Several hospital visits later...

Jeannette went to the ER at Northwestern Medical Center two weeks ago, complaining of pain in her esophagus and stomach.  After an X-ray showed no blockage or major issue, Jeannette was hydrated and sent home with Maalox with lidocaine to help with pain and to sooth any damage medications had caused to her stomach and throat.

After a week of treatment with the Maalox Jeannette felt as if her symptoms were no better, so her primary care physician Dr. Miller told her to go to the ER at Fletcher Allen.  That is where she and Tim spent this past Friday. There she was again hydrated, and after drinking the dreaded barium solution, she was given a CT scan.  The scan again showed nothing that accounted for her symptoms.

Just to be sure nothing had been missed, Fletcher Allen scheduled an endoscopy for today, which Justin and Jeff took Jeannette to.  After the tube had been sent down her esophagus, the doctor reported back that there were a few erosions in Jeannette's stomach, but that they were nothing major.  He is sending a sample to be biopsied, but said that these small issues shouldn't account for how poorly she's been feeling.  Jeannette was again hydrated, and spent some time discussing good food options and ways to eat to help get her back on track.  Slow and steady is the trick, since Jeannette has barely eaten anything for nearly a month at this point.


Jeannette will continue to follow-up with Dr. Miller and work to get herself back on an even keel.  Many of her other symptoms (fatigue, lack of appetite, nausea, dizziness) will likely be solved by simply getting back to a normal pattern of eating.

A Few Photos of the Visit (so far)

 

 Mary, Leo, and Jeannette:  The Guelpas!

 Cousin Eric and Jeff

The Siblings again

 Henry, Mary, Martha, Leo, and Tim

A few updates

Thanks for your patience, everyone.  It's hard for us to post frequently when a) not a lot is changing, and b) not a lot is positive.  However, here is a little bit of an update.

The good news first: tomorrow (Saturday) Jeannette's sister Mary Wiethake, brother-in-law Henry, and nephew Eric are coming into town from Colorado!  They are visiting until Tuesday and staying with Justin and Emily.  On Sunday Jeannette's brother Leo and his partner Martha are coming up for the day and there will be a big family dinner at Justin and Emily's house.  It will be a nice chance for all the siblings to be together.

In other news, things haven't  progressed much from the last post.  Jeannette has good days and bad days.  She isn't sleeping well through the night and yesterday got a prescription for that.  Today she received hydration and medicine to help with a few digestion issues she's been having.  Jeannette has been on and off some other drugs, so it's hard to know which of her symptoms are caused by what.  Side effect of the medicine, side effects from coming off the medicine, a need for new medicine?  It's not easy to sort out.

Hopefully my next post will include pictures of Jeannette with her family, and a few shots from the Wiethake's visit with us.