What a DAY. D-A-Y.
It started out as a normal Friday. Running late. As usual.
Got a call from Franklin as my students were walking in to class. He said he was having weird pains in his stomach and chest after he dropped Cassie at school, and was considering going to the ER. He waffled back and forth, apparently driving towards work, then turned around to go to the hospital, then pulled over and called me. He had been not feeling well all week, stayed home one day, then went to the doctor on Wednesday because he had thought he had the stomach flu, then thought it was something else.....the doctor suspected gallstones and confirmed that he had a hernia near his belly button that we discovered the night before. A follow up was scheduled for next week and the doctor said the hospital would call him by today to schedule an ultrasound for his gall bladder.
We never heard from the hospital and I was going to call today and then this happened. I told him he should drive himself to the ER and I would try to get someone to take my students, to which he replied he was okay and I should stay at school. Awhile later, I called him and he was at the hospital, in a bed with an IV in him, waiting for an ultrasound and they had already run tests on his heart. He said he was okay but I knew I had to get out of school because I was starting to worry and the kids were asking me why I was teary.
I took the kids out to recess and went to the office where my VP promptly told me to leave, he would take my kids. I went back to class to get some work ready, gathered my stuff, just in case I didn't get back. I had every intention of coming back to school because I had the hopes it wasn't serious and I could finish the day, plus I had not yet planned for next week. I drove to the hospital and started freaking out. I know he said he was fine but my mind started racing and I knew I had to pull it together.
I arrived and he was out of the room getting his ultrasound. When he returned, he looked fine, said he was just in a little bit of pain. Long story short, we were there till 1:00 (I arrived at 10:00, he was there since 8:40) and the doctor said his ultrasound showed nothing in the gall bladder, the blood tests were all within normal limits (blood sugar, liver function, cholesterol, etc etc) the heart checked out just fine, and sent him for a CAT scan just to check again and to look at the hernia. All told, the hernia seemed to be what was causing all the trouble, and it is an umbilical hernia that eventually could become incarcerated, which would mean treating with surgery once it was in that acute phase, so we should take care of it sooner rather than later. We met with the surgeon who happened to be in the hospital and the earliest I could schedule his pre-op appointment was for Dec. 14th, then he will have surgery most likely before Christmas. The only other thing of concern was the presence of fat penetrating the liver, which is reversible if he loses weight. I've been doing research on it and have already shared with him what this means, especially if it is ignored, and now the ball is in his court but I think he is ready to make some changes.
So another day of potentially studying is gone, but I am going to the library with Amanda tomorrow morning before I teach at PAC. We are going to try for more library time on Sunday, and then a schedule of Mon-Wed next week, with cramming over the weekend, and I'm praying and hoping for some of this information to stick. I had a glimmer of hope on Wednesday when we spent 2 hours at the library because I was amazed at how much I actually got accomplished with I was without the family around, in a quiet library, working on the study guide. Do I remember anything? Not at this moment. Hopefully I'll get some of that back tomorrow, knowing now that Franklin is essentially okay, and I can try to knock this out.
Here I go again, with the beginning of December being crazy, like last year when I was going for my BP initial training. A year ago this weekend.. I remember it was three days before Christmas that I finally did shopping and decorating. What is up with me and timing?
I need two uneventful weeks coming up so I can focus, please. No drama. Pretty please. With a cherry on top.
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