Welcome to Ma's Got'a Notion
Here at Ma's, we got your back...quilt back, that is!!!

I apologize to anyone, I may have been slow to return a call or get your order out, or I may have overlooked your questions this past month. My attention has been elsewhere.

My husband (Don) had been experiencing dizziness sometime after Christmas. He saw the PA, in his MD's office on December 31st. PA just cut one of his blood pressure pills in half, and dismissed him to come back in 2 weeks. He began to vomit a few days later, I called his doctor's office and they dismissed it as the flu as he had a fever with it. I was told to keep his regular appointment a few days later. All the while vomiting continued, I called and begged for an earlier appointment with the doctor. I was told the PA could see him (the doctor poked his head in the door at both visits). They ran some tests and took him off all of his blood pressure meds. The next day we found out that he most likely had the Norovirus a couple of weeks prior and were told to go to the ER because his liver and kidney functions all looked "funky", yes funky was the word used. I took him to the ER at Proctor because his kidney doctor is there.
Proctor ER ran more tests and said he's fine, sent him home, even though he was still vomiting. I told the PA at our visit to the MD office that his belly was very swollen, and there was not even an eyebrow raise from the PA about that. Told ER that his stomach was swollen, not even an eyebrow raised from them either. We returned to the ER a few days later in Canton. I told them, he is vomiting all of his food, and medications, and he has a VERY swollen belly. They sent him back home. A few days later, we returned to the doctor and saw him this time. Told the MD he is still vomiting, his belly is getting larger, not even an eyebrow raised from the doctor. The doctor sends him to a gastrosurgeon in Canton, and they order an endoscopy. Gastrologist does an endoscopy, I was told that Don had 13 - 15 ulcers on his esophagus, and they went as far as the top of his small bowel with the test, and that all looked great. We go back home with three medications ordered by the Gastrologist. At home, every time I gave him a pill (some had to be with food), some no food for an hour before or after taking the drug. Of course, he vomited everything up every time. Now, let me inject here that we are talking (a month now) that he was vomiting several times in the daytime and often all night long. By now he is so very sick, a huge belly, and has lost several pounds (25 lbs to date) and most of his strength. He was scheduled to see his MD again. That morning, I readied him to go, he is so sick and weak; I am by this time an old MAD wet hen, and I knew the MD would get an earful from me! We head to the MD office, where he vomited several times on the drive there. I get him into the MD office and I ask the receptionist to tell the doctor not to terry and to get my husband in ASAP or there would be vomit all over the waiting room. She called the MD, he told the nurse to come out and ask us to return to Canton ER.
Let me interject here again that EVERYTIME we went to the doctor or ER I begged them to keep him, every time I was told there had to be a "reason" to keep him. Every time I told them...he has a very swollen belly, and is vomiting ALL OF THE TIME, that is not a reason!?!?! OK, now I will review for you all the trips trying to get help. Three visits to his MD or saw the PA. Two trips to the Gastrologist. Oh, and least I forget...I took him to the Podiatrist once because he had severe Achilles tendonitis, during the whole time he was sick, and three ER trips. We got help on the third ER visit, they did a CT and found out...oh golly, there is fluid around his pancreas and there is a good sized abscess on the top of the small bowel. NOW A REASON TO ADMIT HIM! This is in Canton. Canton says we will hold him until OSF in Peoria can find a bed for him. In the middle of the night, they transferred him by ambulance to OSF in Bloomington. Don said the ride was awful; he was so cold, there was only a light blanket covering him, and they hit every bump in the road there was to hit. At OSF Bloomington, they tell me that they do not have the facilities and/or instruments to do the surgery he needs, we will need to wait until OSF Peoria has a bed. Ok, almost a week later OSF Peoria has a bed. Once again, he is sent to Peoria by ambulance (a much better ride, I had asked the staff attending him to put on extra blankets and I left his coat to put across his arms and chest during the ride.) The whole time in Canton and Bloomington, they have him on IVs with a bag of a strong antibiotic, as long as they give him nothing by mouth, no vomiting, and he is comfortable. Canton concurs with me on that. Then in Bloomington, they do not listen to me and go ahead and put him on a liquid diet. Although he is still on IV and IV strong antibiotics, guess what, he vomits since they started back up nutrition by mouth, they take him off of the diet by mouth, no vomiting, put him back on liquid diet and vomiting begins again. He arrived at OSF Peoria and I pleaded with them to not give him anything by mouth until after he has surgery, they concur, he is kept comfortable until surgery. Our CA daughter came home just before her dad was hospitalized. She talked to him by phone and could tell he was fading fast, she kept up per phone with me, and when he felt like talking, what the run around we were getting from each visit trying to get him help. She documented all of this drama. Her documentation is much more professional. You are getting this from my perspective. OK, surgery takes place...lots of fluid around the pancreas and abscess is at top of small bowel. A small stent is put in to drain the fluid around the pancreas and the abscess, as that was all the surgeon felt Don could tolerate at this time. Don will go back in two weeks for another CT. In a couple of weeks after that, they will perform surgery to take out the small stent, put in place a larger one, and remove dead tissue around where the abscess had taken up residence! They may take out his gallbladder at that time, too, (his gallbladder is packed full of stones) if not another surgery at a later date to do that. The surgeon said his body had tried so hard to heal itself because a fistula had opened, hence the abscess, but that made a place to insert the drainage tube. At some point they will need to go back in and remove the larger stent. The consentient of the OSF Peoria MD and Surgeon, when he had the "funky liver reading," by his local MD, he probably had just thrown a stone and it caused the pancreatitis. Since it was not raised as a possibility, the month-long sickness could have been avoided if it had been pursued. They could not figure out any other scenario. He was sent home the day after his surgery, for a multitude of reasons. He tolerated a soft, solid diet, and they needed the bed. While they are always short staffed, the oncoming forecast for a significant snowfall worried them that some employees may be unable to get into work the following few days. During the surgery, they found NO ulcers on his esophagus, so why did they think that at the first endoscopy, who knows. I just know that many things were missed or misdiagnosed, and had a bit closer attention been paid, maybe he would not have gotten so sick. I was the best advocate that I knew how to be...I wonder how those living alone or without someone to plead their case make it through the healthcare system?!?! 

