Well I just wanted to give you a quick update since Megs had to pass on the news of the unfortunate events of a week ago...So I busted my way of the the hospital on Monday (3/4)...No literally. So it was pretty much an uneventful weekend in the hospital, lots of pain killers and nausea medication. For some reason this time, not sure if it was the trauma of the procedure or my post-surgery body that didn't like the anesthesia, but as Megan had reported in the last blog, the nausea didn't subside till early Monday. Once again, I have a lot more sympathy now for my wife and all the other women who have been through pregnancy. I don't wish that upon anyone.
So that calm weekend, took a turn Sunday night at midnight. I was sleeping all peacefully on my side and then I went to turn on to my back and once I re-situated myself, I laid my hands on my tummy and that was when I felt it... My feeding tube had came out and all I could remember to do was what the Dr. had told me to do push it back in. Yuppers, so in half a stooper I shove it back in, though I don't think it ever fully came out. Luckily no pain, but I immediately woke up Megs and called the nurse in. I guess what happened was my suture came out and gravity took over. So they called down a Dr on night shift and they covered it with a bandage and scheduled an x-ray. Well, in perfect hospital fashion, then around 4am they come get me to take me down to the Gun & Knife Club (that's speak for a Baltimore emergency room) as that is the only radiology open during the night. So they inject some contrast to make sure the feeding tube is placed where it is supposed to be. What a blessing it was, nothing major needed to do other than suture it back in so it doesn't pop out.
So this is where the story of the breakout get interesting. The Dr came by and put two shiny new sutures in to make sure the feeding tube was connected. She left and said they could start using it and she would be back early afternoon to make sure everything was going well and get me released. So all weekend, when the Drs made their rounds, we talked about being released on Monday and then coming back that following Monday (3/12) for the swallow test to make sure the hole was healed/sealed. That was the premise we were working off of. So after the better part of the day Monday of the nurse paging the Drs and only hearing crickets, at around 4pm we decided to get things moving. We had the nurse page the Dr again and I called the office on the phone to see if we could get some response. Well the Dr called the nurse right back and to paraphrase what he told her; "he's not being released today, I am in a meeting and will be down in a couple hours." Lets just say, I am glad the tech wasn't taking my vitals at the time because my blood pressure might have broke the machine. To make a long story short, within a half hour my surgeon, gastroenterologist and a bunch of other Drs and nurses walk into the room. This the first time I had ever seen the surgeon and gastro Drs together. So it's apparent the surgeon was irritated and after a raised voice discussion amongst all....the surgeon says I will release you, but you need to let me know if you notice any changes with your body. All I had to hear was release and I said DONE, I am breaking out! In the end, I don't think the resident Drs communicated to the attending Dr and nothing was passed back to us, but the expectation was to keep me another day and make sure nothing additionally happened as a result of the feeding tube being dislodged. Praise God, cause at that point I felt 100 times better than I had felt all weekend and I was getting stir crazy. So by 7:30pm we were home and Taylor was excited to have daddy reading bedtime and Bible stories and saying prayers.
Needless to say, the next day I am again back off my narcotics, though feeling drained, it was great to be home sleeping in my bed sitting on my own couch. So these last few days have been a progression, similar to coming home from the hospital the first time. Getting readjusted to sleep patterns and pushing but not overdoing it each day. What has been much harder is being at home and not being able to drink anything, as I have been on a "nothing per oral" restriction since last Thursday when the dilation went wrong. The few ice chips I have had just aren't cutting the colossal case of cotton mouth that I have going right now. Definitely a mental battle to overcome the physical annoyance of not being able to drink. So I got to thinking...if after the surgery they waited 10 days to before giving me a swallow test for a complete new esophageal junction, then 8 days to test a little hole should be time enough for that to heal right? That's my thinking, so I called the Drs office on Thursday (3/8) to see if they would toss me a bone for my birthday on Saturday, and move up the test from Monday (3/12) to Friday (3/9) (as I can't imagine the highlight of my bday being able to eat a few ice chips, but I have also said there are others that are far worse off than I, so I guess that wouldn't be a bad thing.) At least if I pass the swallow test, my highlight will be some fruit juice which is really sounding yummy. Yeah, not my "steak dinner" but hey I am not asking for much here.
So pray that the quick 5 minute swallow test results come back with no leakage and I am able to be released to drink fluids to start then gradually increase to add more solids to my diet and get back to where I was before this all began over a week ago. Additionally, pray that the esophagus doesn't need stretching for a few weeks so I can get some good nutrients back in me. Looking ahead, I think when the esophagus starts to close again (yes, when and not if) they are going to put in a stent to keep things open for a couple months and increase stent sizes over the next year to ensure the opening stretches and stays open. So some more scope procedures to look forward to. Hopefully no more freak mishaps with stretching.
Speaking of the strange events that have surrounded this last week plus, I will let Megs write the next blog about the results of swallow test and some of the crazy God moments that have happened over these past few days. So back to Baltimore, set the car on autopilot and off we go.
Trust in Him
God Bless!
Jason
