Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Other Stuff => Other Topics => Topic started by: RicharD on June 30, 2009, 04:24:01 pm
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We hung out last night and reversed engineered an old amp to pass the time. Right now, as in this very second, they're removing his gall bladder. Pete's a really good dude. Send him some extra B+ or whatever it is you do.
Thanks!
-Richard
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Here's a get well soon card.
:occasion13: :occasion14: :occasion15: :occasion16: :occasion17: :occasion18: :la:
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My most sincere condolences... Gall bladder aint a vacation. Gonna have to watch the diet fer the rest of his life... SWMBO has been having a little trouble herself, and won't do the pectin diet to get rid of the stones, consequently she pays dearly if the chow is too greasy- AnyHoo, take care of yer bud and tell 'em we're all rootin fer a speedy recovery!
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> Send him some extra B+ or whatever it is you do.
Wilco.
A decade back, I wound up in midnight surgery to remove a mess where my appendix used to be. Filleted me like a fish. Uncomplicated cholecystectomy is less traumatic, but he's gonna be AWFUL sore for a while, unless they do it all through his bellybutton.
Urge him to tell his doctor, in front of his own witnesses, everything he is feeling. Pain is expected. Certain types of pain or distress are diagnostic of uncommon but serious complications which appear days or weeks after removal.
Unlike losing my appendix (which has hardly any side-effect), losing the gall bladder will complicate his diet choices forever: he can overload on fat, either occasionally or constantly.
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Really sorry to hear he is ill & I wish him a speedy and smooth recovery!
With respect, Tubenit
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Get best soon, ISOTone. You'll do this standing on your head!
-Megachunk
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Thanks guys. His procedure went well. Fairly non-invasive as far as gut surgery goes. They poke 4 small holes: 1 for a camera, 1 for a vacuum, and 2 for poking and prodding as far as I can tell. He looked pretty good last night and should get to come home today if all remains well.
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Send him regards, that gastro stuff can be pretty bad, sounds like he got off pretty good. Hope he's feeling better.
Regards,
Dyna
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thanks to all for well wishes. i'm back at home now. today it feels like richard drove his truck over my guts. the diet... well, we all have to make sacrifices. it seems as though my body is nearing the end of the warranty period...
gall-bladder was shot and full of BBs. on another forum, one member offered to stir-fry it with onions... :shocked:
again, thanks to all, you are all fine gentlemen, and i'm glad to be a part of this message board.
:smiley:
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> today it feels like richard drove his truck over my guts.
The truck-impact will focus to several sharp stabs, both on surface and deep inside. This resolves to intense healing-itch. I dunno about keyhole jobs, but my stem-to-pubes incision felt "funny twinges" for months, as wall-layers I never knew I had knitted back together.
If you have been close to death, then once the initial insult fades, all the little pain and itch reminds you to be GLAD that you are ALIVE.
Again, talk to your doc a lot. If all went well it is just healing and learning to live without a reserve of fat-digestion. However several small things can go wrong: surgeon missed a duct, or some people have an extra duct, as well as all the usual unlikely complications. If bile seeps from liver anywhere except the gut, it slowly eats the fat out of your tissues, which can be very critical very quickly. If it feels like healing from a knife assault, that's probably what it is. If you feel sicker, or have pain unlike knife-healing, let doc know ASAP.
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thanks PRR, i received instruction from the surgeon directing me to call if any pain other than the "stab wounds", such as swelling, nausea, etc.. the swelling has subsided considerably, however, bending over or turning my abdomen still hurts like heck, and he said it would for a couple of weeks. sometimes the itching drives me crazy. pain meds are helping me get better rest, as i don't toss and turn as much. the sutures are butterfly variety and should fall off in couple of more days.
i drank a cup of 2% milk this morning just to "test" my limits with fat, and it made me a little nauseous, so i guess it'll be a while before i can ingest fatty foods of any "normal" quantity. popsicles, jell-o, celery, carrots, dry turkey sandwiches, graham crackers, and cereal are about all i can keep down right now.
thanks for the information. you are most kind for sharing. it IS good to be ALIVE!
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> it'll be a while before i can ingest fatty foods of any "normal" quantity.
Obviously "today" your system is messed-up from the knife attack, and whatever crisis prompted you to ask for the knife. All those parts got poked and bruised and nicked and generally annoyed, plus the unfelt but significant effects of anesthesia and drugs. (The opiates screw with your gut function, and several of the "better" pain-killers are whack-offs of opiate chemistry.)
I'm not sure what the long-term outlook is. Considering how much fat is hidden in the American diet, "normal quantity" may be too much.
In water-based creatures like us, fat is tricky stuff. It is a rich food source. It can be stored in a pot-belly against lean times. It insulates from cold. It insulates nerves. A touch of fat is used in most cells.
