my dad, randy joe, was cursed with a stomach ailment called diverticulitis. i am no doctor, but i know that for him, the condition flares up on occasion and can be serious - should an infection develop or the colon decide to perforate - or as randy joe says, "bust op'n." recently, such a flare up occurred and in fact, there was an infection and a 5-day hospital stay was required. i called my dad every day to check in and got to hear the minute-by-minute of life in the south georgia medical center. the following is a summary of those conversations (in the words of randy joe - unless otherwise noted. as a reminder, ronnie is my mom):
day 1: i knew what it was - i ain't eat in days. i coulda died. if you get an infection bad enough in there, that thing'll bust op'n and from then on, you'll be shitting in a bag.
nicole: how long are they keeping you?
rj: well, they said til monday, but i'm going home on saturday to watch that football game.
day 2: i can't talk. the nurse is here to take my blood.
rj to nurse: i don't know why you wanna take it again, you took it yesterday. i got the same blood today i had yesterday.
day 3: can you believe georgia lost that football game?
day 4: (to nicole) tell ronnie to bring me a box a cheezits.
nicole: are you allowed to have cheezits?
rj: i don't know - i ain't eat in 7 days. i'm starving.
day 5: i can't talk. i'm getting the hell outta here. i'll call you when i get home.
he made it home and seems fine, although a surgery is likely in his near future. he is no stranger to surgery though. several years ago, he had a hip replacement. the recovery was worse than he expected. not too long after the surgery, his orthopedic surgeon told him he would need the other hip replaced, to which he responded that he would "drag that sonofabitch to the grave" before he had another hip replacement. the doctors should probably consider going ahead and removing his entire colon since it is not likely he will be doing any additional surgeries.
