Oh, That OG! by Alison Henderson

This post is not about writing. I haven't thought much about writing for the past week, because last Monday morning, OG gave me a little surprise.

First, let me say, OG is a tough guy. He has driven himself to the hospital with an asthma attack so severe he could barely breathe and a massively bleeding cut that required numerous stitches because he didn't want to bother me. He also kept perfectly quiet when he had severe chest pains all through the night, which an EKG later showed to have been a heart attack. So you know it was darn serious when he woke me at 5:18 a.m. to say we needed to go to the hospital. It was even more serious ten minutes later, after I'd thrown on some clothes, when he said I'd better call an ambulance. 

He'd been having severe abdominal pain that radiated through to his back. This had been going on since midnight, but of course, he didn't want to wake me. My first thought--and his--was dissecting abdominal aortic aneurysm. When that happens, you can bleed out in minutes. Since he's going to be sixty-nine in a couple of weeks and has a history of cardiovascular disease, this was a very real possibility. (Sometimes, too much medical knowledge is not a good thing.) 

I called 911, and five burly firemen showed up within a few minutes. They rolled the gurney into my living room and went to work. When OG suddenly lost consciousness, they kicked into high gear, and took off for the hospital with me right behind. A whole team was waiting for him, and happily, within a half hour they determined he had a small bowel obstruction, not an aneurysm. We were all relieved, and they decided to admit him and see if the obstruction would resolve itself, since 75% do.

OG, being OG, turned out to be in the remaining 25%. His pain increased steadily until he was put on a self-administered pain-relief pump. Over the course of that night, he hit the button thirty-two times. When I arrived the next morning expecting to see him much improved, he was pale, clammy, and in terrible pain. We had to wait all day until the surgery was finally performed at 5:00 p.m. Because he had never had general anesthesia before,  we were doubly anxious. However, he did great and woke up feeling vastly improved.

It turned out he had a band of tissue similar to scar tissue that had wrapped around the small intestine and closed it off. The surgeon snipped the band, and the condition resolved instantly. I thought I'd be able to bring him home the next day, but he developed significant swelling in his abdomen, ankles, and feet, so they kept him another day. He's still pain-free and the swelling is slowly resolving, but he's on a soft-food diet and doesn't have much stamina. It will probably take another week to ten days before he's fully recovered. 

As if that wasn't enough drama, my 88-year-old mother arrived Tuesday afternoon for a pre-planned visit. I barely had enough time to drive to the airport, pick her up, and drop her off at the house before racing back to the hospital. I barely made it in time to see OG for a couple of minutes before they took him into the operating room. Mom's visit wasn't what she'd expected, but it turned out to be a blessing for me not to have to come home to an empty house each night with nothing to do but worry.

His comment on all this? "Old husbands are a lot of trouble." LOL .That's OG for you. He might be moving a little more slowly, but otherwise, he's pretty much back to normal.

So, how was your week?

Alison
www.alisonhenderson.com