Home From The Hospital!!

David didn't make it home from the hospital on Wednesday as we had hoped.  We were in the process of being discharged when his gastric motility once again stopped & he spent the afternoon & evening vomiting.  Apparently, this is not at all unexpected ... discouraging, but not unexpected.  Because the blood vessels that feed the liver, stomach, & intestines was "skeletonized" (they strip away everything around the blood vessels, including the nerves that supply the gastrointestinal tract & tell it how to function, to clear any potential for metastatic disease), the gastrointestinal tract has to relearn how to function.  So, there is a fluctuation between no gastrointestinal movement, which causes any intake to just sit in the stomach & not move through & eventually leads to vomiting (despite the stomach tube that is in place to help decompress the build up of material), and a highly fast transit time through the GI tract, which causes diarrhea.  The doctors have told us that it can take weeks for the GI tract to find it's balance & normalize out.  The new plan is to start David back up on IV nutrition, so he doesn't have to worry about maintaining his nutrition by eating (in his 15 days of hospitalization, he lost 28 pounds!!!), which his GI tract clearly isn't ready for yet; restart the GI motility drug, Reglan, to try to coax his GI tract back into moving; & let David be in complete control over when & for how long to clamp his stomach tube while he once again introduces liquids into his diet.  The doctors felt that all of this could be maintained at home, so we high tailed it out of that hospital yesterday (Thanksgiving Day!).

A portion of our home has taken on the look of a hospital.  There is an IV pole that pumps 2000 mls of nutrition into David over 12 hours at night (one shelf of our refrigerator is holding the large bags of David's "meals").  There are numerous supplies for caring for his stomach tube, a glucometer to check David's blood sugar levels three times a day, dressing supplies to care for his various incisional wounds, & an array of medications.  All of this we can handle together with the guidance of a home health nurse (the only thing that makes me a bit nervous is David's IV -- it is a central line that runs directly to his heart & every time you open it up to hook up or unhooked his nutrition, there is a potential risk of infection -- my anal retentive personality is finally proving to be a benefit in our lives!).  David was thrilled to sleep (I should say rest as the "evil" hiccups kept him awake most of the night) in his own bed last night!!  And, of course, the kitties & I were thrilled to have David home & our little family under one roof again!!

Sure hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Your continued interactions help us through the struggles of these post-surgical days!  Hugs, Janet