Waldo was here visiting Rosie - she had cataract surgery. He complained, while here, of a stomach ache and spent the last day or so curled up on her couch. He was feeling so poorly on the way home that he stopped in Goodland at the emergency room. They sent him on to Denver. His wife, June, said they took part of the lower intestine and "everything else that wasn't needed."
I received this as a prayer concern from the United Methodist Church here in Howard. Please keep Waldo in your prayers. I'm sure he will be home soon and I don't know what hospital he is in. I just saw Waldo last week when I was in the donut shop.
Prayers for sure, if I'm still allowed. :-\
Oh my gracious -- we hope Waldo is doing well and is on the road to recovery. Thoughts and prayers from Oklahoma............
Thanks Janet, we had coffee with Waldo and Rosie in Howard and he seemed fine. Those things happen fast. Thanks for your post.
Prayers for Waldo from here as well.
Prayers from Texas. Hope he has a speedy recovery.
Prayers from us, too. Get well, Waldo.
Get well quickly, Waldo!
Praying that all goes well for you, Waldo.
I found a home address for Waldo and June on White Pages but I don't know whether I should post it for the entire world. If you would like it, just PM me. Centennial is south of Denver a bit, so someone may be picking up mail for them.
Does anyone have an update on Waldo?
Wima, if I see my favorite Rosie tomorrow I will ask her about Waldo, and post what I find out.
Frank
Last I heard (Thursday afternoon) he was still in the hospital but recovering nicely.
Wow.. scary stuff... I hope after he gets out he feels all brand new.
Talked to Rosie this afternoon. Waldo is still in the hospital. He's up and walking, but not eating solid foods yet. He continues to improve, just not as fast as she wants him to.
He was still on the prayer list at church, this morning.
I might say that "Something Funny happened on the way to the Forum."
Thanks to everyone for the nice comments and concerns expressed on the forum. Additionally, thanks for the cards and letters that came to the house.
I have been home for about 48 hours, now, and this is the first time I have been inspired to get on the internet.
I left Howard feeling fine on a Sunday morning after experiencing some very severe stomach pains for the previous few days. Nevertheless, by the time I got to Russell on I-70, the pain started up again, and I endured until I could get to the ER in Goodland. They gave me a CT Scan and the doctor on duty suggested I had a life threatening condition and, unfortunately, they did not have a surgeon. An air ambulance outfit flew up from Dodge City and took me to Centennial airport. From there, a ground unit took me to a Denver hospital arriving about 10:30 pm. My van was left in Goodland, but family members picked it up the next day.
The top surgeon at the Denver hospital said I needed attention but suggested he needed more time for consultation with the other surgeons and the charts brought from Goodland. At about 5:00am, he came back recommending surgery as soon as possible. About 30 minutes later, they began what turned out to be a 5.5 hour operation. They cleared a blockage and also took out some cancerous portion of the small intestine.
The surgeon was an American female. Her assistant was a Chinese doctor and his assistant was Vietnamese.
It has been 35 years since I had last been in a major surgery unit and things sure have changed. I have never seen such an industrious multinational faceted medical type operation. My wife took a liking to Olga, an immigrant from the Ukraine who came here eight years ago without knowing how to speak English. Nevertheless, she completed high school, graduated from college and is well on her way to becoming an RN. And, others were Lebanese, Somalian, Hispanic, etc., medical technicians—almost all equipped with a rolling laptop.
Another shock was that once they took me off a liquid diet, I was free to order anything from the hospital menu. And the menu included hamburgers, chips, and coke. Everything cooked.
The only family member I have yet to see is Herman, the wonder pup. Because of his slap happy penchant to run to me, jump, and land in delicate places, he is off site for awhile.
So glad you are back and doing better, Waldo. We missed you.
Great to have you back, Waldo! Sounds like you were in somewhat of a scary situation. Aren't we thankful for the world of modern medicine and educated and efficient medical professionals who practice those procedures.
You are correct about that.
Glad you are okay. In my own experience yesterday with an operation, the surgeon was Anglo-American, the pre-op nurse was Filipino, as were many of the nurses, the Anesthesiologist was Japanese and the two transport guys getting me to surgery and helping me out to the car were Hispanic. All were very professional and knew their jobs well. All carry a pocket scanner and everything that is done is scanned into the computer so that everyone knows what everyone has done. IV bar codes were scanned, nurse's ID badges were scanned as well as anyone else involved in my care. I remember some twenty years ago my father-in-law had this same procedure and was in the hospital for a week. Mine was out-patient mainly because I did well and the Surgeon did his job well. Today's medical technology is amazing to me. Just think where it will be in the future.
Larryj
Sounds like you are doing okay today, Larry. Glad your procedure went well............
Waldo, it is so good that you are home and doing well. You mentioned that the surgeon took out a cancerous portion of the smaller intestine. Are you going to have to do something about that? i.e. radiation, chemo We will pray that the surgery took care of everything. We will also pray that you don't have to go through something like that again. What a trip that must of been!
Waldo and Larry, I am glad you are both doing okay. The thought of surgery is still scary.
Larry,
One of my roommates was admitted in the am. That afternoon, the surgeons took out his gall bladder. The next afternoon he went home. I spent eleven days in the hospital for the same thing in '76. All I could do was admire the guy. He was even getting up without assistance and going to the bathroom.
Janet,
I have an upcoming appointment with an oncologist to discuss whatever I will need to do.
Ms Bear,
Both of my surgeries have been in Catholic hospitals just because that was the entity which the insurance provider or the primary doctor had a working relationship with. I was scared to death before my first surgery in '76. I recall first the surgeon came around the night before explaining what could go wrong and to "sign this." Then the anesthesiologist came around explaining what could go wrong and to "sign this." Finally, the Hospital Priest came around wanting to have some time with me.
This time around, I was ready for relief and gladly signed everything they put in front of me.
Glad that your surgery went well Waldo. It is amazing what they can do these days, but the mighty maker still has his hand in the process. I had out-patient gallbladder surgery in 2003. Went in early in the morning, had the surgery about noon, and was discharged at 5:00, complete with video tape of the procedure. Outside of some nausea, ( I was sick all the way back to Moline), I did very well. On the other hand, Ted had the same surgery, they ran into complications and had to do the old fashioned surgery. Ted ended up with an infection, had another surgery and nearly died. He spent 31 days in the hospital over an out-patient gall bladder surgery. You never know. :P