Pieces of Us...

Diagnosis - Sunday, May 15, 2005

Jonathan's appointment with the doctor was Friday. Everything went well. We now know at least that he doesn't have some kind of liver cancer or anything. The diagnosis was cirrhosis of the liver. Basically 50% of Jonathan's liver is scarred for life. The good news is the doctor said that a person only need 1/14 of their liver to function to survive. The bad news is, it's irreversible. I know the doctor thought Jonathan was some big time alcoholic or something, but he isn't. That's what is so confusing. He probably drinks 2 to 3 times a month, but with the extent of damage to Jonathan's liver, it looks like he was a really bad alcoholic. They also checked for hepatitis, etc. but luckily he didn't have any of that. The doctor also said that we didn't catch this at the beginning, that basically he is about half way though the disease.

His liver blood levels were much better than last time, thanks to Jonathan not drinking a drop since we originally went in. When the doctor told him that, you could see how happy Jonathan was, but then when he fully explained everything and told Jonathan that basically he could NEVER drink again, he finally understood. I don't think Jonathan is going to have a HUGE problem with not drinking, but it is just kind of a social thing. I'm sure his buddies are going to harass him and make fun of him when he orders a sweet tea instead of a beer, but when your life is on the line, you have to think of yourself and your family, not what your friends/peers think.

The doctor basically told him that if he ever drank again, or continued to drink, he would die. I think that was pretty sobering for Jonathan to hear. I really believe Jonathan thought that everything was going to be alright when he went back and he could go back to the way life was, but now we know differently. I still think he harbors some kind of bad feelings like this is my fault or something. It seems whenever I say something bad is going to happen, it does. That's just me talking silly I'm sure. Now if I could just get him to stop dipping Copenhagen, life would be all good.

Not much else going on this weekend. We just basically did the family thing. Yesterday I let Jonathan sleep in until almost 10:00 a.m. I got up with the kids around 7:00 a.m. and we all ate breakfast and played. Then Jonathan got up and mowed the yard. I then took the kids and headed to Wal-Mart for the necessities. Did I ever tell you that I DESPISE the Wal-Mart here. It is so crowded and they are so stupid. Not only do you have to go to a "special" checkout line just to get razor blades (because we have so many thieves they can no longer keep them out in the regular toiletries area), but now we must go to a separate check out line to get frigging baby formula! Geeze. I know they are doing it to cut down on thievery, but please, for us honest folks still out there, this really SUCKS! Now I know why more and more people go to Target. The good news is the are actually building a new Wal-Mart less than 5 miles from our house on the new portion of the interstate. I just hope it doesn't end up like the other one across town.

I went to Wal-Mart to buy baby formula, razor blades, diapers and baby food and I walked out of there spending $137.00. Geeze! Babies are expensive! Of course, I did throw in a new Tinkerbell sheet set for Skyler seeing as she only had one set of twin sheets and when I washed them I had to hurry up and put them back on. But still. And I even buy the no name brand infant formula. I do spend the extra money on Pampers though because I hate those no name brand diapers. I've tried them all, but still return to Pampers Cruisers.

After my wonderful trip to the store, we headed back home and woke Jonathan up from his nap. I figured since he worked hard in the yard all day I would take both kids with me so he could relax for a bit. After we got home we all got dressed and headed to a local Japanese steakhouse for dinner. I hadn't eaten anything all day other than a couple of muffins Skyler and I baked together, but once I started eating, I got full really fast. But it was good what little I ate.

It must have been prom night around town because there were girls in prom dresses EVERYWHERE. We sat with 5 at our table. Skyler said, "Mommy there sure are a lot of princesses here today!" She thinks everytime she sees a girl dressed up with really pretty hair, that they are a princess. The girls sitting at our table got a kick out of that. And as always, people commented on how well the kids behave at dinner. I wish I could say they behaved as well at home! But I am proud they have always been good out in public.

Skyler got up at 5:30 a.m. this morning. Around 11:30 last night Nikita barked and wanted to be let down so she could get a drink of water. Jonathan didn't put her back in bed with Skyler so when she woke up at 5:30 and Nikita wasn't there, she freaked out. Jonathan got up and came downstairs with her and tried to get her to go back to sleep, but she was having none of it. Then as soon as the sun came out she wanted to get up. So they laid on the couch and watched cartoons and Chase got up around 6:45 a.m. Jonathan fed both of them their breakfast and he let me sleep in. We usually take turns sleeping in. On Saturdays he usually sleeps in and on Sundays I sleep in. Since we both work and take care of the kids together, that's only fair. I'm lucky that I do have a husband that helps me with the kids. And he is trying to do better about keeping things up here at the house.

Right now as we speak he and some of his friends from work are outside putting Skyler's new swingset together. Skyler is so excited she couldn't hardly lay down for her nap this afternoon. They have been working on it for hours now. I'm sure it will take most of the day to finish it up. It will be great when they finally get it up though. Skyler loves to swing. Now we just have to teach her how to swing herself so she isn't constantly making us come swing her!

I finally download some of the pictures from my digital camera. Remember a month or so ago when I wrote about pulling that guy out of his SUV? Well here is a picture of his car after the police and everyone arrived:

It's not really a good photo, but I didn't want to go back up there in get in their way or anything. It's pretty amazing that the guy walked away, huh? I'm just happy he was alright. I still remember as I was running up to the SUV I was thinking to myself, "Please, please, please do not let me see someone who is dead." I was really surprised when I got there and he was fully awake and moving around. God was definitely with the man on that day.

Well I guess that is enough for today. I'll end with a few pics of my babies! Until tomorrow.....

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Can you believe how big he is getting?

A true princess

Diagnosis Monica; 2:09 PM

1 Comments:

♥Caroline♥ said...: God was not only on his side..but yours...since there was a downed power line.

Sorry about your husband. But hopefully if he stays away from drinking it won't get worse. My mother has the same thing and she never drinks but maybe one glass of something a year. She has the disease because she has Hepititus c. Which we don't know how she got that either.

Take care Monica :); 2:22 AM