Sunday - Dan speaks

saturday, january 23, 2010

Extended Edition
Today is day 15 that I have been in the hospital (16 if you count surgery day, but I was unconscious for most of that day). According to the doctor today, they want to add another six to make it a full 21. Four days they want to watch me and my drain output while I'm NPO (not eating), then the next two days see what happens when I eat. So the good news of me being able to eat is masked by the fact that it is preceded by four more days of NPO. I've lost about a pound a day since they've been weighing me (came into surgery at about 170, fell to 150, and have since fallen to 145), and I'm eager to start eating again and regain some weight.
Ideally, the output from the two drains should go below 200 combined mL/day; right now, hovering at about 250. The two-day eating test is to see what happens to the output when I eat; if it rises substantially, they'll send me home with TPN (not ideal); if it doesn't rise too much, then I can go home and eat.

This six-day idea kinda tweaks plans. Before, there would be plenty of time to stay in NorCal for a little while so I could be close enough to Stanford in case I needed a little extra doctoring, but the plan ultimately being to go back home to La Mirada while I recoup. Now, we're cutting it close to the beginning of Ashley's school. A lot depends on my exit status (can I eat, what will my wound care look like, what do I do with my drains), so it's hard to make plans.

It's just really frustrating because of how many times it's looked like I could go home but just never happened. We have plenty of things to occupy our time in here, but hospital rooms are no place to live. We need to get back to something real. It's also frustrating because other factors are improving, like my fevers going down. In other words, while there is progress, it is not the progress we need.

Pray that:
my drains stop up. period.
my wound heals more quickly than is medically expected.
we would not be discouraged at the extension of time.
that the timeframe would not be extended any longer.