Resting and Stable

Daddy is resting and stable now. They were able to do the procedure and inserted 2 drains in his abdomen because they found 2 places where fluid was collecting that were not connected. They think that the infection was in the fluid and the fluid may have leaked from the pancreas, but once they remove the fluid and the antibiotics kick in, the pancreas should heal itself. It takes 5 days to get the official lab culture results, the signs seem to be pointing to this fluid as the culprit of the infection. His fever broke during the procedure and his vitals have been stable all afternoon. He said right after the procedure that he feels better already, and the dr. said he should feel significantly better tomorrow. Before all of this started, he was actually hungry this morning, and the endoscopy yesterday showed that his stomach is working like it should, so hopefully tomorrow he will be back on the road to full recovery. He will be in ICU for 3-4 days (i.e. through the weekend) so he can't really have visitors. We understand that there are people who want to visit the family, and we welcome visitors -- the best time is around meal times, when we go down to the cafeteria. Kevin is our point person through Saturday morning, if you want to come visit and need to call someone to find us. Thanks for all the prayers -- we have been really blessed by the support we've received from family and friends, and see God meeting us in this.

Moved to ICU

Just spoke with Wendi and they moved Daddy to ICU because they can't seem to stabilize his temperature and heart rate right now. They hope to drain the fluid this afternoon if they can get him stable. Please pray for him.

Not the Ideal Birthday Present

So today is Daddy's 65th birthday and to celebrate, he got moved to a higher level of care. Last night he spiked a fever and his heart rate shot up so they did a couple of CT scans and found that he has fluid around his liver, and clearly there is some type of infection going on. They are still in the diagnosing stages today. In the meantime he still has a fever and is on antibiotics but stable. Will update when we know more. He is in the level of care between ICU and a regular room (I'm drawing a blank on the name of it now) -- basically he just gets a little more TLC.

Approaching Week 4

Well, I haven't posted much the past few days because I haven't really been sure what to post. It seems that he will have a really good day, then a not-so-good day. On the good days he is up frequently, interacting more like normal, more willing to try things, even watching TV occasionally, joking around. On the not-so-good days, he stays in bed a lot, seems very drowsy, sometimes complains of nausea, seems reluctant to move around and it seems difficult for him to engage in conversation. The doctors aren't really sure what's going on. They apparently took the "input" part of his g-tube (i.e., the tube in his stomach) out today since it wasn't working anyways, leaving just a drain in there. They have been talking for a couple of days about possibly doing an endoscopy to check out his throat/esophagus/stomach and make sure they aren't missing anything, but that hasn't happened yet and we are a little confused about if/when it will. Tomorrow it will be 4 weeks since his surgery. Pray for wisdom for the doctors to discern if there is anything physical hampering his recovery, for our ability to encourage him and help him take the steps he needs to get better, and for wisdom to know when he should go home.

One Step at a Time

After a couple of really rough days, Daddy seems to be moving forward again. He has been complaining of a really sore throat for several days, and today they finally decided that they think he has thrush (caused by being on antibiotics long term). They started treating that, his throat feels much better, and he seems to be more willing to eat and drink now. He also took his longest walk yet today. He has decided that he is going to do whatever it takes to get home by his birthday, which is next week (June 10). We appreciate your prayers that he would stay focused and determined. His biggest struggle (and ours too) this past week has been fighting discouragement. One other note: it seems that he has a TON of visitors on Sundays, which can get overwhelming, so we would encourage visitors to come throughout the week for short visits or call before coming on Sundays so we can stagger the visits better. But please keep coming to visit him -- he seems to benefit from visitors very much.

Change of scenery

Just a quick note that they gave Daddy a new, brighter, bigger room today (as of about noon). He's on the same floor, different hall -- so if you go to visit, check in at the front desk to get his room number. Please continue to pray for motivation for him to take the steps he needs to get better.

The latest plan

We have a plan...well, at least for now. The doctors have decided not to re-do the placement of the feeding tube, but will leave in the tube that is draining the fluid from his stomach. As the goal is for Daddy's stomach to resume working relatively normally, the doctors have decided to keep him in the hospital for another week in order to hopefully allow it to do so. He was given the green light to try soft foods and hopefully will be able to tolerate that well. (Daddy will be able to clamp the tube draining from his stomach to give his stomach an opportunity to process the food, but leaving the drain in will still alleviate some of the pressure until his stomach resumes functioning.) Please continue pray that his stomach will begin working and processing food. Also, continue to pray for his spirits--that he would feel encouraged, hopeful and motivated to get up and walk as much as possible despite entering week #3 of his hospital stay. Mom is hanging in there, although she is certainly weary from traveling to/from the hospital--please pray for endurance and rest for her.
(P.S. There is some talk that they move Daddy to another room for a change of scenery--will let you know if that transpires...)