And The Medical Stuff

Thursday--  Jena's dental surgery

Over two years ago, her personal dentist recommended that she have a cavity done under general sedation because he was concerned it might require a root canal.  Our only option with her insurance was at the U dental clinic but with Covid stopping things for awhile and general lack of staff up there it has been a big process to get an appointment at all.  Then her first one in June had to be postponed because she had Covid.  They first told us it would be next February before there was an available appointment but they gave us a cancellation opening.  Not untypical with Down syndrome, she had many problems with her teeth and then ended up pulling four teeth plus doing other work in her mouth.  We ended up being there from 7:00 am and home at 4:00 pm.

While we were waiting to start

After surgery--she asked me to take this picture

to send to her siblings and tell them she was

very brave getting her IV and during surgery.

When the doctor came out to get me, he said that she woke up and gave them a big smile despite all the work they did in her mouth.  

Being at home was much more comfortable.  She has done very well at taking the antibiotic and asking for pain medication when she needs it.  It has been a long time since she has taken either of those so I wasn't sure how it would go.  She is doing great.

Friday afternoon- Ben's colonoscopy

(We were so grateful that it was in the afternoon which allowed me to attend the Go Forth meeting and meet our new missionary. Sometimes, life works out that way--and other times it doesn't!)

Ben has had chronic constipation which was considered to be a direct result of medications he is taking, but he has now developed chronic and explosive diarrhea (a common result of the first problem) and it is really interfering with his daily life as you can imagine.  He takes a combination of 7 different things to help with both problems without success---medication, fiber, vitamins, and other natural supplements.  That isn't great either.  The specialist we saw wanted to rule out a number of other possible reasons--which we all agreed.  However, the result of the colonoscopy was as expected.  It was clear of any signs of infection, polyps, or structure problems.  It was enlarged which is totally expected in chronic constipation situations.

I started to cry when I read the report which I thought was weird, because in one sense it is good news, right?  Then I realized that I was hoping there was something else wrong that could be fixed for Ben.  We can't "fix" schizophrenia but I wanted to fix this problem for him.  He was disappointed as well when he woke up.  He finally has had some success in dealing with the delusions of going outside, but now diarrhea is keeping him from engaging fully in treatment and being able to leave the hospital.

Ben's photo to send to Jena telling her that 

he was brave for his IV as well.

Once again, Ben gets the double dose of side effects.  They have tried the usual methods to manage the constipation over the past several years. The diarrhea has occurred off and on for a year, but now is constant which has led to all of this testing. Now it will be back to the drawing board for exploring other options.
  

I helped Jessica run somewhere Saturday morning and then went grocery shopping but by Saturday afternoon, I was wiped out and slept for 2 hours and then fell asleep later when we all watched an old movie together.  I did manage to get some weekly housework done and some laundry, but that was it.  Sitting in hospitals wears you out.

And that is our week!