Sunday (Day 10)

MaGee Women's Hospital
Sunday, March 7, 2010.

It was a very awful night last night, I mean terrible. The medication that they had me drink just killed my insides something fierce, then on top o' that I had to take 6 pills. Total hours o' sleep slept= 1-2 hours! My nurse, Sue was extremely nice and gave me pointers on how to lay and take the pressure off my sweet spots.

Last night, my nurse's aide was SO amazing. She did my vitals every 4 hours, and we chatted for a while too. For real, just look at her, isn't she just so dear? I asked her to be my friend on facebook, she said yes, so it's official, she's my newest buddy.

Liz & ME...He, he, he

/\/\/\ FOOD TIME /\/\/\

It was now time to eat some food. Ace looked thru the menu to try to pick out what he wanted to eat. He describes the food as between hospital food and restaurant food, I believe he used the word "catered food" to describe it.

Hmm...what's for lunch?

This is what he picked:

Marinated Chicken Sandwich
Chopped Carrots
Green Beans
Side Salad
Potato Salad
Mountain Dew
...and a Brownie to top it off!

Ace's Sunday Brunch!

This is what he picked:

Personal Pepperoni Pan Pizza
Lays Baked Chips
Rold Gold Pretzles
Cottage Cheese
Side Salad (French Dressing)
Mountain Dew
...and chocolate ice cream for dessert!

Ace's Sunday Supper!

/\/\/\ PROCEDURE PREP /\/\/\

This a.m. transportation came to my room and took me down to radiology for a x-ray o' my abdomen. Because yesterday there was contrast and fluid in the bowel, they couldn't complete the rest o' the tests that were scheduled, and rescheduled them for today. Before they did anything they retook the abdominal x-ray to see if the contrast and the fluid had cleared my bowel. The result--contrast and fluid was still present on the film, making it impossible to run the rescheduled test. (WOW! I hope that made sense!)

So this may sound really weird, but somewhere along my life someone told me that if you place weight on your abdomen, it will help. So I was willing to try anything! Although this may look like everything we brought with us and it looks extremely heavy, it was all clothes, so it didn't hurt (or help) at all.

It didn't work.

So we still must get all the contrast and fluid out o' the bowel. Ugh, just what I was dreading! The doctor's wrote out more orders. I had to drink another bottle o' Calcium Citrate. Oh that stuff not only tasted NASTY, but it felt like it was tearing hole in my stomach.

Oh, it's sooo NASTY!

...and right back to the
swollen bell,
extreme pain, &
unbearable nausea!

...and taking 6 more Docolax tablets.

So...it's been a lazy Sunday, and felt like nothing has gotten accomplished, but I'm just thankful for having my honey with me, rubbing my back, hugging me, just his presence. PTL! So it's going to be a L-O-N-G night, and a even LONGER day tomorrow!

/\/\/\ Prayer Requests for MONDAY /\/\/\

Gastrogram.

• will tell if the colon is inflammed or if there is a communication.
• dye injected into catheter and followed under x-ray.
• dye should go to communication and we should find--fistula.
  

Small Bowel Follow Through.

• liquid/contrast must be drunk.
• a series o' x-rays are taken over the course o' a couple hours.
• following the contrast should tell us--fistula, leakage, ulceration, or flare.
  

Central Line Removal/PICC Line Insertion.

• I already have the central line (CVC) in my neck.
• Sutures will be taken out, catheter pulled out.
  
• PICC Line insertion into the upper arm.
• catheter inserted into vein in upper arm.
• it's threaded along the vein until it reaches the heart.
• Last time I had a PICC, I got a blood clot in my right arm.

There's the schedule o' the day. Thanks to all your love, prayers, support, and EVERYTHING!

/\/\/\ THE END /\/\/\