December 2, 2010

Today Jim had a procedure done to see if the hole in his colon has healed. We had to be at the hospital at 7:45 am, even though it was the first snowfall of 5 inches for the winter season!!! Hate the snow!! Jim has had a catheter in for nearly the full four months after surgery. The procedure consists of putting a contrast die through the catheter into his bladder. Then they take the catheter out and see if there is any leakage back into the colon. As I sat and watched all the Xrays on the screen, I could see no leakage. The PA kept saying that everything looked good. What a wonderful feeling of relief. Then they took the catheter out! The PA came back into the room and told us that he was sorry, but after they took the catheter out, there is a small bit of leakage. What a let down! I immediately started crying. This is what would be the end of everything that has happened. But now there is still some urine going into the colon. We had to go back to the urologist and have the catheter put back in, which was not fun! The colorectal doctor called this evening and told Jim that he wants to wait another two-three weeks to see if we can get the hole to close completely. If it does not close, then a colostomy will be performed. We are not looking forward to this at all.

Not only do we worry about all of this, January 1st our insurance deductible kicks in again. Last year our deductible was $6000, and next year, Jim's insurance is changing, but he will have a $3000 deductible. Try coming up with $9000 within six months is not easy!!! But this is the least of our worries. As long as Jim heals and stays cancer-free, we will figure out how to come up with the money.

Now time to heal.