Father's Day Weekend not so fun for Father!

We decided since Trev came home for Father's Day, we'd just stay around town for the weekend and work on the RV. Ken and Trev picked up the RV on Friday and parked it in front of the house so we could give it a thorough cleaning.

When I arrived home from work the guys were hard at it so we finished off the exterior before dinner...thank goodness.

As it turns out, it was very lucky that we decided not to go anywhere this weekend. Friday night Ken came down sick and before long it was obvious he was not just sick but experiencing a full-fledged blockage from his Crohn's disease. For him that means that the place they've done five surgeries over the years, in his small intestine, totally closes. When that happens it first causes nausea, then severe pain, then everything comes back up. At that point anything, even a glass of water comes right back up. In the meantime the bile in his system seems to goes into overdrive and makes him even sicker and weaker since it has no place to go.

It's been awhile since he's been this bad so it caught both of us by surprise.

At least it was obvious early on what he was dealing with so Ken immediately pulled out some Prednisone, a strong steroid, and downed them. He tries to stay away from these drugs, since they really mess with his head but he's found when things get this bad its the only drug that can get him any kind of temporary relief. Unfortunately, for Ken as Dr. Bozdech calls it, it is the 'mean and nasty' drug. Apparently it affects some people like it does Ken and their personality can take sudden swings to really uncharacteristic ugly moods and tempers. Ken knows this and so is trying to take only enough to reduce the inflammation causing the blockage and no more.

At about midnight, I was pretty certain we were headed to the emergency room but finally the drugs seemed to get hold on the inflammation and his pain started to ease up. He wasn't up to heading upstairs to the bedroom so the dogs and I slept on the floor in the family room to keep an eye on him.

Luckily by about 5am he seemed to be able to sleep some and by mid-morning he was up and around a bit.

I went out to the RV to wash the windows inside and out. Ken followed to keep me company and since he really wasn't up for moving about much, sat in driver's seat trying to figure out the crazy Freightliner computer monitor that seems to have gotten the better of him.

Needless to say we took it very easy the rest of the day since Ken was very weak and afraid to eat or drink anything. We watched an old Zorro movie. I went and had my nails done while Ken napped.

By evening Ken was ready to do some mashed potatoes and later some ice cream and by Sunday morning seemed to be looking almost back to normal despite being weak. Like the doctor in St. Louis told him once, "Man, you look in better condition in person than in your X-rays!"

I even got him to pose for this Father's Day portrait!

We didn't get to do a full Dad and Lad photo since Lad Kyle didn't make it home but Trev did his best to take up enough of the bench for both of them.

Trev also tried to get a Father's Day picture of Dad with Mom and the pups but nobody seemed very interested in sitting still for that!


Ken opened his Father's Day gift, a flamingo windchime to keep his two lovely plastic pink flamingos company outside the RV.

So the weekend is over. The motorhome is parked away again all clean and shiny. Ken seems to have come through his blockage bout and all is well that ends well!

Hugs, C