As promised, a message from Allan (that he typed himself). For those who have never heard me say his given name, Allan is Hook, sometimes called “Al” by colleagues and only called Allan by me when I’m upset with him or when I feel very loving toward him — keeps him on his toes! And, I don’t call my husband “Hook” at home, but well, other things . . .
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Hidalgo, Texas: Allan and the largest killer bee. Photo taken by Riley Nelson. Circa ?
From Allan:
After the surgery I was seriously dehydrated and now the trick is to reduce a lot of the fluids they put into me – or by giving me albumen and a couple of amino acids. The body is now used to doing catabolic reaction to get the glucose it needs, so we have to kick-start the liver to get it back to doing its job.
Besides having to deal with this our fridge went out over the weekend and luckily Mary Joy and Dave Guzman discovered that while Rosemary was in the hospital with me. I understand they had to do some serious cleaning – so 15 million cheers for the Guzmans and thanks so much for your help!
I know Rosemary has talked/raved about two of our nurses – Roy Lopez and Justin Sandefur with a daughter named Nora – she’s only 14 months old. Roy trains a lot of the nurses here and with his experience they can gain a lot of knowledge in a short period of time – for example Roy came up with a pump variation to remove all the excess iter/intra?peritoneal fluid (well at least they won’t ask me to teach A&P again!). And Justin is great too – these guys have had to change so much dressing and gowns, sheets and towels – just so you know where your health care costs are going. But these guys are really dedicated.
Hospital visits – believe me I don’t really have time for visits – every hour they have me doing something and they just get in the way and you know I’m not a social wasp. I’ll be home soon so perhaps then a visit.
And for those that pray (I wrote prey…) thanks for your help – it does mean much to me.
cheers hook
————
p.s. from Rosemary: Justin’s daughter, Nora, is Nora Jane. Nora means ‘woman of honor’ and Jane means ‘peace’. How cool is that?
Nurse Justin spent two summers in the Dominican Republic as a health missionary and he is pursuing his NP (nurse practitioner — a higher level than an R.N.) because he said N.P.s get to do all the fun stuff without having to have a schedule of a doctor. When I asked Justin how working nights affected his family life (there’s a lot of time in a hospital room and when someone is lifting up your husband’s scrotum, you kind of feel like it’s okay to ask them personal questions. How many of you DIDN’T need to visualize that?), he said something so profound that I felt compelled to write it down so I wouldn’t forget to share it with you. Justin said, “You don’t get married because it’s easier. You get married because it’s better.” I asked him to repeat it louder for Hook’s benefit, or maybe for my own. Justin said he couldn’t take credit for the quote because he got it from his older brother. To Nurse Justin: thanks for the great care, for being so attentive to Hook, but also for the wise marriage advice.
And to Nurse Roy: you rock and you are great at what you do!
Writings By Rosemary 
Uncle Allan! I’m so glad you are doing better! I was at the ER last night for 3 1/2 hours! For 3 I was hooked up to an IV. The other half I was still hooked up because they forgot about me! I was getting an antibotic injected into my arm. My left leg below my knee was swollen and and infected. It hurt a lot and I could hardly walk. I have cellulits. As I was lying there bored out of my mind I thought it sucks to be hooked up to an IV. It’s so restricting. And having to carry your IV’s has you limp to the bathroom is horrible too. I was glad I was only going to be hooked up for an hour, well more like 3 1/2. And thought gosh does my leg hurt. And then I thought of you. Your pain is like 20 times worse, you might be still hooked up to IV’s, you still can’t eat a whole lot, and you probably have a lot medicines to take than I do.
Basically I am really really sorry you are going through this and I hope you feel better ASAP!!
Love, Erica
Al,
Great to hear you are up and out of bed! Give them hell.
Ed.
What’s all this talk about testicles, spleens and popsickles. Great to hear from both of you. Thanks so much for posting. BOOOOOO to no visits, but we’ll abide!
so good to hear personally from the infamous Allan. We are happy things are going well and love this blog giving us updates. Hope opportunity will give us a chance to HOOK up during the holidays.
Love ya’ll, Coleen and Rico
Hola Hook,
We’ve never met but I’ve had the pleasure of
knowing Rosemary for a couple of years, and through her, I’ve learned about ya. You’re in my thoughts and I wish you a speedy recovery.
Connie
So glad to hear everything is going smoothly and Hook is recovering nicely! 3 cheers to the wonderful nurses! My sister is a nurse and our niece is studying to be one, so I have lots of respect for the work they do! Sending lots of love, prayers your way!
Dear Al, I have been praying for you… a LOT! I am so glad to hear the good reports and believing that God will finish the work that He has started in you. We are all so thankful to hear of the good nurses who are taking such good care of you. And what a wonderful wife you have! You are truly blessed!!!
Hook, it’s so wonderful to hear from you! Nurses (especially good ones) truly are medical treasures. Glad to hear you’re receiving excellent care – kudos to the nurses & to Rosemary for the “extra” nursing she’s rendering:-)
Allan, I’m so glad that the post-operative fog has lifted and you can actually focus and type cogent paragraphs. As for the liquid diet, I hope you don’t have to be a typical aculeate for too long.
Liquid diet…When do you get to spike the liquid diet?
“when someone is lifting up your husband’s scrotum”
…Hook, use wise judgement on which nurse to pull the “are my testicles black?” trick on.
😉
Ok, on a serious note, so glad to hear of your great progress. Keep up the good work, young man!
Amen to those that are in a profession in healthcare!
Hook, we are so glad you are doing well and can’t wait to hear about the full liquid diet. Woohoo!
Good to hear the Hook Man is up and terrorizing the staff and the patrons. I’ll be in to see you as quick as I can Dr. Hook, and I’ll bring some PBR liquids. Take it easy champ and no sprinting down the hallways.
Dear Allan and Rosemary, It is so great to hear from you, Allan. I’ve been seriously worried about you and it really did my heart good to read all that you wrote. That’s wonderful that you can start a liquid diet—-Adam had to wait 8 days after his intestinal reconstruction. Eating and drinking are so good for the morale and so is walking around. I’m going to call Walt with your news since they’re not reading this blog. Our best to you both. Claire
Ah, I needed some good news to get me through finals week and the end of the semester. That, my friend, was GREAT news!
Keep healing!
Allan – glad you are enjoying the popsicles and have fun with that liquid diet – you’ll be pureeing everything!! Sounds like you have a good team caring for you which is important–Justin and Roy (and Rosemary)!!
We are still praying for you….
Al, so glad you are up, moving around and doing well. I can only imagine how anxious you are to have a real meal. We miss you prancing around the collection shouting how gay you are!