FIL almost died today... crazy day!!

[azasadny]

My father-in-law had a colonoscopy on Wednesday and everything went well, but the Dr found a large polyp that he removed that was determined to be "precancerous". This AM at 3am, he started hemorrhaging and passed out in the bathroom. Beth's mother called her and Beth told her mother to call 911 and she drove over. By the time Beth got over there, her father was on the way to the hospital in the ambulance. There was blood all over the bathroom and he obviously lost a lot of blood from the polyp. Anyway, the ER admitted him, low blood count and they started an IV and giving him blood to stabilize him. Two units of blood later and he's doing much better. He's going into surgery tomorrow so they can stop the bleeding, although it's stopped right now. He was as pale as a bedsheet when he arrived and when I visited today after work, he was looking pretty good. He fell twice, so he's bruised up, but he's in good spirits. What a day for him!!!

[gsxrken]

Glad he is recovering. You hear about these tests and how more harm than good comes out of them over a large population. Prostate, breast, colon testing often leads to invasive procedures etc. Tell that to the 45 year old that catches his cancer early enough, I know, I know, but if more folks suffer from the tests and then surgeries b/c of the tests than would have if it was still the 1700s, it makes you wonder.
Good luck- tough to be in the hospital for the holidays.

[targa911S]

Oh man ...so sorry to hear all this Art. I will be thinking of you and Beth all day tomorrow. Please keep us posted. Hope he comes home soon and all is well.

[futuresoptions]

Wow Art, glad to hear he is doing better. Don't they cauterize those things upon removal? Will add FIL in our prayers.

[UconnTim97]

My prayers are with you.

[Mericet]

Glad to hear he is doing better Art.

[azasadny]

Thanks, guys! The Dr found a very large pre-cancerous polyp, so the colonscopy was the right thing to do. Unfortunately my FIL bleeds a lot as his clotting factor is on the low-normal side. They are doing the scope again tomorrow and ligate or clip the bleeding blood vessel. He will probably stay tomorrow night, then come home on Sunday. He's a great guy and has a fantastic attitude, so he'll be fine. We are more concerned about my MIL as she's not well and things like this hit her vary hard. She was doing fine this evening when I visited. Thanks again!

[peppy]

Hope he does well tomorrow.

[Tobra]

Wow, good they got it as precancerous rather than malignant. Lucky they live close enough to get to the hospital before he bled out too. Scary when they start turning white or blue.

[tevake]

Whew another close one averted. They do give you all kinds of dire warning when preparing to do a colonoscopy, but other wise it seems so routine that its hard to take the warnings seriously. I guess there are many more folks saved by these procedures than lost.

All the best to your FIL
Richard

[azasadny]

Thanks! We're thankful that the Dr got the polyp and that he got to the hospital in time. My in-laws live less than 1 mile from the hospital and the police and paramedics got to their house very fast.

[Hugh R]

Wow, good luck to him

[pwd72s]

Whew!

[Joeaksa]

Remember we had another "member of the family" whose wife went in for the very same thing and they poked a hole in the wall while in there, and she passed several days away. This is not like going to the dentist, it could end up difficult so is not something to take lightly...

Glad to hear he is ok.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Remember we had another "member of the family" whose wife went in for the very same thing and they poked a hole in the wall while in there, and she passed several days away. This is not like going to the dentist, it could end up difficult so is not something to take lightly...

Glad to hear he is ok.

I remember that...all too well. A damned sad happening!

[Joeaksa]

I still hear from Bob from time to time but losing his wife really gutted him. Really sad to see...

[Evans, Marv]

Glad it was something they could catch & take care of. Years ago my preants were visiting. My dad had to catch his breath after walking a short distance. I was kind of suspicious something wasn't right. The next day in the afternoon, he looked pretty pale and said he felt like taking a short rest. After about 5 minutes I decided to take a look at him. I took his hands and pressed on his fingernails. The pink didn't come back very much. I immediately took him to the ER, explained the symptoms, and they took him in quickly. He was bleeding inside the colon. That led them to discover his colon cancer, which they removed a portion of but which soon spread to his liver, brain, optic nerve, etc. and caused his eventual death a year or so later.

[Rick Lee]

I was just talking about this stuff with the wife tonight. A buddy just turned 40 and said his doc said that means it's time for a colonoscopy. I thought it was 50 unless family history.

[wdfifteen]

Wow. That had to have been scary. Come to think of it, the Doc has never cautioned me about taking aspirin or other blood thinners before the photo shoot. Maybe that would be a good idea?

[Mericet]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I was just talking about this stuff with the wife tonight. A buddy just turned 40 and said his doc said that means it's time for a colonoscopy. I thought it was 50 unless family history.

Just re-established care with a new doctor here in Greensboro (after our move earlier this year) and he also said 50.