Grand-kids on Christmas Day. L to R: Katie, soon to be 14, Caleb, 9 months today, Brittany, soon to be 17, and Jackson, soon to be 10.
First of all, praise God that last night was probably the best night’s
sleep in 2-3 weeks. And today I feel more “normal” than in quite some time. I
have learned a little about managing the itch, since it won’t go away until
after the Whipple surgery.
Yesterday we saw my beloved cardiologist, Dr. Jackson, and he cleared me
for surgery, which is scheduled at Vanderbilt Jan. 15. I will go off the Plavix
on Jan.6.
We had a wonderful Christmas with all the kids. The picture is of all 4
grandkids on Christmas Day. Today is Dave’s 36 birthday and they will all be
here soon to celebrate.
I cannot thank you enough for all your prayers and concern. I will post again before than, but please keep the prayers going up until and through my
surgery.
Pray for:
* Continued improvement in sleep and managing the itch.
* That our faith, trust and hope in our great God remains
strong. He is teaching me so much, and I love the songs and worship in the night
as I fall back asleep.
* That the surgery on Jan. 15 will go as God directs and that I
will recover quickly.
God bless each of you.
Dear Ray and Rita,
ReplyDeleteYou have beautiful grandchildren. We are hoping and waiting on them. We are sending thoughts and prayers your way. Neighbors from Morrison,TN.
Thank you again, Carol. Maybe we can meet sometime down the road.
DeleteRay, I appreciated so much your comment on my final post. And I will most assuredly keep visiting my TN friend! And continue to keep you in our prayers, you and Rita too. I am so glad that you are sleeping better and hope that continues. Sleep is so important and is one reason I quit blogging. It seemed that I always had blog visits to make at night just trying to keep up and I know for sure that being on the computer before bed made it more difficult for me to sleep. And in the daytime there is always so much else that needs doing.
ReplyDeleteI think you probably managed your time blogging better. Why is it that most men are usually not as obsessed with blogging as women? I realized that something was wrong when the first thought I had when waking up was the blog. I knew I had to change that.
Ray, I have thought so much about you and Rita and your family going through this difficult time together. And about how something like this makes your relationship with God even sweeter.
Through 3 scares with the threat of cancer, and one bout with two kinds of skin cancer, I depended so much on my father's encouragement and optimistic spirit. He was a 16 year survivor of throat and colon cancer and I saw how he received each day's beauty as a gift from God. He taught me so much.
With all of the sincere desire from your family that you were never having to go through this time, I'm sure that only God knows how much you are teaching your children and grandchildren, and friends, about faith and trust and determination.
I'll be watching for updates in 2014. God bless and keep you,
Dewena
Thank you so very much, Dewena. My blogging will be sporadic for awhile; pancreas surgery is scheduled at Vanderbilt for Jan 15. I will have a pre-op CT next week and a visit with my surgeon, Dr. Parekh. I am very much at peace...all is well. So glad you will hang in there with me. I know your time is precious, but I will treasure your comments when you have time.
DeleteGod bless you abundantly and mightily Ray! We continue praying out here--we won't stop.
ReplyDeleteMy computer has been frozen...but God didn't seem to let it slow Him down. He was listening to my prayers as always.
Language often falls woefully short here. Trials certainly come, and are real when they do. But these trials put us in a better and fuller touch with that eternal weight of glory compared to which our severe sufferings here take on broader and deeper implications. 2 Corinthians 4:15-18.
I'm very glad to read that you are on track for prompt and and promising treatment, Ray.
Many prayers, ongoing,
Kyle
Kyle, thank you so much for those encouraging words. You are a wonderful Christian brother, though we have never met. God bless you
DeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeleteWoW!! Glad you got some itch relief - albeit temporary - making it "manageable".
I still have "bouts" occasionally - even though the doctor put a "stent" in.
In CASE I have a recurrence of the itching, could you share what at least made it manageable?
I pray that your Jan 15 surgery brings great news!!
January 3, 2014 at 5:24 PM
I pray that your problem is in the past, not lingering. Here is what I have been doing for about 6 weeks or more now. I have always generated a lot of body heat and when my skin heats up, the itch goes wild. I have trouble even sitting very long in upholstered furniture because contact points heat up and the itching takes off.
DeleteWe bought 3 flat freezer gel paks that are in the deep freezer all day. My dear wife makes the queen size bed in "halves". She is a former nurse and very creative. I could not have managed all this without her. She lays the 3 ( about 12" x 18") gel packs on my half the bed so the are under me from about neck to waist. She covers them with a multi-folded sheet, then 3 bath towels, than another multi-folded sheet. She applies lotion to basically from neck down to waist front and back ( we have used the Gold Bond you previously mentioned as well as others. Camphor seems to be the good cooling ingredient). I get in bed and she covers me with one top sheet and my lower legs and feet with a small blanket. The thermostat is set at 68 and she is not as warm blooded as I so her 1/2 the bed is well covered. Fortunately, I am a back sleeper, I never sleep on my left side because of vertigo the past 15 years. I don't turn to the right much because my arm against my body heats quickly So I sleep on my back, spread eagled. My normal night is to awaken every 2 hours or so, get up and apply lotion as needed, remove 1 layer from over the ice paks and pray that I go right back to sleep. So a "normal" night is 9 hours in bed and hopefully 7-8 of that asleep. I feel great in the mornings, looking forward to breakfast and devotions with Rita, try to stay busy in the day and I wear down as it progresses.
There in a very large nutshell is how I am managing, with God's help.
God bless you.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteRay,
Thank you for explaining how you are managing the itch. I can truly say that I've had "itches" but NOTHING like this kind of itch before. As you know, it is pervasive and unaddressable.
But you and your wife seem to have come up with a way to make it bearable.
I had gone to my general practitioner and my liver enzymes were way, way up. He had given me some prescription that I had filled on the way home and took. When my wife Carolyn and I got home, I thought I was having an allergic reaction to the prescription. I was wrong. It set in and there was NO relief. I could not lay down and perhaps your mention of "contact points" sheds some light on the problem.
After trying a number of thins (hydrocortizone etc.) we tried the ointment with pramoxine hydrochloride and menthol and it was a Godsend. It certainly did not make the itch go away and I could still not lay down, but at least there was some relief. I sat up every night on a reclining loveseat and watched old episodes of "I Spy". When the itch became unbearable, I would ask my wife Carolyn to awake and put the ointment over by torso and I would put it on my legs/arms.
I got "better" but do not know of a medical reason. Maybe God just had mercy on me. They did an endoscopy etc. and decided to put a stent in my biliary tract. Subsequent to that I wound up at the ER and my liver enzymes were way high again. Now I've changed blood pressure medications from Lisinopril to a calcium channel blocker as they think there may have been two separate problems. I'll go have liver enzymes checked the end of January.
But I wanted to thank you for the information on how to handle the itch. And I want to let you know that I'll be praying for you, especially on the 15th.
Rick