Food

Everyone who knows us knows how much Mick & I love food. We are true "foodies," and few things make us happier that trying a new restaurant, pairing food & wine, or spending a weekend looking through cookbooks and trying new recipes (I'm just the sous-chef & eater... Mick does the hard work of cooking!). In fact, Jack's pre-birth name of Amuse Bouche was my homage to our love of food.

Because of this, the last few days have been extremely hard for us. Mick woke up on Thursday morning with a burning pain in his chest. He was unable to swallow liquids at all. By Friday, when it hadn't improved, I asked him to schedule time with his doctor. He secured an appointment for Monday. By Friday evening, Mick was at wit's end: totally fatigued, feverish, and still unable to eat and drink. We met him at the Urgent Care center after work on Friday and they sent him directly to the ER. Thanks to the generous help of our friend, Mike, we were able to leave Jack at home while we sat in the emergency room, waiting to be seen. (It is times like these that I really hate being so far from family; thankfully we have so many wonderful friends here who have offered to help us out!) Mick finally was seen by the ER doctor around 11 pm Friday night. We didn't leave until 5:00 am Saturday.

After numerous tests (EKG, blood tests, x-ray, CT scan, etc.) the ER doc diagnosed Mick with esophagitis and told us it was the most extreme case she has ever seen. She made sure we knew how critical it was that Mick be seen asap this week by his doctor & then referred to a GI specialist. She is concerned about all of the scar tissue that has apparently built up in his esophagus and also about an enzyme count that came back from one of his blood tests (normal level is 300 - Mick's is elevated to 3,800).

It is horrible to watch Mick go through this. I so rarely see him sick; this doesn't even compare to those few times he's had the flu. It looks as if it takes all of his energy to move off the couch. He winces and is in "excruciating" (his word) pain any time he swallows a liquid, including saliva. He is able to eat tiny amounts of food, so he had a scrambled egg this morning and will eat some jello to keep hydrated.

We see his doctor tomorrow afternoon. We are both anxious to get some additional tests as the severity of this condition can range from easily treatable to very serious. It is some consolation to us that Andy had something similar a few years ago and has had a pretty good recovery post surgery.

At this point, we are just trying to take things one day (or, for me, one hour) at a time. Mick, as usual, is the rock in this, telling me not to worry and trying to keep a brave face for me and Jack. I, as usual, am worried sick.

My mom pointed out that we should relish the fact that we have this weekend to just stay huddled up together at home without rushing to do our normal weekend chores. So I am trying to keep that in mind. One exciting thing we are looking forward to: we are going to start Jack on solids later today! As Mick commented, this is an interesting coincidence: as Jack starts on foods, Mick is off foods.

Anyway, I will keep this updated with the latest on Mick's health. For now, please keep him in your thoughts. Although he would never admit it, he is struggling.