Saturday night / Sunday AM

Saturday afternoon / evening was much of the same.  He walked again and puked again.  He has an iv in his left forearm they put in when he first got here and when he came back from surgery he had one in his right hand too.  He hates them in his hand, almost always ends up with a huge bruise.  Anyway, Andrea was trying to put a med into the one in his hand and it was hurting him real bad.  She immediately stopped and went to the one in his arm.  It was getting red so she called the iv team to take them out and start a new one.  We had a really sweet lady that found another vein on the top of his (hairy) left arm.  She actually shaved his arm which was really nice and pulled the other two.  She said some of the antibiotics he's been getting can be hard on sensitive skin.  Hopefully he won't have to have number 4.

He got sick once more last night and then they gave him the nausea med which puts him to sleep so I went to the motel last night around 10:30.  One thing I should mention, the nurses here are very attentive.  They are so on top of things and don't forget to bring him something he's asked for.  As soon as you put your light on one of them will come in.  At Mercy you would put your light on and they would call and say "can I help you?"  Well, when he is puking or needs to use the restroom quickly or just anything you don't want to have to tell them and then wait, sometimes as much as 15 minutes or more.  Which is why I feel comfortable leaving him at night.  So far they are all really sweet too.  :)    It is really nice to be able to get a good nights sleep and a shower.

This morning when I got here he had puked once and was trying to get another oral med down between bites of applesauce.  Just after the 2nd one it all came back up.  Bummer!  They had also taken the dressing off his 12 inch incision on his stomach.  It looks really good though, guess they had sewing lessons!  He had walked once but without pain meds so it was a short one.

He still hadn't peed so they were ready to call the cath team again.  Doug asked them to wait until he walked again and took a shower.  He was confident that once he got water running it would happen.  So we walked and Connie got the shower all ready for him.  There is a drop down bench in the shower so that is really nice.  I stood ready in the bathroom just in case he should need me.  Just as he thought he said, "I'm peeing get me the hat!"  They record all fluids so he "caught" 300 cc which prevents the in and out cath Thank God!

After the shower he felt soo much better but was exhausted.  He had a clean bed so he jumped back in bed (HA, got you there didn't I?)  No, he gingerly eased himself back to bed and promptly fell asleep.  I went to the cafeteria for lunch, he was still sleeping when I got back.

Also this morning one of Dr Devine's residents that was assisting in surgery came in.  She said he definately needed the surgery.  The original anastomosis disruption site was a mess.  The pocket had never healed and she said it was full of infection and stool.  We asked her if they took a picture (they do that for teaching purposes) but they hadn't.  They cleaned the area and scraped out the infection and irrigated it with saline, then they put tissue from the lining of his stomach in that area.  Thus the PAIN!!!!!   We asked here why he was still on Flagyl and she said because of the stool that was in the pocket, that there could be micro infection they couldn't get so hopefully the iv CIPRO and iv Flagyl will prevent that.  Please pray with us that there are NO complications (infection which would cause a drain which would have to be placed via a CT scan.  Been there done that, DON'T want to go there again.)  She was awesome and drew a picture on the white board of just what we were suspecting was the issue.  Doug said all along he didn't think the original disruption pocket had healed.  And of course when he had the illestomy nothing was going thru that area so of course he felt better.  Now this needs to heal up and he will once again feel better.  Looking at the big picture down the road to a healthy quality of life.  Thank you Jesus!!!!

After the nap and another bag if Flagyl he walked a short one and asked me to order him some lunch.  He can't have fresh fruits or veggies for 2 weeks (with the exception of a banana.)  So his lunch?  Canned peaches and a bottle of water.  Mmmm mmm good.  All things in moderation right?

I better get back and open his peaches for him.    :)

Thanks for your continued prayers,

Doug, Jan and Eric