When Ann
went to Indianapolis for the travel nursing assignment, she worked a week, got
settled into her apartment, and then fell desperately ill. We knew two people in Indianapolis – Johnny
Blankenship, and his wife Karen. Ann called
them, and they came to the apartment and took her to the emergency room. She was diagnosed with pancreatitis, and her
lab numbers were dangerously high. They
called me, and I immediately drove to Indianapolis arriving at the hospital in
the middle of the night. Things were so
desperate that I even asked her where she would like to be buried. I sometimes have the uncanny knack of saying
the wrong thing at the wrong time, but it is a fact that her life was in danger
at that moment.
She managed
to overcome that and ultimately go back to work, even though she shouldn’t
have. She managed to finish the
contract, and she didn’t even seek a Louisiana license after we moved to
Minden. In Minden, there were two or
three other pancreatitis episodes.
Ultimately we went to a surgeon, who recommended an operation. Then he said, “I’ve seen this kind of
surgery, but I wouldn’t dare perform it.
The only man I know whom I would trust with this kind of surgery is Dr.
Farnell at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.” He
called Mayo, and then called us right away.
In less than a month, we were on a plane to Minnesota, and a week after
that she had surgery. We ended up
staying in Rochester for a month while she was recovering.
Through all
this most people thought Ann didn’t show any visible symptoms of illness. When we met Dr. Farnell he said, “Most of the
people I meet who have this condition look terribly ill. You don’t look sick.” The tests said
otherwise, and Ann certainly knew how much pain she was feeling. As we
talked with friends, they would often says, “Ann you don’t look sick.” She finally developed the classic
response. She said, “I’ll make the best
looking corpse you ever saw.” I’ve gone
back and looked at her pictures from that period of time, and I’m don’t where
people got the idea that she looked healthy.
Of course I’ve had the advantage of known what she’s looked like through
most of her life.
I’ll have say that she was a pretty
women even though she was sick. She was
pretty. Always has been. Still is.
But just because you dress tastefully, and work at maintaining neatness,
and try to make yourself look as attractive does not necessarily mean you look
like a healthy person. Her pictures
indicate she was underweight, and there was sort of a hollow look in her
eyes. She wasn’t pale, but I think Mary
Kay took care of that.
Ann was
born with pancreatic divisum (a rare condition that I won’t try to explain). It’s been seventeen years since the surgery and
it has given her great relief, but it was not a miracle cure. Last year she had another serious episode,
and was hospitalized for more than a week.
At the present time she copes with it by maintaining a fairly. She some of her favorite foods, but she’ll prefers a healthy digestive system
over momentary taste. It’s been several
months since her last hospitalization, and she seem to be doing pretty well
with her pancreas difficulties. She continues
to be quite active. She has two
speeds. Wide open and dead stop. She still accomplishes amazing things.
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