A “snip, snip” here, and a “stitch, stitch” there!

After a recent biopsy came back positive for basal-cell carcinoma, my physician wasted no time in scheduling an operation to get the cancer removed. Today, I took a long lunch break for a relatively quick outpatient procedure.

The surgery center had me come in an hour early as they would most patients, but since I was having a minor procedure, it turned out that I had a sizable chunk of extra time. I hung out in a pre-op room in my stylish hospital garb for about half an hour, waiting for an operation room to become available. When space opened up, things moved along quickly.

The most painful part of the whole thing was the injection of the anesthesia. While it was being injected, it felt like my face was being stung by a swarm of bees. But after that was done, I was good to go.

It was a local anesthesia, so I was alert throughout the operation. This led to the discovery that the doctor and her team kept a pop radio station playing in the operating room. I just figured that operating rooms would be very serious and business-like places. Apparently they like some background music. The bad news was that the pop songs were predictably annoying. The good news is that the team worked so quickly that I only had a chance to hear three of them*. Based on that, I’m thinking that they had the tumor out and the wound stitched in roughly fifteen minutes.

* Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, and Katy Perry were on while I was lying on the table. Even the nurses were making fun of their music selection.

I spent about as much time in the recovery area as I would for a blood donation. After a quick stop at home to snap a picture, I was on my way back to work.

(Here is my mostly ordinary wound. It turned out that it got a bit more disgusting as the day went by, but nothing too bad.)

Throughout the afternoon, I was feeling great, and this evening I went to my congregation’s Wednesday night supper and prayer. And that’s when the anesthesia decided to wear off. So I left early, came home, and avoided doing anything else this evening (except blogging!).

Now I’m going to try to sleep off this dull throb that I’ve got going. Hopefully, I won’t roll over…

Tomorrow, I’m allowed to wash things off. In a week, the stitches come out – just before I leave for Pennsylvania.

As if things weren’t crazy enough already…

Life is a bit crazy right now… finishing one job, starting another, moving our family to Pennsylvania, trying to sell our house.

And then I found out today that I have cancer.

Ok – that sounds pretty bad. In my case, I’m told by my physicians that it’s not.

What I have is a basal-cell carcinoma. These things are slow-growing and rarely cause problems (except that they might look ugly). Thirty percent of Caucasians will supposedly get one in their lifetime, and 80% of the cases will be on the head or neck. (Thank you, Wikipedia.)  So there you go – that describes my situation pretty well. (Mine is right beside my ear.)

My doctor says that we don’t worry about it; we just get rid of it. So next week, I’ll have it removed, have stitches for a few days, and maybe have a little scar to remind me to always protect myself from the sun.

And pray that I don’t need to blog about this again.

Late nights

One day ago at this time, I was beginning one of my unpleasant late-night experiences at the synchrotron. I worked way past my bedtime, left at 3 a.m. this morning, and didn’t get much sleep. It could be worse, I suppose. I occasionally have to work all-nighters.

One year and one day ago at this time, I was also beginning an unpleasant late-night experience… in the emergency room. I was up way past my bedtime, finally got admitted into a hospital room after midnight, and didn’t get much sleep. That also could have been worse. I’m thankful that it wasn’t.

Suddenly, late nights at work aren’t quite as bad.

 

Trying to lose 25% of me

I can’t seem to maintain a healthy weight. I actually blogged about this before. And if you were wondering, nothing came about as a result of that blog. So here I go again…

Today I’ve started a new diet. Last night when I weighed myself, I was 225 lbs. That’s 55 lbs more than my healthy weight. So I’m going to try to lose 25% of me.

(Here’s the part that makes me ashamed: BMI = 33. Obese.)

How will I do this?

• Exercise – This is a hard one, just because I have to find the time. That means going to bed by 10 pm and getting up a few minutes before 6 am so that I can swim in the mornings. I’ll supplement it with walking at lunch, but I often like to use my lunch time for reading.
• Cut out the coffee - This is also hard, because I like espresso drinks. But mochas and sweetened lattes have a bunch of calories. So – no coffee at work and no coffee at home. (I reserve the right to have some in the evenings on weekends. But not during the week.)
• Controlled meals – oatmeal at breakfast, a fruit at lunch, small portions at supper
• No desserts during the week - excess calories
• No snacks after supper - ditto
• Lots of water - You all know the benefits of water. I have a big cup for water at work. I plan to drink lots of it – at least a half gallon
• Accountability – My readers will keep me honest.

Along the lines of that last bullet point, I have a new page to track my progress:

Weight Loss Tracking

You can find it in the menu above under ‘Stuff’. I will try to update my weight chart regularly. I may sometimes post a blog entry here, but to be honest, I don’t care to spend too much time talking about this. We’ll see.

