Things I Wish I Didn’t Know

Have you ever known things you wish you didn’t?  I have a new situation in my life that is teaching me things that I could have happily lived my whole life without knowing.  Let me explain.

Earlier this year, my daddy was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. The first thing I learned was how to spell cirrhosis.  It’s particularly nasty for him, because he has NEVER been a drinker.  He grew up with a drunk father and that experience has kept him from drinking any sort of alcohol.  It’s like an extra insult for him to have this disease. 

Next, we learned that is was probably caused from a fatty liver – which the doctors think can be hereditary. So my sisters and I need to watch how much red meat we eat, because we could have a fatty liver as well.  Yay.

We visited a heptologist – yep, your spell check won’t like that word.  A heptologist is a liver expert – different from a gastroenterologist or a hematologist.  We’ve been to both the gastroenterologist and the heptologist.

Lactulose is a nasty looking and apparently nasty tasting medicine that my daddy has to drink several times a day. It’s this yellow stuff that is supposed to help him get rid of ammonia in his body.  I didn’t even realize ammonia could build up in a body. . . but it does and it can make you confused.  So confused you forget what you want to eat at the Cracker Barrel, even if it’s your favorite place in the whole world.

Paracentisis is yet another new word.  Because of the cirrhosis, fluid builds up in my daddy’s abdomen. (Sometimes we are fancy and use the word abdomen instead of “belly’ or “gut” just for fun!) He gains lots of weight very quickly – all in his belly.  His arms and legs have gotten really skinny, but he often has to wear suspenders to hold up his pants. When this happens, he has to have paracentisis.  I could make you use context clues to figure out what it means, but I’ll just tell you. It’s when they drain his belly. This week, they took 11.5 liters of fluid.  Two weeks ago, they took 11.  Needless to say, his weight changes drastically.

At the beginning of August, Daddy became a patient of the Hospice of the Comforter.  The main purpose is to help them  out, they were spending a ridiculous amount of time driving from doctor to doctor – now the nurse comes to them.  It’s been a good thing I think for them, but I gotta say, I’m not thrilled with the situation. I want my daddy to be healthy and happy. I don’t want to NEED to know these words and these procedures. I read a quote once that says something like “When we stop learning, we stop living.”  This is stuff I never wanted to know.