Friday, January 7, 2011

Another Birthday for Donald


Today is my Husband Donald`s Birthday.
And for Both of us it`s a Very Special Birthday for several reasons.

You see, not only is it his 65h Birthday, which officially marks retirement age, ( which he has NO intentions of doing yet he says ) it is a Birthday we weren`t sure if he`d Celebrate for several reasons.

You see I have teased my Husband and called him a Cat with 9 lives a few times.

About 5 years ago he woke up one morning with chest crushing pain. He went in to see his Regular Dr. who ran a EKG on him and then proceeded to Call 911 because of the very disturbing test results that showed he was having a Heart Attack.

So the ambulance shows up at the Drs. office and by this time he is in terrible pain and the EKG machine is going bonkers..
In the Emergency room they administered Nitro Glycerin to him several times with NO effect on him ???

Hmmmm , now what ?

They have him hooked up to several machines now and whisk him up to ICU and Cardio lab for more tests.

Well fast forward here 3 days now and one of the Nuclear Stress Tests they do on him shows he has Periocarditis. The swelling and inflamation of the Sac that surrounds the Heart

Not life threatening , but extremely painful and mimics a Heart Attack. Antibiotics and bed rest will take care of it.
OK so they send him home 4 days later and we are good right ??

WRONG..

Approximately 1 year later in April we were involved in a Very Bad Car accident out in Detroit MI which put him in the Hospital out there for 3 days because he hit the steering wheel with his chest so hard that it broke several Blood Vessels that were leaking Blood behind his sternum and could have serious complications if not monitored.

We came back home and 2 days later he has trouble breathing and X-rays show Double Pneumonia.

Back in the hospital on Oxygen and bed rest for 3 days again.. Everything good now ?

Not for long..

April each year is the time for his yearly check up and Colonoscopy which he had done just before we left on Mini Vacation which included Reno NV for my Bowling Tournament and then 3 days of FUN in VEGAS ( which we had never seen before )

Last day of Vacation we get a call from the Dr, telling us he wants to see him the next day as soon as we get back to CT.

Dr. tells us he has Colon Cancer !

Less than 2 weeks later he is having surgery to remove a large mass in his Colon which they assumed was the Tumor..

3 days later the Biopsy comes back to show THIS mass is NOT the tumor but a abcessed cyst of some sort.
So they need to go back in and Get the tumor before it spreads anymore.

5 weeks later, barely healed from the first surgery, he`s being operated on again to remove another section of the Colon where the Cancerous Tumor is.

GONE DONE OUT OF THERE !

He was quite lucky in the respect that the type of Cancer it was and how low in the Colon it was, that he did not require having Chemo or Radiation.
The surgery got it all out and it had NOT spread.. WHEW !

And so far 1 year later, his check up is clear and clean the Cancer has not come back.

So, as I said at the Beginning of this LONG (sorry alot has happened to him ) posting, WE have several reasons to Celebrate this Milestone Birthday for him !

Happy 65th Birthday My Love !

5 comments:

Kat Simpson said...

He really does have 9 lives! And I think I'd be nervous about every April! Happy Birthday Donald!

Bev England said...

What an up and down ... or is that down and up? So glad he's fine now. He's to skip 2011 for downs and enjoy hitting 65! Hoping it's a great year for both you and him.

CozyLady said...

Kathy, Please send my best wishes to Donald on his Birthday. They say the first 65 are the hardest. It's one miracle after another and you deserve it.
Elaine

fireangel said...

Great Update, and add in Crayola and he's got the second best gift he could get for this year! First is of course his health.

Looking forward to your next Blog on Crayola after he arrives. :)

The DSRS of our lives said...

Hey Donald - I hope it was the happiest one yet!! Let's plan on hitting the Mummer's Parade in 2020 ok??