UPDATE, 4:09 p.m. Thursday, May 7...After another good night's rest, my wife has been up all day so far without the first nap and seems to be doing fine. She had a light breakfast, followed by a virtual appointment with the family doctor. His office arranged the appointment as a means to get him completely up to date on what had happened. For the first time since this past Tuesday, her voice sounds normal again, and the soreness appears to be improving, too. Unfortunately, she still is having trouble getting pills down, which may force a consultation with the doctor who did the endoscopy to investigate whether we can arrange to get the new medicine in liquid form.
UPDATE, 1:53 p.m. Wednesday, May 6...After a good night's sleep, my wife is up and moving slowly as she deals with a lot of soreness. Had a small breakfast, thanks in no small part to my ineptness in a kitchen. Fully expect to see her taking a series of naps throughout the day, 'cause I can tell she's still tired. Plan to stay close by until she's moving better. You might say we're just following the Governor's order and staying home. Have shared all the well wishes from everyone with her and will continue to do so. We both thank you for all the thoughtfulness.
UPDATE, 2:57 p.m. Tuesday, May 5...I'm getting too many phone calls, emails and texts to ever hope to be able to respond to all of them individually, while simultaneously taking care of my wife. Thus I'm going to use this venue, in hopes no one gets offended. I truly am not trying to be difficult in any way, shape or form. That said, the doctor who ran the scope down my wife's throat and checked everything told me that she only uses surgery in these cases as a last resort. She used a small balloon to help open up one part of my wife's esophagus today. And she has put her on a prescription which treats a couple of the most annoying and painful aspects of a hiatal hernia. For the moment, she is going to see how that and her continued personal monitoring goes. We are hopeful that things will improve in the next few days, but at the moment, Fran is just hurting from today's invasive procedure, she's extremely tired, and she's hungry, which means I need to get to the kitchen in short order. Please know that I sincerely appreciate everyone's concerns and will do everything in my power to keep adding updates here in a timely fashion.
Little did I know that my bad day on the water yesterday was just the precursor for even worse things to come after I got home yesterday. It started with my wife getting choked at dinnertime, then lapsing into several hours of vomiting.
When we realized things probably weren't going to get better without her going to the emergency room, I made the call, knowing full well that I would not be allowed to go with her, in view of this coronavirus pandemic. Now I've learned that she has a rather large hiatal hernia, which in itself explains a whole bunch of other symptoms my wife has had to endure for a good spell.
The doctor now wants to send a scope down her throat for closer examination of the problem, causing both her and me even more anxiety than we already have over the fact she is in a hospital at one of the worst possible times.
I can't help but feel like the good Lord was trying to send me a signal yesterday while I was on the water, 'cause too many things just kept happening one right after the other. I certainly have had my fair share of days when things went wrong, but nothing like I encountered yesterday. I also further wish that both my wife and I had been savvy enough early on to take a good look at the symptoms she has been having, rather than waiting 'til now.
The phone calls I've been getting from my wife in the last two hours suddenly illuminate for both of us the pure torture being experienced by people all across the land at this moment, as we struggle to make any sense at all of the situation in which we find ourselves...where married couples simply can't be together if one goes to the hospital. Our hearts are aching over having to be apart after so many years as one, especially when we know and fear how this nightmare could end.
At this stage, we can only pray the Lord sees fit to allow us to celebrate our 50th Anniversary next April, which suddenly seems like a lifetime away. I can only hope believers everywhere will join me in this prayer.
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