Oil and water don't mix, your gut is all water-based pipes, so fat you eat would slide through and exit. But the liver makes bile, which attacks fat and emulsifies it so you can absorb it. Bile is hard to make, whereas eating is a infrequent event. So the liver slowly makes and stores bile in the gall bladder. When food passes from stomach down into intestines, the gall bladder releases bile to break down fat.
There's another function. Stomach adds acid to digest. But once that work is done, you do not want all that acid eating at your gut. Or the bacteria in your gut which play a major role in releasing tough foodstuff. Bile is very alkaline. The gush from gall bladder neutralizes the excess acid quickly.
Without a gall bladder, I -guess- your intestines must deal with acid and fats. Which they are not very good at; that's why we (most vertibrates including humans) have bile and bile-storage. Horses and rats don't; horses eat semi-constantly and I suppose their liver makes bile as fast as food comes through. Dunno what rats do. Wild people did not eat every day, so when they did, they pigged-out; they needed an infrequent gush of bile. Agricultural people eat one main meal a day because grains are dried for storage and must be cooked for eating; again a reason to store bile for quick release. Without the bladder, you have a slow trickle, which is not enough to handle a pig-out.
Which is why you are told both to limit fat (and avoid alcohol!), and to eat several small meals throughout the day. You lost the "batch processing" add-on which allowed you to eat a whole groundhog every other day, or a 12-ounce steak dinner. Your total through-put is about the same but it must be ingested slow and steady, at the pace of bile production. You may be cutting your turkey sandwich into 8 parts, and noshing one every couple hours.
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Another small point: after the pain fades, you will notice numbness around the holes. This is normal, and sensation will come back, though it may be months to get 90%. Just saying so you don't think the doc clobbered your nerves. He did, but they get over it. It may tingle erratically and maddeningly when sensation returns.
The scar(s) may be quite thick and stiff. My gash could have concealed a coat-zipper. This does shrink and soften in months and years. However I'll never be an underwear model. (Actually, another superficial pass under the knife can ease the scars, if you care.)
The new skin is hyper-sensitive to sun. Keep your shirt on.
And as with all muscle injury: a little rest and a LOT of exercise! It hurts to bend; by this time, you should bend as much as you can tolerate. Frequently. Don't let the muscles get used to laziness, or they will go weak and that ultimately increases pain. Get back to your normal sit - stand - twist - walk routine. If you tended to couch-potato, don't. Walking to the reefer for another 1/8th-sandwich is something, but not enough.
In a couple weeks, you will feel SO much better you can get stupid. A month after my major incision, I carried a 400 watt powered mixer to the car. I got away with that one, but I think a series of such over-doing-it events did not help my long-term healing. (Unlike you, I had a major systemic infection, which drains the whole body, plus long-term damage from heavy antibiotic. So you may not have this same feel-too-good phase.)
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Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
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Dunno what rats do.
They run for public office.
Isotone, take er' easy buddy. Pushing too hard can break loose blood clots.
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ISOTone--
Get out soon and back to GRIND--unless you are surrounded by, BEAUTIES, hanging all over you running for your very important every need!
Sincerely,
Mackie2
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Another small point: after the pain fades, you will notice numbness around the holes. This is normal, and sensation will come back, though it may be months to get 90%. Just saying so you don't think the doc clobbered your nerves. He did, but they get over it. It may tingle erratically and maddeningly when sensation returns.
i went asphalt surfing about 3 years ago. i had some kevlar gear on. it was totally shredded, at 90mph+ i'm surprised it survived at all. pig skin dressings on my arm and knee saved me from the pain of skin grafts. my right arm got the worst of it. there is a chunck of skin about 8cm x 4cm that looks like a battlefield. at any given time it'll start to itch and the whole wound then tingles and itches maddeningly. i have to cover it. it's gross looking and sunlight is the enemy. i was told by surgeon to expect the same of the new scars. the knee skin is still very thin and cuts easily, and both wounds have no pigmentation. i was told that will never change. :sad: the only thing that saved my back and butt was a camelback i was wearing. after regaining some faculty, i thought i was bleeding badly, it was 110deg - it was just the water from the camelback. :laugh: then the real pain started... the wounds had ground in asphalt and dirt... having open wounds scrubbed with saltwater and soap is not pleasant. ...shudder...
the surgeon mentioned to me that my gallbladder had likely quit functioning months ago, (quote: "that thing was shot and full of BBs") and probably why i was feeling run-down all the time. oh, yeah, and the hypertension didn't have much to do with it either... :angel i have always tried to maintain a low-fat diet. it's just one of the things i got in a habit of doing several years ago when i started weight training, so lack of ability to transition to an all out pizza, BBQ, and beer gorge-fest won't be too much of a let-down.
