No doctors, but no pain

Well, things are different since last I wrote. On Friday I went in for a stomach scope which came back normal. That means that my problem isn't an ulcer. After that, I drank some barium and had a bunch of xrays. I won't get the results of those until next Tuesday.

Meanwhile (back at the ranch?), I got better. I started feeling better Thursday after my dismal last post. I did skip class and slept all morning, but I went to work in the afternoon and felt pretty well. Friday I felt pretty good. I wanted to go fishing, but having been anesthetized that morning, I decided against it, although I felt good enough.

Saturday I went to work again, and felt OK. I hadn't had a pain pill since Thursday morning, but I had to take one Saturday afternoon.

Sunday I felt good, even well. My energy had returned. I sang tenor on the praise team at second service, which was a surprise to some. My mom had called Southern Hills and Walnut on Wednesday and told them I was sick. Apparently she made it sound like I was IN the hospital and in bad trouble. Actually I was AT the hospital, and getting better.

I worked Sunday night. Inventory was Monday, so we worked our tails off on Sunday night finishing up last minute projects.

Yesterday I had to work at 4 a.m. It was interesting, but seemed to be not worth all the trouble that was made about it. As far as I can tell, it went well. Even the managers seemed to think so.

What's the moral of the story? The doctors still have no idea what was going on. Even so, perhaps in spite of that, I got better to the point that I can almost say I am normal (if I have ever been). I'm still behind in my reading because of all of this, but I'm hanging on, and haven't turned in anything late yet.

People have asked if we need financial help to deal with the medical bills. Several people have helped us already, which has made a big difference in terms of paying bills, since I missed several days of work. We have not received any bills yet from the hospitals or doctors. We have had to put some initial payments on our credit cards. My plan is to try and negotiate with the doctors and hospitals, to exhaust all institutional sources of aid (hospital aid, and I heard a rumor about ACU having some kind), work hard to take care of it all myself, and then to turn to our church, family and friends as a last resort. Maybe this is backward, I don't know, but it's my plan so far.

Too well to be sick, too sick to be well

I'm starting to get a little frustrated. Tuesday night I went back to the ER with similar results: a shot of pain meds and send me home with no diagnosis or progress toward one. Wednesday I went to the ACU doctor, who referred me to a specialist. I was able to see the specialist yesterday afternoon, and he ordered another test. I did a test where they inject radioactive goo and watch what it does to my liver and gall bladder. This morning the specialist called and said that the test was borderline. I'm too sick to go to class or work, but apparently not sick enough for an operation or even for them to tell what is wrong with me. He scheduled me for a stomach scope and an upper GI series of x-rays tomorrow.

I missed my class this morning and was planning on missing work today until I had those tests scheduled for tomorrow. I guess I'll have to go to work today if I can't work tomorrow. It's a double whammy. I can't make money if I don't work, and they want me to spend more money that I don't have.

On top of that, Shana and I are both getting colds.

I want to say some cuss words, and cry.

Jason

Back to square one

I told them I didn't have a cat... the scan didn't find anything. No gall stones. No tumors (good!). Nothing. There are some ways in which that's good, I suppose, but it's an expensive test to find out all the stuff that's not wrong.

Yesterday was one of the worst days so far. The pain wasn't as bad as it had been at times, but it was pretty bad and constant all day long. I was at work, and could hardly stand up straight. I spent alot of time sitting on the floor.

I talked to the ACU doctor again and got the results of the cat scan, and we decided to pretend like it's an ulcer now. He put me on laxatives (scan showed I was full of poop- never heard that before, lol) and on Plavix. My friend Leann the Nexium salesperson let me down, as the doctor had no samples to give me, so he prescribed Plavix instead. So, now I'm on Lortab for pain, Maalox for the upset stomach, some syrupy goo for the alleged constipation, and Plavix for a possible ulcer. Hope something works. If it doesn't, then he's going to send me to a GI specialist.

Jason

I don't even have a cat...

After talking with the ACU doctor on Tuesday, we kind of decided that gall stones are the probable cause of the pain I'm having. The theory is that because I had eaten recently before my ER visit, the scans that they did there weren't able to detect the gall stones. Therefore, a CAT scan is the next step.

I've got the CAT scan scheduled for tomorrow at 8 a.m. The results won't be in until later, probably Monday.

I'm still not doing great. The pills work OK, but I don't have very many left, and I don't have much energy. My boss, Mike, has been great about letting me be flexible and not making me do too much work. Hopefully my professors will give me a bit of flexibilty in turning in a couple of projects that I have due in the next couple of days. It's pretty hard to concentrate and read when you feel crappy and you're on pain meds.

Jared is doing quite a bit better, and Shana's illness was quick.

