Day 7, the evening post

Just think, this time last week Justin was still in surgery. To me, the time has gone by in a blink, for him, an eternity.

Today was full of goodbyes. Adios epidural, sayonara catheter, farewell right side drain. It was also a day of learning. Learning new diet regimes for his ileostomy and gastrectomy… Folks, nutrition will be tough for the next couple of months… staying hydrated even tougher. Also, we had our first lesson in ostomies. Riveting stuff, I tell ya.

They are working to bridge Justin’s anticoagulant from IV to injections, which has meant blood draws every 6 hours, oh, plus the normal lab draw at 4:00am. Not that they could double up on one, that would be way too easy. However, I guess word is out that the patient’s wife will kick them to the curb if they can’t get the job done, so they’ve been sending only their finest phlebotomists. Victory.

Let’s see. What else today? Justin is still having a tough time ingesting much of anything. He’ll drink some Gatorade and eat some crackers and the world is good, just to get sick out of nowhere. And I don’t mean a little sick, I mean heaving sick. Can you imagine being filleted like he was and vomiting? Ugh. Not to worry though, the doctors aren’t concerned and this early in the game, most everything is “normal.”

Justin is tolerating the oral pain meds well, which is fantastic as I was a touch worried. And his walks are easy aside from some pain in his hips likely due to 18 hours on an operating table and being sedentary for the past week. So all in all, still very positive. Woot Woot!

Hope I haven’t been too verbose. Who me? Never. Anyhoo… have a great night! Lots of love, Christina