Release Date
Looking like I'll be released on Wednesday, 8/24. That'll make it a full 40 days. Insert some joke about Noah's ark here. Maybe an Irish Rover's reference.
I'm still not able to eat or drink anything. They're just sending me home because I'm in good enough health to take my TPN at home. Karen's been trained on how to administer it, and y'all are witnesses if I end up dead because of some kind of 'bubble in the line' accident. That said, most of that life insurance benefit would likely end up with my kids, so maybe just let her slide this once. Leave vengeance for our children or theirs.
My wound dressing is a big bag stuck to my belly, with a nozzle at the bottom so I can empty it. My medical team and I will be tracking the output from the wound. A marked decrease in output signals that the small bowel fistulas may have healed. We really want the small bowel fistulas to heal, as that would allow me to start on some clear liquids and eventually progress to solid foods again.
If the small bowel fistulas don't heal, then I just sit on TPN until they are ready to open me back up and try to address the fistulas. The problem with that is the amount of time I'd have to wait beforehand. They'd want to wait until the scar tissue around the bowel starts to soften up. The doctor the other day tossed around a figure like 4 months. That's a season, and not a length of time that gives me comfort. I don't want to spend 4+ months not eating. So we're trying to keep hope alive that the fistulas will actually start to heal without additional surgical intervention. It is a hopeful sign that the volume of my wound output has decreased over the past few days.
As a surprise, my brother Erron flew down from Vermont to visit today. He caught me on a good day for visiting - Not much happening from a procedure standpoint, so we had all day to talk. It was a really nice surprise and one I won't soon forget.
After over a month, I'm really going to not miss this place. There are some characters that I'll regret not seeing.
There's the doc who was assigned to stimulate some output - A quick joke about them 'fingering my ostomy' allowed our relationship to devolve to the point they suggested I might enjoy the podcast 'My Dad Wrote a Porno'. In a place with not a lot of laughs, they gave as good as they got. Very much appreciated.
Then there were nurses. So many nurses. So many good nurses, really. I've had a couple dry spells, but overall, the kindness and professionalism of the nursing staff have really helped make a difference in my stay. Even the one who ignored my pages for over an hour motivated me to go spite walk a mile. There won't be a nurse to chat with when I come in for clinic appointments over the next few months - I'll miss that.
And the food tray folks... With their 3x a day room knock and entries to attempt to retrieve trays from a room that never saw one. The pain management team, with their useless vapid questions and wasted expertise. The housekeeping rep who would stop by daily to ask if I was satisfied with the housekeeping and oh I'm sorry were you sleeping. Vital signs taken at 4AM - Vital indeed. And this very evening, the dementia patient a few doors down ceaselessly bleating 'help'. I'll miss you all.
OK, so that's about it. Hopefully home Wednesday, and try to get back into some kind of groove with work stuff on Thursday. First day back doesn't mean I get to lay around. I've been laying around for over a month, and not by choice. Eager to fire up my brain to make sure it still spins for at least a few hours.
I'll have home health nurses come out 3x a week to change the dressing on the wound and do whatever general maintenance needs to happen. I assume I'll have to go in to see some docs every once in a while. My short-term responsibility is just to track wound output and not eat or drink anything. Should be do-able.
Much like my gaping abdominal wound, I'd imagine the output to this site will slow down in the next few weeks. Major changes like permission to drink a glass of something/anything/please I'm so thirsty or the transition to solid food would warrant an entry. Anyone who drops off a plate of cookies or treats for me in the next few weeks will also likely get a write-up, but not a positive one.
Glad this chapter is ending. Hopeful for more healing soon.
~Ed