I suppose that's about it for now. I'll give updates as they come. Keep praying.
Jason

Something's Wrong With Me

It wasn't the sour cream that made me sick the other day. On Friday after the fishing trip, my stomach started hurting again. I went to bed about 10 but the pain woke me up at about 2 a.m. I laid there until 4 and then drove myself to the ER at Hendrick. When a cheapskate with no insurance decides to go to the ER at 4 a.m., you know the pain's bad. They did X-rays, an ultrasound, and blood tests and still didn't figure out what caused the pain. It wasn't appendicitis, gall stones, kidney stones, or an infection. They ended up giving me some pain medicine and sending me home. I was supposed to work on Saturday at 7 a.m. but didn't get home from the ER until 7:30. Two more weeks and I'll have some paid sick days. Figures. I ended up sleeping until about 4 p.m. I went to work on Sunday and rode the clock, feeling pretty crappy. Today was a bit better, although I still didn't have much energy. About the time I got home, my stomach started hurting like it had the other two times. I took some pain medicine, but it's too early to tell. It may be another long night. Classes start tomorrow, so hopefully the medicine will keep the pain under control tonight. Pray for my health, if you don't mind.
Jason

Big Fish

My friend Whit once commented that for a guy who likes to hunt and fish so much, my blog doesn't have many outdoors pictures.

Friday after we got out of class, Travis and I went to the lake. We caught 4 crappie, although only one was big enough to keep, and we put the jug lines out.

First we caught this blue cat (center, black and white). It was about 3 pounds or so.

After that, we went to another spot and put the jugs out. Coincidentally, this was the spot where the lady at the bait shop said that the blue cats were biting. I usually don't put much faith in bait shop ladies. Maybe I should, as we caught this one (left, color). It weighed 8 pounds. It was big enough to pull the jug all the way under.

I like to keep my good news and bad news separate, so I'll publish this post here and write another one in a minute.

Jason

Poison, Promotions, Preaching Prophecy

We're talking about preaching prophecy in class today. We just listened to Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. Quite a work of art. Perhaps as close to modern prophecy as there can be.

I might have to steal that metaphor of the promissory note marked "Insufficient Funds" as a way to understand or explain my church experiences. By their very nature they promised, but when I went to the bank, they couldn't deliver. Like MLK I refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. There must be somewhere something about church or Christianity that in fact does contain community, forgiveness, and all those things that the Bible promises.

I might have to create a dream of equality and fraternity among Christians of all flavors. I wonder to what extent racial segregation is similar to denominational segregation. I hesitate to say that all congregations of all denominations are created equal. On the other hand, I refuse to believe that the current state of dis-fellowship is what God had in mind.

I had some food poisoning yesterday. Not problems on either end, so to speak, just bad cramps. I think it was bad sour cream out of our fridge. I survived.

I also got a promotion yesterday. Starting in February I won't be "just the camping guy." I'll be a cashier supervisor, which also includes an extra dollar per hour. A step in the right direction.

"If all we do in prophecy is beat the daylights out of people, we're not really being prophetic."
- Mark Hamilton

Jason

Reflections on Context

Since my friend Terry the rocket scientist asked about trap bedding, I thought I'd explain.

In Texarkana, dirt is fluffy. There's plenty of plant matter in the soil, and it compacts under pressure. To bed a trap, you pack around the outside, flip the loose jaw, pack around the inside, flip the jaw back, throw dirt on top, and go.

In Abilene, dirt is sand. There is no "dirt." When you bed a trap like you would in Texarkana, the dirt doesn't pack, and it also runs under the pan. When you get dirt under the pan, the pan won't fall under the pressure of a fox foot, and so success becomes impossible. (The solution, BTW, seems to be pan covers.)

There's the explanation for you, Dr. B.

The immediate lesson: no two places are the same. What works in Texarkana may not work in Abilene, and vice versa. Dallas isn't Austin, isn't California, isn't Saskatchewan. There is no unified theory or singular explanation for everything under the sun.

I'm in class right now, and our break is over, so bye.
Jason

Several posts from my head...

I haven't posted in quite a while, but I've had a few ideas that I could have posted. Here's a recap...

1. The Year in Review. I started out a father of one, a youth minister, and happy. Now I'm a father of two, a student and sporting goods clerk, and sometimes happy, sometimes not.

2. The Once and Future Youth Minister. I was a YM once. I anticipate that I will be again some time. I sent out some resumes. I did one interview, although I didn't get that job. I then decided to turn down two more interviews. I just don't think that now is the time, or that either of those two places were the place.

3. I'm Going to MIT. Actually, I'm planning on trying to go MIT, and that's "manager in training," not the school for geniuses in Massachusetts. I spoke to my manager about advancement possibilities at Academy and have a couple of meetings coming soon that could move me toward moving toward a management position (yeah, moving toward moving toward).

4. The Neighborhoods are Ripe for the Harvest, but the Fields are Pretty Poor. This is actually a story about illegal deer hunting that may or may not have allegedly occurred :)

5. A Trapping Mis-Adventure. I put out some traps for three nights and caught 6 coons. I figured out that the way to bed traps in Texarkana doesn't work in Abilene. As soon as I got it figured out, I had to pull my traps. If I get a second chance to get traps out, I'll probably catch a bunch of stuff. Probably won't get the chance.

6. Stories About the Boys. The best stories are actually on Shana's blog, so go to my links on the right hand side of this page and check hers out.

See, I could have posted six times since December 19 instead of just one.

Please pray for my internet friend Ann White. She's been in the hospital alot lately with severe digestive problems. Her blog's on the links as well, and more details about her illness and stuff are there.

Jason