If you know me personally, see me occasionally, talk to me on the phone (etc.), feel free to ask how I’m doing. I figure this is the best way to stay on track.

Luxurious accomodations

I just came across this picture from my hospital stay last October. It was taken by my webcam. I forgot that I had it.

Doesn’t look like a real inviting place, does it? I see that I’m dressed in the latest fashion. And apparently, I have a heart beat (note the monitor behind me). Also, you may notice my heparin cart in the background.

(But to be perfectly honest, I have nothing but good things to say about Edward Hospital.)

My blood clot: no causes; just commentary

One of the most frequent questions that I get regarding my DVT is about the cause. If it happens to be a medical professional doing the asking, they immediately run through a list of tests, usually related to finding a genetic abnormality. Unfortunately, all of these tests have now come back negative. Twice.

I am only able to share two bits of information in response to these questions. First, my DVT seven years ago damaged my veins, thereby making last year’s occurrence more likely. Second, DVTs are more likely to occur in the left leg because of the positioning of the veins. Yesterday, I came upon an interesting picture related to this point: Wikipedia’s featured picture of the day.

In this image, the person is facing you (anterior view). In other words, the person’s left leg is on the right side. Arteries are shown in red, and veins are in blue, as is typical.

Now, if you look closely at where the vessels branch into the legs (the iliac veins and arteries), you’ll notice that the artery runs over the vein as it enters the left leg (right side of the picture). However, the vein to the other leg runs unobstructed. The pressure of the artery is able to exert force on the vein running under it, potentially obstructing the smooth return of blood to the heart.

None of this actually explains why I would have developed the clot in the first place. But as my physician said, the cause doesn’t really matter any more. It’s happened twice, so now I’ll likely be treated for it for the rest of my life. I’ve heard of some new drugs recently approved by the FDA for similar conditions. They perform the same function (blood thinning) as my current medication (coumadin) without having to worry quite so much about hemorrhaging or constant INR monitoring. I see my specialist next week, so we’ll see what develops…

5 km for my health

This past Saturday, Laurelville held its first ever Spring Classic – a 5 km run/walk, a 1 mi run/walk, and a 200 meter junior jog – organized by Brian Paff, Director of Communications and runner extraordinaire.

A few months ago, I thought I should try to participate in the 5 km run. It would be a goal in my ongoing recovery from my DVT. Well, I didn’t manage to get in shape for the run (and I’m not sure that my leg would have allowed it anyway). However, I did manage to walk the full 5 km.

Here are a few pre-race photos:

Number 5 is ready to go!

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Can anything slow him down?

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No! He’s speedy!

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And here is a cute little video of the race route. (I carried my GPS so that I could plot the route in Google Earth.)

I finished in under 50 minutes which isn’t saying anything. But hey – the last time I was at Laurelville I could hardly walk.

Another day in the life

Back in May, I jotted down some notes on what was a pretty typical day in my life. For the fun of it, I decided to do it again today (Friday, February 18, 2011). It’s not quite as typical, but it still representative enough that it provides some insight into my suburban life.

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0000 – That’s right. The record of this day starts at the very beginning. One of challenges of working at a 24-hour facility is that sometimes you get to work… 24 hours. Today happens to be the day. Actually, my work day started yesterday (Thursday) at 4:30 a.m., so I’ve been here 19½ hours already. Today, I’m studying ways of focusing X-rays to a size of one micrometer. In general, that size isn’t particularly small (I think that state-of-the-art is around 10 nanometers), but it is challenging for a protein crystallography beamline like mine.

0015 – One of the blessings of today’s work (there aren’t many) is that it includes a number of periods of waiting. I set up a data collection and wait. This time it’s about 20 minutes. I start a rough draft of this blog entry.

0034 – Ok. Maybe 25 minutes of waiting. Time for a game of solitaire. I’ve got Pandora radio playing, and Elton John is singing, “Can you feel the love tonight?” Nope.

0036 – That was an awful game. Time for another.

0040 – Game #2 was only marginally better. Time to go tend to the beamline.

0043 – Scans are scanning; data is collecting. I decide to go for a walk around the ring. It’s a little over 1 km to go the whole way around, and it’s nice to have this place to walk regardless of the weather. It’s also good for my leg to get the exercise.

0057 – Halfway around the ring, I enhance the exercise by climbing six flights of stairs in the administration building. Occasionally, there is a good view of the Sears Tower from the top floor. Tonight it’s just barely visible. It’s always pleasant at the top. There’s a relaxing lounge that almost no one uses. I often go there for a short break at lunch.

0112 – Back just in time to tend to the beamline. Another half hour of waiting. U2 is playing on Pandora. Bono in falsetto: “I feel numb.” Yep.

0136 – Dismayed to find that for the last 1½ hours, I’ve been scanning motor ‘X’ instead of motor ‘Y’. It’s all meaningless data. Resign myself to starting over.

