Remember me?

Hi. It’s been a while.

There’s no way to sugarcoat this. On May 1st, at about 5pm, John asked me to help him use the toilet.

Without going into undue detail, the request was unusual. As I lifted John from his wheelchair to the toilet, we discovered he was hemorraging.

We went to the ER, where John was quickly admitted. Over the next night and early morning, John’s blood pressure plummented. He nearly died.

After receiving 5 pints of blood, he slowly started to recover. If you are a blood donor, I cannot thank you enough. Your generousity saved a life.

The diagnosis is diverticulosis, which can cause serious bleeding.

People who cannot walk are especially susceptible to bowel problems: it’s amazing how much can go wrong when a person cannot stand up.

After 15 days in the hospital, much of that in Intensive Care, we are back home. (I was with him the entire time.)

John is much better, but still very weak. He requires more care than usual.

There is little treatment for diverticulosis beyond a high fiber diet. John adores fruit and eats lots of it. He also consumes more vegetables than I do. But I can definitely do more where beans are concerned, so look for more bean recipes here.

Apologies for vanishing for weeks.

My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the doctors, nurses, and staff at Kaiser Permanente Oakland Hospital, who saved John’s life.

The photographs interspersed were taken from the hospital rooms on floors 11, 9, and 7. It was an ordeal with a view.

I hope to return to regular programming just as soon as possible.