Our Hospital Visit

As many of you know, Derek has been having some issues lately, and has been going through some testing for these issues - about 6 months ago, he had lots of blood tests done, and a barium enema (unpleasant experience at best..) and nothing was found; so they scheduled him for a colonoscopy ... 6 months later! The wait list for such a procedure around here is just crazy! If you aren't of any concern, but need a routine procedure done, the wait list can be about 3 years!!

The day finally arrived - after much waiting, and much anticipation. On Tuesday afternoon, we arrived at the hospital, waay in the North end of Calgary, got Derek checked in and into a bed, and waited for about 45 minutes. Derek was nervous, and VERY hungry, as he had to fast for the 2 days ahead of time. At 2:15, the doctor rolled him away for the procedure, and half an hour later, rolled him back into the room where I was waiting patiently!

Derek was quite out of it when he came back, so the doctor let me know the results. He has Ulcerative Colitis, which as I've read is "a chronic inflammation of the large intestine". He was given a prescription which should settle things down - the dosage is quite high to start, but we'll meet with the doctor several times in the next year or so, and the dosage could eventually be lowered.

This diagnosis is actually quite a blessing - our greatest fears were Colon Cancer or Crohn's disease; I had been praying that it would end up being something that would just take a pill to settle down, and could possibly go away - my prayers were answered! There's no need for a change in diet, or any type of surgery - and it could possibly go into remission! We're of course learning what this is all about - Derek has a doctor's appointment again on Tuesday to discuss the results, so we should have a better idea by then what to expect for the next while!

So, once Derek rested for about an hour, and finally got to eat (what he says was the best blueberry muffin he's ever had) :), we headed back home! Derek slept the evening away - and I completed the painting project!!