I went home Monday night and hung out with Eric. We watched the rest of the Auburn/Florida State game. I've got to tell you, it's sure nice to watch football on a bigger screen! School had been cancelled Monday and Tuesday due to the weather and roads so we stayed up late doing chores together and enjoying each other's company. And I've got to tell you, it was sure nice to sleep in my bed! I got up early Tuesday morning as I didn't want to miss any of the doctors. You have to be present to ask questions and advocate. If you don't all you continue to have are questions. They have started addressing me as well as Doug, guess they know not to run off. (Or maybe they are glad when I am not here! Which is seldom:)
Dr Treptow was the first one in. (We had missed Dr Bandy, he came when we were out walking although we passed him in the hall.) Dr Treptow was still on the plan that we were to be discharged Tuesday and he was making a plan to get a repeat CT scan next Tuesday. Then next Wednesday go up and take a look at the anastomosis and put a stitch in if necessary to repair it. He went out to make those arrangements and try to work around the every day 7 days a week iv antibiotic infusion and once per week appointment and blood draw with Dr Bandy. Keeping in mind no food or drink before CT scan and NPO after midnight before the procedure. Yeah, that would be interesting.
But before he did that he said "I'd better call Dr Bandy to see what his plan is."
A little while later Dr Treptow came back and said "scratch everything I told you, I should have called Dr Bandy first." Apparently the blood cultures came back with a fungus in 2 areas. It is a fungus that usually attaches itself to the port. And he said since the tube of the port drops near your heart he didn't want the fungus attaching itself to a heart valve. If that happens you have BIG problems. So Dr Bandy wanted the port out, like today. Dr Treptow had clinic today so he made arrangements to do the procedure after clinic like after 5pm. And since he was doing the port removal he said he might as well go up and look to see what was going on with the anastomosis. By this time it was about 9:45 and he said clear liquids until noon then NPO. So we got Doug up to walk and keep the bladder woke up and he ate some jello, a fruit ice and a pop sickle.
It was a long quiet afternoon, we walked some, I read him our devotion "My Utmost for his Highest." Mom Dorothy used to read that one. Now I see why, it is sooo good. She was a wonderful Godly wise woman, sure miss her. Nostalgic rabbit trail there, but a good one.
Eric came about 4 to hang with me during Doug's procedure. Finally at around 5:45 they came and got him and took him to pre-op. Since it was after hours they let both Eric and I stay with him, usually you can only have one. The only people there were Dr Treptow, the surgical nurse and 2 guys from the anesthesia team. ( That's all we saw anyway.) We were only there for around 30 minutes and then we went to surgery waiting. Carrie was my divine appointment and she waited with us during the procedure. About 7:30 Dr Treptow came in and gave us the rundown. He took the port out, then he went up and looked at the anastomosis. He said they could see the pocket and the drain tube (j-tube) and he determined that that cavity would have a hard time closing up with a tube stuck in in so he took the j-tube out. That's the "pain in the butt" that I've been referring to. He did insert a small tube in his rectum so any further infection could drain that way into a pad. It is stitched in but moveable. As far as the anastomosis goes, the upper part of the resection that attaches to the colon looks good. The lower part however is "flared" (I think that's what he said) but with the small cavity where the infection is / was there was no way to repair it until that cavity fills in with tissue (?) or mycosis. I tried to explain all of that to Doug but still his (and my) question is, will the lower part of the anastomosis be able to be repaired or will it heal on it's own? We will see him again tomorrow morning so Doug will be more clear headed and we can get the explanation then. He did say probably a month or two and possibly the ileostomy could be dropped back in. Still a LOT going on "down there." You know, I should have just put my phone on record. Duh, maybe next time I will.
After the procedure in the O.R. they took him to recovery where they removed the central line in his neck. He was in recovery until about 8:30pm. When he got back up here to his room he actually looked pretty good! Now he "only" has two foreign things attached to his body, the ileostomy and the tiny drain tube in his bottom! Oh, and now he has an IV in his hand which will come out when the put the PICC line in tomorrow. Oh joy.
Eric and I got Subway.......which I'm getting tired of......(right Lisa?) It was fine because I got to spend a little more time with Eric. He is such a good kid and is ready for mom and dad to come home. Mom and Dad are ready to come home too!
It is just after midnight and I am still at the hospital. I had taken almost everything home in anticipation of getting discharged. I'm not sure at this point if I'm going to stay. He still has to get up to go to the bathroom and definitely needs help with that. But he's resting for the first time in a long time. They said we needed to stay for 24 hours after the surgery. Not sure if that will be when the started surgery (6:30) or when he was out of recovery (8:30.) Sure hope it's the earlier!
We have the same nurse we had last night. Doug said "she's ok, just seems kind of inexperienced." I think he's ok with her now. The aide......not so much. When he got back to the room his vitals needed to be monitored every 15 min for the first hour and it moves out from there. The little cart she brought in didn't have a finger clip on it (that measures heart rate.) She went to get one like they use in the O.R. the kind that tape to your finger. She started putting it on him and he said "what are you doing, I don't want that thing on there!" She said "well there's not one on my cord." This just slipped out, I said "well get one." Yeah, not my finest moment and one thing I want to do is stay on the good side of the nurses and aides. And I should have just let him handle it because he told her the same thing. She went and found one. But later she came in and sweetly said "Mr Dorothy would you like a sandwich?" He asked her what kind and she said "I don't know, whatever they have down there." Really? Like we're supposed to know what she's talking about and where "down there" is? Anyway, she went and got "whatever they had" and it ended up being a nice turkey sandwich, chips, cracker and an apple. He snarfed almost the whole thing down so it must have been good! It has gone better since then. Nurses / aides really can make all the difference. We got to visit with his little nurse later and she understands, we've been here a lot......we've been in the hospital more days in December than we were at home so we're really tired of being here.
I told Doug and Sashi how when I got home last night one of the wrapped Christmas presents was over by the wood stove. (Yes, our Christmas stuff is still up - see the above line, home vs hospital.) Anyway, we've not done family Christmas yet with my extended family so the presents are still under the tree. Eric said Charlie (our beagle) had been sniffing around and lifted his leg and peed on the present! He couldn't stand it and was gagging so he just pushed it over to the wood stove to dry. It had already dried so I went ahead and opened it. Fortunately it was the thicker wrapping paper so it didn't even soak thru, smell, nothing. Good thing, it's her marshmallow shooter. She requested that and I really want her to have a dog smell free gift.
I am tired now. I will probably just put the chair out, grab a blanket and pillow and stay. In my clothes. STILL beats the recliner in ICU!
As you can see we continue to have a plate full. Would you agree with us for healing, no infection, nothing abnormal AT ALL on the blood cultures, health and healing to be restored in Doug's pelvic cavity, all bladder issues to be resolved and for the doctors to see so much progress that he can be removed from treatments no longer needed. We also pray for everything to go perfectly from this point forward! In all things we want God to be glorified.
Thank you for praying, we love you all!
Jan, Doug and Eric
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