Not much sleep last night. Not much energy. Feeding is up to 50ml and I have no desire to eat. My care givers are not at their best today either. Charlie dropped Kiley off and she has been napping most of the day. Since I have little energy and Kiley is asleep so is Sue. My nurse got me up for a walk. Not sure what is different from day to day but hoping for more energy tomorrow.

Turned on TBS and they were airing the end of episode 3. Kept the TV on in the background. After a day of that, they really don’t need to make any more Star Wars movies.

Still feeling better. Most energy so far. I’m not hungry so I used a timer and eat a few spoonfuls of my breakfast and lunch every 5 min. Worked well. I finished 6 oz of chicken broth in an hour along with a few spoonfuls of jello.

Took several walks. Had visitors.

This evening they turned the TEN on at 30ml/hr. Let’s hope for the best.

At 5:00 AM the nurse woke me to give me the protein supplement. Flushing the line with 10ml of saline caused severe pain. I’m so bloated, there is no way she is squeezing in 45 ml of protein. I know the doctors will stop by in 2 hours so I asked her to stop the feeding. Started the feeding again without proteins. All was going well and they upped the rate to 40ml/hr. After a few hours I started burping and had reflux. They stopped the feeding for the remainder of the day.

I woke at 12:30 AM feeling good with energy. Sue was up so we took a walk. That got my GI system going. Woke again at 3:30 AM was wide awake, Sue was out so I went for walk. GI system was active. Doctors started my feeding around 8:00 AM at 30ml. It was a great day. They took out the epidural. No significant pain without it. Ate some broth and jello. At 4:00 PM they upped the rate to 40 ml. Within 2 hours I started burping. Best way to describe it is having heartburn without the burn. A dull substernal pain. That was happening 4-5 times a minute. I put the pain at a 9. I asked them to stop the feeding. The episodes slowed down after a few minutes and continued to lessen over the next 2 hours.

Shift change so it was about 7:30 PM. Doctor came in and wanted to restart the feeding. I still haven’t had a good bowel movement so I went into bargaining mode. “You can start the TEN if you give me a suppository. ” He said no he wanted my system to work on its own. I understand but no TEN.

It was a good night . My pain went from a 9 with the TEN to wanting IV pain meds to pain free, no need for meds. I had 3 bowel movements last night . As close to normal as I can imagine. I’m sure they will restart TEN. We will hope for the best.

I’ve had a new roommate each day. They are either released the next day or a few were transferred to other units. The most difficult was the guy who was hard of hearing and his wife who wasn’t there had all the answers. Why did you go to the ER? Leg pain. How long have you had leg pain? A while. How long is a while? My wife knows. Weeks ? Months? About 6 months. Then why did you go to the ER tonight? My legs wouldn’t walk. This went on all night.

My favorite guy I felt so bad for. Freak accident with shorted out heating blanket burned through his foot. Down to the bone. He was a few months into healing. Knew everything about his meds. What doses and what doesn’t work for him. He thought he was developing an infection which the doctors confirmed. He was on the surgery floor because there was an available bed. They moved him to a medicine floor the next day.

A few quick roommates with laparoscopic procedures. Today I watched reruns of Seinfeld. I swore I was on candid camera. My roommate was Mr Mandelbaum. The son, not the father or grandfather. Looked and sounded like him. Acted like him too. “I don’t need those meds. I don’t need a wheel chair, I can walk. The Mandelbaums were on a few Seinfeld episodes. Otherwise you may not appreciate the reference.

Things are moving. Still haven’t passed gas but they took out the NG tube. Best feeling ever. Feeling more human. They transitioned the J tube to 20 ml , 30, then 40. Every 8 hours I get 45ml bolus with 11g protein . Eventually passed gas. Not much but it is a start was able to increase my walking. More bloating as the day progressed. Don’t look user the gown. It ain’t pretty.

I need to learn what questions to ask. Woken at 5:00 AM for a blood draw. Around 7:00 the surgical team came in. Can’t remember if I mentioned that they took the foley out. So one less tube to carry around. Nothing planned for the day… or is there? Pain team was in by 8:00 followed by Dr Roses. At 9:00 transport came to take me to the vascular unit. No one could tell me why so I went for the ride to find out. They did an ultrasound scan on my legs for clots. All looked good. Got back to the room and thought since I was up I would go for my first walk. Kiley was my helper. When we got back to the room transport showed up to take me to PT/OT. OT wanted to review how I should be moving and what I can and cannot do until cleared by the doctor. PT wanted to make sure I will be able to get around the house, walk ., climb stairs, other small tasks. I think I passed. I would not have gone for that walk if I knew I was going to PT. Got back to the room and fell asleep to learn they were starting my tube feeding. Only 10ml per hour but when I pass gas I can get the NG tube out. No gas by the end of the day but plenty happened on a day when nothing was planned.

Thanks to all those that visited. I saw Sue, of course,Joe, Carol, Mom, Ci and Matt, the Elliot ‘s , and Dave. You kept me entertained through an otherwise uneventful day. Took 4 walks around the nurses station. Had IVs changed meds added and blood drawn.

…the nasogastric (NG) tube. This tube enters my nose, goes to the back of the nasal cavity, above the soft palate, down the back of the oral cavity and into my esophagus ending where it now connects to the jejunem. The tube helps keep my empty small intestine from collapsing. It is also hooked to suction so remove puss and other secretions while it heals. If my intestines accidentally start pumping in the wrong direction this will suction the content rather than passing back up the esophagus. The problem is swallowing.i still make saliva and have mucus from my airway, so swallowing is constant. When we swallow the soft palate tenses and rises to seal off the back of our pharynx. ”Tis is to prevent the food we swallow from going up our nose. I remember trying to tell one line jokes at dinner to see if I could get milk to shoot out my brothers nose. This is what we did before internet. Now people do it to post videos on the internet. Each time I swallow my soft palate presses against the NG tube. The level of pain or discomfort depends on my position. I need to pass gas before they will take the tube out.

Dr Roses checked in on me this morning.Went for 3 walks on the floor. Pain was managed. Those were the simple goals for Saturday.

From prepping to the surgical suite was about 3 hour wait . I spent most of the time wondering how bad it would be if I just left. I changed my focus from doing this prophylactic to convincing myself that there was cancer. I will eventually hear from pathology if that was true, but the mind set got me through the morning.

I was sitting on the edge of the bed. The anesthesiologist was explaining that I would need to fold my arms and bend forward for the epidural. But first a small injection that would make me feel like I had a drink. Not sure what was in that cocktail but that was the last thing I remember.

Next thing I remember is the elephant sitting on my abdomen. The first 3 hours were not fun. I maxed out on the pain medication and kept locking myself or. In time I noticed the pain subsiding and have been comfortable ever since.