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Thursday, January 19, 2012

A day at the hospital

I did get some early studio time yesterday to throw more tests tiles, mark others and batch and dip a couple of flashing slip revisions. I expected a full studio day, but Jim reminded me that we had 3 family birthdays this week, so it wound up being only a half day in the studio and the other half card and grocery shopping and dinner out.

This morning Jim had to go to the hospital for an MRI for the severe back pain he's been experiencing for over a month. He told me to stay home since he was feeling a bit better after 3 days of flu symptoms, so I got busy with charting these flashing slip tests, before planning on a day in the studio. Our phone was out and the repair man showed up and he was still working on the problem when my friend Laura was at the door. Jim had called her from the hospital and asked her to come get me. The MRI wasn't working. They tried twice, but his back kept going into severe spasms, so they had to put him on muscle relaxing medication for a while before they could try again, and they said he wouldn't be safe to drive afterwards.

When I got there they had him on oxygen and iv's. After sitting with him about an hour, it was clear that he would be there at least another hour, so I drove home, stopped to pick up a few groceries, got the cat in, walked the dog, put the groceries away and drove the half hour back to the hospital.

I arrived at the radiology deparment just as they were wheeling Jim back out. He was awake and they were able to complete the MRI. Halleluijah! I had stopped to get him a sandwich just in case he wanted to eat. Miraculously his appetite was back and he ate the whole sandwich. After about a half an hour they determined he was stable enough and they wheeled him out, helped him in the car, and we headed home.

He's napping now and looking forward to some wine and cheese and cookies later (his menu choice for the evening). A Netflix movie arrived "A Day in the Park with George" - a wonderful musical that we haven't seen for years, so we'll watch that while we munch.

It will be an early night, since we have to be back at the hospital in morning to go over the results of the MRI. Pots and studio work will just have to wait. There are much more important things to tend to right at the moment.

6 comments:

  1. Best wishes to you guys, hope you are both on the mend soooon! My husband was sick with an ulcer through the holidays, I know how it is when you have a loved one not feeling great :(

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  2. Thanks Tracey. I hope your husband has that ulcer in control. Forty nine years ago when I was in my early twenties I was hospitalized with a bleeding duodenal ulcer. An acquaintance of my husband told him about a doctor friend whose mother had a similar condition, and the doctor has gone to Germany and brought back a series of what he called high protein injections. He had some left after successfully treating his mother, and I got a series of those injections over only a week or two and that ulcer disappeared. After only a couple of those injections I was eating Italian and other spicy foods. Before that my diet was bland, almost no roughage foods. I don't know if that medication ever reached this country. Our drugs companies make too much money selling drugs which cause more harm than cures; but if any member of my family ever got ulcers, I'd be buying them a ticket to Germany!

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  3. Oh, don't get me started on the profit based medicine industry! I have watched my mother in law deteriorate from all the meds her doc gives her and no one will do anything about it! Drives me nuts, but I'm not allowed to say anything!! Gerry is refusing the meds and so is trying to control this thing with diet, so far so good and I have lost three pounds!

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  4. Hope a speedy recovery is made soon, good luck! It's always important to not loose sight of the things that matter in the busyness of life.

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  5. Here's hoping all goes well.

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  6. Sorry to read that things are so difficult at the moment. Severe back pain is just awful. I hope that the tests show something that can be done to bring some healing and relief from the pain.
    Anyway, lots of sympathy from us in New Zealand. I am finding your cone 6 glaze test information most helpful, and am enjoying the chromium reds. A good red that rivals a reduction fired copper red is a great asset for the electric kiln, and I am really very thankful.

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