For the most part, all the nurses were so good attending to his needs as time permitted them. But, the ratio of patents to nurses is just too great. I am surprised that the burnout rate is not much higher. If you missed it on the local nightly news, should you have anyone in your family who might think of nursing as a profession, Carle Health Care in Peoria, IL offers "free scholarships" to anyone pursuing a nursing career. I knew there was a shortage, but that realization came to light for me these past few weeks.

I'm sorry for being so long-winded in this email. I felt all my customers needed to know why I have been missing in action at the shop. Neither Don nor I have had an experience like this. Don hit rock bottom before someone took his symptoms seriously. Our healthcare system is so broken from my perspective. I don't understand why someone should be so ill before help is given. I know that hospitals are more business than healthcare today, but how and why we got here in one of the wealthiest countries in the world is beyond me. It's not like we do not have suitable insurance; we do... we have great insurance. With that being said, insurance or not, no one, with or without insurance, should be denied suitable healthcare! He was sent home with Home Health Care, which will visit him 3 or 4 days a week as needed. He is using a walker now because he is very weak. Honestly, he has aged 20 years in the past month. He had his first visit from Home Health today, and I hope they and the PT will be coming soon, too. They can get him back up and walking on his own. Thank you all for your understanding during this personal family time I have needed to take.

I am so thankful that Deb has been on board to run the shop and provide all of you with the help you requested.

I will be back at the shop tomorrow, Thursday, 2/13/25. I will run in and out, going home several times daily to check on him and give him his meals and snacks.

Please remember that on Thursday and Friday, we will be giving a 15% discount when you bring a NEW hygiene product to be donated to the Fulton/Mason Crisis Center.  Since the forecasted snow had the county so frightened that there would be 7" of snow (which by the time of this writing, did not happen) I had made the earlier decision to close on Wednesday, 2/12/25, which we did. SO...I have decided that we will also offer the 15% off with your donation on Saturday, 2/15/25! We are giving you that extra day we lost due to the scary old snow report!

Let me repeat that: SO... We will also offer the 15% off with your donation on Saturday, 2/15/25! We are giving you that extra day we lost due to the scary old snow report!

I had planned to do "FB Live Sales" at the beginning of 2025, but as you can see from this email, those plans had to be put on hold. I plan to start in March. When time permits, I will let you know when I resume full-time work.

My parting words are this: If you are in good health, enjoy it and keep it as long as possible! Good luck finding an empty bed if you need to go to the hospital. This is not a good time to get sick, so do everything you can to stay strong. I highly recommend quilting, and of course, shopping at Ma's. Walking the aisles gives you great exercise, and lifting bolts of fabrics is excellent for building muscle!