Joel The Beginning

I have to go back, several years actually to get to today. It's July 20, 2009. Joel has been plagued with Crohnes for over 20 years. Medication and lack of absorption have led to Degenerative Disc Disease, Osteoporosis, Crohnes arthropothy, and many other ailments. He has high blood pressure, COPD - from years of smoking, Diabetes; I could go on and on. He has had his neck fused from C2-3 to C4-5, and his back from L3-4 to L5-S1 along with two bowel resections due to blockages.

That's a very brief overview of the last years up until March of this year. Well, actually last year. He loved to ride his motorcycle. He began "dropping it." He had been complaining of dizziness for awhile, but was starting to say he was "blacking out." When he wrecked in Oct-Nov of 2008, he had blacked out. On March 11th of this year, I woke to find him despondent. When Emergency personnel arrived, his blood sugar was low 20's. He spent 5 days in ICU. There, we discovered that he had COPD, Diabetes, among other things. That's what had happened to his sugar. He had been diagnosed with bronchitis, an infection he usually gets 2 times a year. He had a hard time shaking it and was not eating well. He was eating alot of chocolate.......discounted Valentines candy. Not knowing about the Diabetes, the chocolate made his pancreas produce too much insulin and it had a reverse reaction. I didn't understand and didn't ask. I was more concerned with him getting better and knowing that we had to maintain a diet from now on. The bronchitis was also pneumonia and in both lungs by this time, and there was fluid around the heart. (Yes, we changed Dr.'s considering he never diagnosed any of this!!)

So, you understand that for 20+ years he has fought Crohnes, and we don't know how long he has been Diabetic or had the COPD. He did quit smoking. (For a short time) However, the back and leg pain has continued to bother him. So in March, we began the process of getting that fixed. We saw his previous surgeon who did not want to do the surgery due to location. The facility was too small for his type of procedure. We went with a Dr that had been referred by a friend. On July 8th, he had the first surgery. Going through the front, they took bone marrow and fixed L3-4 and L4-5. Two days later, on the 10th, they went through his back and took out all of the previous hardware. That was the plan. At this time, we aren't sure what was done....only that it was not a success and that his bones were much softer than the surgeon first thought. Three days later, we were discharged home.

I'm sitting here not knowing what to do. Overwhelmed is an understatement. I'm going to start keeping a journal...............