Still going strong

Hi all - Jody here again.

Sorry I haven't updated you lately! I've been spending every moment I can at the hospital. I'll try to catch you up:

Friday - I arrived to find John sitting up and looking great! He had a great deal of pain in his abdomen, but less than the day of the surgery. He felt well enough to get up and walk the halls 4 times!! He was able to eat jello, soup, and Italian ice for breakfast, lunch and dinner! I helped change his ileostomy bag (not as gross as I was expecting) and it was generally a good day :)

Saturday - I arrived to find a "Nothing by mouth" sign on his door. I immediately knew this was not a good sign. I walked into his room and found he had a brand new tube... this time coming from his nose. He had started throwing up bile during the night and Dr Grasso prescribed a tube to drain his stomach. There was too much bile in his stomach and it wasn't passing through to his intestines, it was instead going the other direction. The green bile was coming out of him in such large quantities I was a bit scared. He was so good on Friday and now he looked terrible. The nurse said it may have been a reaction to the meds or to the anesthesia during surgery. He felt a little better by the end of the day and we were hopeful the tube could be removed the next day.

Sunday - I was hoping to walk in and find his "Nothing by mouth" sign removed, but no such luck. He still has his tube today. They tried removing the pump (while still leaving the tube in) but after an hour when they pulled back on a large syringe to see how much was still in his stomach - there was still A LOT of green bile coming out. He ended up throwing up again and getting the tube re-connected for another day. This is the second day of no food and no water except an ice cube every 15 minutes. He's very weak and uncomfortable because of the tube. Pain wise - he is feeling much better and they were able to remove his pain med pump. He's now getting a pain/anti inflammatory med every 6 hours. I hope the removal of the pain pump may help the stomach issues - he mentioned he was very itchy too - so he may be having a reaction to the medicine.

Keep you fingers crossed that when I go to see him tomorrow - the sign and the tube will be gone!

Thanks for all the prayers and notes...

Oh! I almost forgot - Yeah Greg! I'm so very happy to hear your surgery went well :) John will be very pleased to hear to good news!