0216 – U2 on Pandora again:

I was lost between the midnight and the dawning
In a place of no consequence or company…

What is it with these songs tonight?

0323 - I’ve moved on to my next set of measurements. I had hoped to be finished with everything and cleaning up by now, but that’s probably an hour or so away. Maybe I can be going home by 6 a.m.

0333 - I make myself a cup of hot water to counter the shivering brought on by sleep deprivation and weird blood sugar levels.

0347 - Time for one more lyric before running off to tend to my beamline again. From “The Scientist” by Coldplay:

I was just guessing at number and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart

0415 – I prodded the beamline one last time. In half an hour, I’ll be cleaning things up. We have visiting scientists who will arrive at 10 a.m. this morning to use our facility. I don’t have to be here for that, but I do need to get things into normal working order.

0440 - Hey – look at that. I’ve been here for a full 24 hours now. Data collection is finished. It’s time to clean up and go get some sleep.

0537 - Clean-up complete. I’ve sent a message to my colleagues to let them know the status of things, and I’m leaving for home. I’ve just worked a 25-hour day – the longest that I can recall ever going in one stretch.

0546 – Exiting Argonne as U2 comes on the radio singing, “It’s a beautiful day.” Blech.

0609 – Finally at home. There was a surprising amount of traffic outbound from Chicago for this time of day. The sky is starting to get light in the east; a full moon is setting in the west.

0628 - I’ve fed the cats, brushed teeth, changed into pajamas, and said “good morning” to Oldest Daughter and Ordinary Spouse. Now I’m off to bed.

1116 – Ugh. Awake.

1143 - Sitting  down to breakfast (or is it lunch)?

1320 – Being unmotivated to get going today, I’ve spent an hour and a half reading  email and surfing the web.

1420 – The hot shower was nice. Now I’m ready to face the day. Not that I have anything real pressing. Maybe I’ll work on a new “Five for Friday” blog entry.

1507 – The time slipped away! I do need to make a trip to get my new compression stocking. Last month, I mentioned how the first pair was too tight. Today I’m going to trade those in for another pair with a lower compression level.

1624 – I’m back from Hanger (the orthotics place). Wow – what a difference a new compression level makes. I can wear these stockings without discomfort.

I’ll quickly finish up the “Five for Friday” blog that got postponed when I dashed out the door.

1639 - Doing some general clean-up and rearranging in preparation for Youngest Daughter’s birthday party tomorrow.

1710 - Supper time. Ordinary Spouse is whipping out the eggs and pancakes tonight. I’m setting the table. Time to round up the girls who are outside getting fresh air.

1740 – Supper clean-up and more house-wide clean up. I’m starting to drag a bit right now. Last night is catching up with me.

1900 – I’m giving Youngest Daughter her bath. She likes long baths, so this is not a very labor-intensive job. I post a new poll on my blog.

1940 – YD takes a potty break. The toilet clogs. That is not a problem. The problem is that the automatic shutoff picked this very flush to malfunction. “Joys are flowing like a river” would be the appropriate hymn title to bring up here. Suddenly, this job is a bit more labor intensive.

2015 – The potty is under control and the bath is complete. OS and I are getting the girls ready for bed.

2045 – Prayers have been said; songs have been sung; sippy cups of cold water have been delivered. It’s time for some Friday night coffee.

2205 – I’ve spent the last hour doing a mixture of finances, web surfing, and getting caught up on this blog entry. I need to take a little time to prepare for a Worship Commission meeting that I have in the morning.

2233 - Time to get ready for bed. I’ll take some reading with me. Good night all!

(2400 - This blog entry gets published. I really hope that I’m asleep when it happens.)

Health update and New Year’s resolutions

I see that I haven’t given an update on my leg since before Thanksgiving. In early November, I had been fitted for compression stockings in order to treat post-thrombotic syndrome, which resulted from my DVT. Well, the stockings arrived, and I couldn’t wear them. In general, they were uncomfortable, but it was the incredibly strong compression behind my knee that was the problem. The stocking acted like a strong rubber band and cut into the tendons behind my knees (the hamstrings). The pain from that kept me from wearing the stockings for any length of time. The last attempt was when we travelled to Goshen for Thanksgiving.

After that, I purchased some knee-high stockings. I wear them on just one leg, and they don’t cut into the tendons. They also aren’t quite as tight (20-30 mm Hg, instead of 30-40 mm Hg). They actually work quite well, as far as I can tell. If I don’t wear them, the leg is swollen and slightly painful (3 to 4 on the pain scale) by the end of the day. If I do wear them, I don’t feel any pain during routine activities.

