Re: Difficult surgical decisions

August 7, 2000

Hi Shirley!

Don't know if this will help you or not, but when I was in a coma, I had a

trach put in due to my lungs failing. I don't know about anyone else, but I

had a REAL tough time when they would try to " cap " it to close it off so that

I could learn to breath normally again. Of course it could have been all of

the drugs that had me on too because I did suffer from extreme paranoia. It

also left an ugly hole in my throat because the muscle pulled away from the

site. On a good note though, my insurance approved me to have surgery in

October to correct it and stretch the muscle back in place- and an even

better note is that they just told me that they will pay 100% for me to have

dermabrasion to remove all of the scars that it left. Anyway, maybe

they feel that you are at risk for lung failure and are doing the trach for

preventative reasons. I don't know if maybe hepatitis could increase that

chance or not-don't really know too much about hepatitis.

Best of Luck to ya,

(indy)

August 8, 2000

Hi Shirley!

Whew-it has been a couple of days since I have been in my messages and I am

so behind. We had a tree hit by lightning Sunday night and lost all of our

power for about 15 hours and are now dealing with getting rid of this stupid

tree.

I was in the hospital for a total of about 9 weeks or so. I just had my one

year anniversary on July 19th. (that was the day I went into the hosp) My

pancreatitis was due to triglyceride levels of 4000 but all of the other

complications were from the pancreas.

I hope that you are feeling okay today lady! The next time you come to Indy

maybe we can try to hook up. I live on the southside of Indianapolis and I

believe that you go to the IU Med center right? I would love to be able to

meet you. I was lucky enough to be able to meet Helen and it felt as

though I had known her forever! She is as sweet in person as she is on

line!!!!!!!

Gotta Run and deal with a tree LOL

Hugs,

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