Maria's Tripa - Overview

Friday Oct 17th

I decided to create a blog so that you could all be informed about what is going on. Sorry for not returning phone calls, but it is impossible to repeat the same story over and over. So here is what happened: Maria developed two rather large cysts - one about 10 cm, the other 5cm. She had a high fever for a week, was in hospital on IV, then released back home. The fever continued until last Monday night I decided to call it quits and had her readmitted to the hospital. The following day they gave her a TAC - high image resonance scan - and it revealed that the cyst was actually in her fallopian tube and was in danger of bursting. So she had to be operated on. The operation was supposed to be a simple one, but because of her history of operations (9 to date), the lesions and scar tissue inside her abdomen made it very hard for the surgeons to reach the cyst, which was actually an abscess tumor, with puss (hence the fever). Furthermore, once they reached the abscess, it had grown into the walls of her intestine which required them to remove 20 cm of her intestine and sew each piece back together. The real problem emerged when they discovered that part of the abscess had secured itself to the lowest part of her colon (the sigma) and when they detached it, it took a sliver of the wall of the colon with it. But the surgeons decided to leave the sigma in place, hoping that in the next few days, with strong antibiotics and lots of rest, the wall will rejuvenate.

So the next few days are crucial. If the wall regenerates and there is no infection, then Maria is out of the woods and will recuperate quickly.

If there is an infection, then she will have to have another operation to remove the sigma and then the post-op on that process is long and nasty, requiring a colostomy bag, etc and all the complications that go with it.

But as of now she is doing well. No fever. No infections. And in good spirits.

Please feel free to leave comments, messages, photos, etc. We are going to be here for the next week. Anyone wanting to send flowers, gifts, alcohol, and anything else that will pass the time, the address is: Hospital Norte-Sanchinarro, C/. Ona, 10, 28050, Madrid, Spain. Attn: Habitacion 206

End of Day - Friday October 17th

Maria had a really good day today. Her vital signs are good. She got a blood transfusion and is getting proteins intravenously. Her face is regaining its color and she even walked up and down the hospital corridor. Her doctor is happy with her progress and all in all things are moving along very nicely.

Saturday October 18th

Maria feels really good this morning. The blood transfusion seems to have done the trick! She is even watching the new Gwyneth Paltrow/Maria Batali cooking TV show on iTunes. A good sign!

Update - Saturday October 18th

Maria had another very good day. She has not had solid food yet, but is looking healthier by the minute. She is in high spirits. We have set up a DVD in the hospital room and are just about to get stuck into a couple of episodes of Mad Men. Anyway, if you click on the picture, you can see how well she is doing for yourself.

Sunday 19th October

Maria had a rough night. Lots of vomiting and no sleep. She is not able to pass her bile, which means the only way she can get rid of it is by throwing it up. With a freshly stapled scar on her belly, as you can imagine, it is pretty painful gagging constantly. The head doctor, Dr. Conradi, came by this morning and said that her nausea could last another day or two. If she does not improve, then he will have to pump her stomach with a tube. The prospect of having a tube shoved down her nose is so awful that Maria is determined to hold on and deal with the nausea and pain from vomiting.

So there you go. Fun and games in the hospital....but despite it all, the big picture remains promising. She has no fever and her bowels are slowly awakening from their slumber. If all goes well, she should be able to eat solid food by Tuesday next week

Monday 20th October

Good news today. Maria is feeling much better. The nausea has passed. Dr. Conradi wants to introduce a liquid diet tomorrow and if that goes well, perhaps something solid after a couple of days. There was even a hint that she might be able to go home on Friday...

Meanwhile, I am back at work, saving the world´s financial markets.

Update - Monday 20th October

Maria had a very good day. She is dreaming about eating solid foods. Steak in particular...

Tuesday 21st October

Broth. Salty, savory delicious broth. Ahhh. Food at last. Not solid, but food nonetheless and it went down without a hiccup (no pun intended).

So to quote a chubby famous Englishman: "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning."

Wednesday 22nd October

Majeeeeeurrrrr news! The tube that was sticking out of M's gut has been removed. This was the tube that would detect if there was any infection from the Sigma. So no tube, no infection. Muy bien, as they say over here, Yonder Espagna.

Other news: the biopsy from the abcess that was removed was not a cyst, but was an infection caused by the ecography. What the hell does this mean, you might ask yourself? It means that Maria was not creating cysts, which is good news for her future health and risk of this kind of thing reoccurring.

Other fascinating news: Maria ate a "madeleine," "puree," and yoghurt. All went down like a treat and stayed down until it was ready to come out the other end. 

Lastly, we have posted a picture of M's doctor, Dr. Conradi, who is very popular with the ladies. The only thing is that the other day Dr. Conradi asked to see M's butt-hole and she is so embarrassed that she cannot even look at him anymore.

Thursday October 23rd

Maria is back home!!!!! 

We had dinner together. I had gorgonzola gnocchi, beans, tomato salad and several glasses of vino. Maria had a slither of egg omelet and a yoghurt. Nice. She is very happy to be back with Sebastian, and gave him far too many besssssssssshhhhhhhhitos. So that's that. Check out the photo of family bliss. This blog is officially over. Thank you for checking in and for all those who left comments. For those who didn't, get with the 21st century, dude. Go Obama! Over and out. Hasta la vista. Danke schon dickdarm.