Handling the unexpected

They say it's a place like home.  Well, almost.  I did spend 3 nights here this last week.  Alone.  Sometimes plans are interrupted and you need to adjust quickly and calmly.

The Trout had been having some abdominal discomfort for a couple of weeks and it finally reached a point where it was out of our hands.  Being ill away from home is not a comfortable situation.  But, we handled it.

We are still in Montana and headed to a small town hospital for help.  What comforted us most was the kind, caring attention showed to both of us.  Dale spent the night and the surgeon did all he could to make The Trout comfortable.  X-rays showed a blockage in the small intestine but it could not be determined as to cause or extent.  The next morning, Trout felt better and went home.  That night things went bad so the surgeon suggested we head to Missoula which had a larger hospital, 1 hour and 45 minutes from the cabin.  Amazingly, he gave me his cell phone number and asked me to call with any questions or concerns.

Missoula admitted him to the hospital and took more x-rays.  The surgeon decided to do a watch and wait because the small intestine was a strange place to have diverticulitis, which is what this looked like.  By Friday morning, surgery was definitely needed.  There was inflammation and the start of perforation.

A 10" scar and 3 inches of intestine removed later, the Trout is doing pretty good.  Getting slowly back to allowing food intake has been frustrating since the fly fishing right now is getting quite good.  He will try to recover at the cabin for a couple of weeks and hopefully we will both be in good health to drive the long drive back to Florida.