My training was put on the back burner for two weeks while Mike spent some time in the hospital. He was admitted to Salem Hospital on May 11th (the day after my last post) with intestinal bleeding. After receiving a blood transfusion to replenish the blood he had lost, IV fluids for dehydration, and undergoing a battery of tests, he was released on Saturday May 13th -- only to end up in the Emergency Room and ICU, requiring another blood transfusion, on Mother's Day.
On Tuesday, May 16th, he was transferred to Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, where he underwent several more tests over a week-long period. They isolated the area of the hemorrhage to the lower part of the small intestine (ileum), but as it was no longer actively bleeding by the time he got to Brigham's, they couldn't get a clear picture on what was going on. He was released on Monday, May 22nd, stable and apparently in good health. He has an appointment to undergo a double balloon enteroscopy in a few weeks to try and determine what the cause of the bleeding was -- and whether or not there could be a recurrence. It could have been an isolated event -- as simple as an artery (or AVM) that burst, (and with time in the hospital, on a clear liquid diet, has since clotted and healed.) We may know better in a few weeks.
Thank you to everyone who helped out with the kids -- or sent encouraging words of support with phone calls and emails -- while we dealt with the unknown. We all really appreciated it. Thanks.
"Ride as much or as little or as long or as short as you feel, but RIDE" -- Eddy Merckx