(Here’s a little tidbit to gross you out… My leg acts like memory foam. I push on my shin bone and cause an indentation in the swelling. But it doesn’t spring back. It looks really disgusting. That’s the post-thrombotic syndrome I mentioned earlier.)

Over Christmas, I pushed my limits a bit and walked about five miles with my dad along a converted rail bed with a gentle incline. With an extended effort like that, I could feel some swelling after a few minutes. I’d stop and rest for a few seconds, and the stocking seemed to help alleviate the pain. I was encouraged that I wasn’t too stiff the next day.

Recently, I read about Laurelville’s first annual Spring Classic – a 5k run to be held on Association Weekend. In a moment of great delusion, I thought I’d challenge myself to run in the race. It would be a way of speeding my recovery.

What was I thinking?

Last week, I tried to run 1 km. I did about three-quarters before I had to switching to walking. Too much pain. I was sore for the next four days.

But this week, I’ve increased my distances – 2 km on Monday and 3 km today. (I’m going to be feeling it tomorrow.) I’m still walking for roughly half that distance, but I also have three months to train. Hopefully, I can grow some new vessels to help get oxygen to those muscles.

That’s all the update for now. Things are going well, aside from some long-term effects that are manageable.

Orthotic blogging

In today’s DVT update, we’ll be discussing your new vocabulary word: orthoses. Before that we’ll also discuss the 10-point pain scale. But up first: the crazy price of health care…

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Mini-blog #1 – Health care costs

I recently received the billing summary from my hospital stay and said a little prayer of thankfulness for health insurance. Although I had joked about my “$1000 per night hotel room”, it turns out that I missed the actual cost by a bit. Ok, by a lot. It was really a $2000 per night room. And that didn’t include the medicines, the consultations with various physicians, the blood tests, the temporary stop in the emergency room, and the ambulance ride.

(And here, I’d like to interject a bit about that ambulance ride. It was roughly ten miles from the ER in Plainfield to the hospital in Naperville. A twenty-minute ride. A $3000 ride. It wasn’t even very comfortable – pretty much like riding in the back of a pickup truck. And they didn’t even flash the lights for me.)

Now, I am not complaining about any of my care. It was excellent. I had good nurses, technicians, physicians, and specialists. I was kept comfortable and my care-givers knew what they were doing. I have nothing but praise for Edward Hospital.

But I’m amazed at the total cost, which was roughly 30% of my yearly salary.

A cost which I will not have to cover at all – not even one cent – because I have good health insurance.

And this is why I support recent efforts to improve the health care system in this country. If my family didn’t have insurance, we’d be bankrupt many times over. I don’t have to choose between my health and my financial security. Neither should anyone else.

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Mini-blog #2 – Pain scale

I’m frequently asked about pain these days. Nurses and doctors seem to all use a 10-point scale, so I’ve also become accustomed to speaking in numbers. However, it’s also relative – someone’s ’3′ may be someone else’s ’7′. I thought it would be interesting to try to describe my scale with some comments:

- Back when my clot was forming (but I wasn’t yet certain that it was a clot), I started getting worried and suspicious after about three days between ’3′ and ’4′.

- When it increased to ’5′ and ’6′ while we were at Laurelville, I was pretty certain I was dealing with a clot, and I thought that I should go in to see the doctor on Monday when we got home. (In retrospect, the moment I was pretty certain that I had a clot would have been the moment when I should have been in the ER.)

- By the time it got up to ’7′, I was in agreement with my Perceptive Spouse: no waiting for Monday. Call the doctor and convince him that I need to visit the ER.

- This time around, the pain only got above ’7′ twice: once briefly in the hospital late at night when I was cold, sleepy, and generally unable to cope with stress (’9′), and once for an extended time when I tried to go back to work too quickly after my hospital stay (’8′).

- Most of my pain has been temporary. By shifting positions and elevating my leg, I’m able to reduce it. That’s certainly the case now that I’ve been off the pain meds for a number of days.

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Mini-blog #3 – The word of the day

Time to get back to that vocabulary word. Orthoses are…

devices used to control and/or guide and/or limit and/or immobilize an extremity, joint or body segment for a given reason; to restrict movement in a given direction; to assist movement more generally; to reduce weight-bearing forces for a particular mobility purpose; to help with rehabilitation from fractures after the removal of a medical cast; or to otherwise correct the shape and/or function of the body to provide easier movement capability and/or reduce pain.

from Wikipedia

In my case, I have post-thrombotic syndrome, which is caused by damage to the valves in my veins. To deal with the pain and swelling, my physician has prescribed compression stockings (my orthoses! how stylish!) which are supposed to exert an additional pressure of 30 to 40 torr on the blood in my veins. I visited Hanger earlier this week to be fitted for them and had a choice of two stylish colors: beige and black. I decided to go with black. They’ll be in next week. Can’t wait to show them off.