PRR thank you so much for all the information, that took some time to compile and i am indebted to you for your kindness in doing so. after reading all this, and your bouts with a systemic infection, i wish you good health and spirit.
thank you all for the kind words. i am recovering very well, and faster than i expected.
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> i went asphalt surfing
Then I have nothing to tell you about wounds and scars. There's detail differences between uncontrolled grinding and precision stabs, but same general effects.
> "that thing was shot and full of BBs"
Sounds like you already started your post-gallbladder life.
> your bouts with a systemic infection, i wish you good health
I knew I was sick but no idea why. Dozens of things I did not want to hear. When the CAT-scan guy called the doc and said "I can't find his appendix", I nearly laughed with relief. You can get 100% cured from appendicitis, with completely negligible side-effects, and it can't come back. If you don't die first.
Mine was close. I felt worse (sicker, toxic) after the operation: I was a mess inside and it is impossible to get the whole gut clean with handi-wipes or whatever. So what had been cysted-up was now loose. They expected this. 20 years ago, I might have died of the post-op infection. They have a new drug, Flagyl, whole quarts in my IV tube. It really knocked-down the infection.
Of course as the "sick" faded I faced the incision pain. I never had more than a split thumb before, so this was impressive. But hey: my thumb grew together, I knew my gut would, just 100 times more healing to do. And frankly, it was hardly twice as bad as my worst back pain, just weird because it was on the wrong side. But the hospital bed also hurt my back, so I was well-balanced pain-wise.
There was a long period of numb tingle in my little fingers. Doc tried to blame an awkward position in surgery. Turns out that nerve-damage is a known side-effect of Flagyl. No real treatment for that, and tingle-finger beats dead. And my nerves did get 90% back to normal after some years.
It's all behind me now. Even the scar is noticable mostly as a dimple-line in my belly fat.
And I poop better. I think that dang appendix was sick and swollen all my life.
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Dunno what rats do.
They run for public office.
Isotone, take er' easy buddy. Pushing too hard can break loose blood clots.
funny you should mention that... before and after surgery, they put a cuff around each of my calves and a pump would alternatively pump up one leg cuff after the other deflated... i asked what in the #3ck is that for? response: to keep your blood flowing in your legs in order to prevent blood clots... it thought to myself, "neat, now i wonder how much the guy that invented it got for the patent" - such a simple concept.
more fun, i'm pumped full of lasik to basically dehydrate me to control the hypertension, drain the pulmonary cavity, and allow my kidneys an attempt at regulating BP, so now i have to *iss about every 30 minutes, no water/ no food (NPO) intake allowed, i have "rocket gatorade" flowing in the IV, cottonmouth from hell, sore throat, and i have to uncouple those things to go take a *iss... no, can't *iss in bottle, they want me active. this goes on for about 14 hours. the ER nurses are joking... yep i'll bet we're gonna need to catherize this one... says to self; BS woman, get outta the way... i'll walk.
take care of yourselves boys... hospital food can kill you. :wink:
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>But the hospital bed also hurt my back, so I was well-balanced pain-wise.
sorry, but that line gets a :laugh: i was in same boat. i think they are made that way on purpose... add crappy food to the equation = you want to leave before they torture/poison you to death...
pooping good is a good thing... :glasses9:
> Doc tried to blame an awkward position in surgery. Turns out that nerve-damage is a known side-effect of Flagyl.
did you or doc figure that one out? i'd bet on the former.
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Good to know you are up & about :grin:
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Good to know you are up & about :grin:
thanks! it good to be my old self again... minus a part or two is ok, as long as i can still be active and productive.
:grin:
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Bravo! Great to have you back! Milk this for all you can for backrubs and trips to the fridge! Takereasy!
Jim
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So... How Ya Doing?
You are in good, or at least famous, company. Mayor Ed Koch had his gall bladder (not his gall) taken out today, and is reportedly "as irascible as ever".
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hE-VNQoElJpgiNUhr-yCGx3lOwogD991E10G1
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So... How Ya Doing?
You are in good, or at least famous, company. Mayor Ed Koch had his gall bladder (not his gall) taken out today, and is reportedly "as irascible as ever".
feeling much, much better, thank you for asking... now with BP under control, i don't feel as run down as much, i've been dabbling with eating a few fried food selections, and deep fried stuff still doesn't settle too well. other than that, meat fat and dairy fats don't seem to be a problem anymore. i ate pizza this past weekend w/o any ill-effects. :smiley: i think i'll wait a while before tackling the indian buffet though...
Mayor Ed Koch had his gall bladder (not his gall) taken out today,
my boss mentioned something similar to me not long ago... :angel