Don’t spoil the broth

Things continue to go well here.

The surgical team clamped Justin’s NG tube first thing yesterday morning. By mid-afternoon they removed it, which has greatly improved his overall comfort and demeanor. However, the team did NOT change his diet orders and left him on “sips and chips” overnight. Although I understand the slow approach, the man has been starving for a couple of days and his bowels have been active. His last meal was a week ago. A little difficult for the body to heal from being filleted open for 12 hours and hot chemo being poured into his guts with zero nutrition for over a week. But yeah, as long as the resident doesn’t run the risk of being paged overnight, right?

Clear liquid diet was initiated this morning, however. Justin has been taking it easy, but glad to have something. He’s really craving toast with butter, maybe in a day or two!

Justin’s hemoglobin dropped below the predetermined threshold for transfusion so he was receiving one when I got here this morning. I go back-and-forth on this as he struggles to absorb iron, yet the additional risks of transfusion… Hoping this perks him up and gets him on the right track.

They also performed and ultrasound that found “extensive deep venous thrombosis,” but we knew this already. Not sure if they’ll recommend another thrombectomy before we go, but it is the biggest source of pain/discomfort for Justin at the moment. Just walking to the bathroom causes significant pain.

With tomorrow being a week out from surgery, Justin will likely lose the epidural. This is always a bittersweet moment for me as the epidural provides such amazing pain control, but it’s one more tether, one step farther from the door. As long as the eating goes well, oral pain meds will be a sinch.