Liver Abscess = Not so much fun!

This year from the middle of January to the middle of April, I went through the fun of having a liver abscess. Many of you will have heard a fair bit about my illness, but some might not have heard as many details, so I thought I'd provide a brief summary/timeline. Following the summary, I've written a few final thoughts, so skip to the end if the details start to overwhelm you!

Jan. 19th - Regular gastroenterologist appointment - I saw my doctor and had a blood test. All seemed well.

Jan. 20th - I started to feel feverish and thought I had caught a flu virus. I took the next few days off work because of fevers and chills. I spent these days lying on the couch trying not to vomit while surviving on cup-of-noodles and Gatorade.

Jan. 25th - I went to a clinic because I still felt so lousy. He told me to get some bloodwork.

Jan. 27th - the clinic doctor called me in and told me I should go to the ER. Deb drove me up to the ER at Langley Memorial. I guess I must have looked pretty bad, because they rushed me right in and started doing tests right away. Four hours later I had given blood several times, had an X-Ray, an ECG, an ultrasound and a CT scan. They started me on an IV and antibiotics. Then they told me I had liver abscess that was 16cm x 14 cm x 9 cm. I.E. there was a giant mass of bacteria in the middle of my liver, making it so large it was pushing up on my lungs making it hard to breathe properly. It had probably been growing for weeks or months without my body even noticing until the fevers suddenly started.

Jan. 28th - the radiologist put a drain into my liver just below my ribs on my right side. In the first couple of days, over 2 litres of fluid drained out from the abscess. Over the next few days fluid continued to exit, but at a much slower rate. I was now on 2 antibiotics, but still getting fevers.

Feb. 2nd - a 2nd CT scan showed that the abscess wasn't much diminished in size.

Feb. 4th - transfer to Vancouver General was ordered, so I could see a liver (hepatobiliary) specialist. A long wait for transfer ensued. The worst part about the wait was the accommodations. I was staying in a very small room that I shared with 3 other people. During the time I was there I had several room-mates come and go. Somehow, it seemed to me that I had a lot of bad luck with room-mates. One elderly lady spent hours complaining to visitors or on her cell phone about having to be at Langley instead of Royal Columbian. Meanwhile, she was apparently exposing us all to a superbug she had picked up at Royal Columbian - fortunately I didn't get it. Another man had some mental issues and spent hours talking loudly to himself in Spanglish. When he did fall asleep, he snored louder than almost anyone I've ever heard! Several times he suddenly became violent with the nursing staff. Fun times with the roomies!

Feb. 9th - blood transfusion of 2 litres because my hemoglobin levels were very low. I had to wait until late in the day for the transfusion because the phlebotomist forgot to come take blood. Then the next day, I had to ask for blood work again to see if the transfusion had worked, because the doctor had forgot to request it.

Feb. 12th - I was finally transferred to VGH, getting my first ride in an ambulance - a long slow, bumpy, cold ride. I arrived at the hospital and found Deb was already there waiting for me, because the ambulance had taken a very slow route through a lot of traffic. I was extremely happy to see that I now had a single room all to myself. It seemed more like a hotel room than a hospital room, especially compared to the shared accommodation at Langley. At VGH I went a couple of days not eating for long stretches as I took more tests.

Feb. 14th - a new drain was inserted during an ultrasound. The new drain was placed so that it reached a different compartment of the abscess. Slow draining continued for the next few weeks.

Feb 20th - I was discharged from the hospital. By this time I had lost about 30 pounds. I was feeling somewhat better, but was still very tired and experiencing some pain. Once I got home, I discovered that life in hospital was a lot easier - comfortable bed, meals brought to the bed, bathroom ten feet away, etc. Although Deb did her best to look after me, she was also still nauseous from pregnancy and was also still looking after Tiernan. So, she was very tired as well.

While at home I now had to take care of my drain. Each day I flushed it with saline solution three times - pushing in saline with a syringe and then drawing out the infected fluid. At the end of each day I emptied the hemovac container the drain led to.

March 2nd - My drain stopped working properly. Fluid started coming out around the drain instead of just through it. The process of flushing the drain began to become more painful. We went back to VGH where I was admitted into the ER. There were no proper spots available upstairs, but I was moved into a shared room as the third occupant, spending the next two nights in a very uncomfortable stretcher bed. On the 3rd of March, they did another CT scan and decided after a long discussion that nothing major was wrong and that it was okay infected fluid was exiting through a tract around the tube, as long as it was exiting. Not very comforting.

March 4th - Discharged from hospital again. My Mom and Dad came and picked me up. I was in a lot of pain that day. Getting into the car was agonizing. I almost wanted to just get out of the car and walk back to the ER to say I needed to be admitted again because of the pain!

March 8th - Flushing the drain became very painful. Now I was basically unable to draw out any fluid at all and when I tried it hurt. For the next week, almost everything I did hurt. I called the doctor's office to ask what to do and never heard back.

March 13th - I went back downtown for another CT scan. It was very weird doing it as an outpatient. I actually had to walk everywhere and carry my own stuff instead of having a porter wheel me around on a stretcher.

March 17th - I went to an appointment with the specialist. He told me that the CT scan looked good and that I could have my drain removed. Then he proceeded to pull it out, right there in the office. It hurt like the dickens, but then suddenly all the pain I'd been experiencing for the last few weeks was gone. I had a major adrenaline rush that day just because I was pain free.

March 19th - I was fortunately feeling well enough to be there to help Deb through the birth of our new daughter, Zéphyrine. I spent the next few weeks trying to get rest while also helping Deb with Zéphyrine and Tiernan.

April 13th - tomorrow I go back to work for the first time in almost three months. I can't believe I've actually been gone that long. It's the longest I've been off work since I started teaching in 1996. Yes, I know, some of you think I should be used to long breaks because I'm a teacher. Ha, ha, ha. I don't really know how I'm going to do going back. I'm definitely feeling better, but I'm still easily tired and my brain feels a little foggy at times. I will do my best to "take it easy", but realistically that's more than a little hard to do in my job and with two young kids at home. Oh well, there's always that long teacher's summer to recuperate, right?


Final thoughts

1. I am very grateful to be a Canadian. Our health care system is indeed quite amazing. The care I was given was both fantastic and free. We are so glad of that, because I think if we had to pay for the care I received we would now be looking at a second mortgage.

2. We have fantastic friends (from church, work, and the neighbourhood) and family members. So many people helped us in so many ways - including providing meals, childcare, help around the house, visits to the hospital and moral support. This difficult circumstance reminded us how important our relationships are and that we are truly blessed in this regard.

3. I have a wonderful wife! I still can't really believe that Deb managed to look after the house, our two international students, Tiernan, and a sick husband while in the last months of a difficult pregnancy. Or that she continued to do so after Zéphyrine was born. Best of all - she still loves me! Seriously, she's been fantastic and I'm lucky to have her.

4. Finally, God is good. It is quite amazing how he has taken care of our family during this time. Through everything that happened we have seen God's hand at work. Often he worked through others. But he also ministered directly to us - providing the love and encouragement we needed. And he blessed us in the end, not just with my health, but with our brand new baby!