. *sigh* And with no walking, I really can't move around enough to stimulate my body for weight loss. But, that's the topic for another post. I do not want to hijack this one. Big hugs!
Dec '10
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Best wishes for a continued and complete recovery.
May '10
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Welcome home and glad to hear things are doing well.
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Get well, Brother Paul. There's an election on, and you are needed. No use trying to get out of it by predicting a landslide!
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
Astonishing: Home Sweet Home!
Home sweet home will invigorate you amazingly. You'll almost think you feelbetterthan you didbeforethe surgery . . . but be careful . . . don't overdo things.
I can't resist offering advice. With classes starting so soon, you probably feel like the butcher who backed into the meat grinder and got behind in all his work. But it is vitally important to take time, several times a day, to get out of the reading and writing chair and move around, outdoors if possible. (I don't think walking can ever hurt you.) Besides following the usual advice not to pick up anything heavier than a phone book, please don't do any extravagant pushing or pulling or twisting or stretching for a while either, (e.g., be careful getting in and out of those bucket seats).
Thanks for keeping us so well entertained, and provoked, during your sabbatical. · 3 hours ago
Good advice on all counts, and I love walking. Here at NIH we have been walking ca. 2-4 miles a day, and the weather has been fabulous. Maryland in August! Who would have thunk it?
Jun '10
Re: Home Again, Home Again, Jiggedy, Jig!
It is wonderful to hear your good news. You write so well while down it was difficult to discern what must have been terribly uncomfortable circumstances.