3 Floors, 4 Rooms, 10 Days

It’s been quite a ride this week. We were doing so well the first few days out of surgery, only to take a few steps back, but hopefully we are rounding a corner again. Jake starting having severe abdominal pain Tuesday and Wednesday (much more than just the pain from his incision), then heavy diarrhea set in, and then blood in his stool. They ran every culture, test and scan imaginable to rule out anything that might possibly take him back to the OR, and finally came back with a confirmed case of c-diff. It’s a bacterial infection that happens to a lot of patients after surgery or those with jeopardized immune’s and it’s highly contagious. Seems to run rampant in hospitals, actually. So, while Jake is healing from being almost severed in half, he’s working around a very unhappy and irritated colon. Today has been one of the better days, although you can look at him and see how sore and worn down his little body feels. The c-diff reminds me of my colitis episode. It’s extremely painful while it’s inflamed and the days after are super tender and uncomfortable, and food is NOT your friend. This has been an interesting stay as we have stayed on 3 different floors and four rooms in the past 10 days. I am the queen of packing up and moving on down the hall… or floor… or wherever. We sat on the surgical floor for a good part of our stay but requested to get to 9 just as soon as they would allow. Jake is a cancer patient first, surgical patient temporarily, and we discovered quickly that he needed to be in the hands of oncology nurses. We had very nice nurses but they aren’t trained in the ins-and-outs of cancer patients, what drugs they are allowed and not allowed, how they should be administered, and what may or may not be combined. I’ve learned just how important it is to watch and question anything that makes me feel uneasy. I’m his protector and accidents are made all the time, never intentional (why they are called accidents), and I’m finding that I know his history and his disease better than anyone. Lack of knowledge and “normal protocol” almost landed Jake in serious situations on two occasions. But we’re back here on 9 and happy to be “home”. As for being “home”… about 4 AM there was a LOT of banging going on in the room next door for quite some time so I stepped out to ask if everything was OK. About that time, a door open a few rooms down and a dad yelled out, “can someone stop that banging!” A few minutes later, a nurse was in there telling them to stop (which they couldn’t hear because of the noise). It went something like, “well, ma’am we DO have a work order”. She won and it stopped. But when we woke up this morning, we had a tub full of nasty! The commotion in the middle of the night worked itself into our pipes. So we moved rooms… again… hence the 3 floors and 4 rooms in 10 days. As for now, we don’t have a firm release date – Tuesday or Wednesday have been thrown around so we’ll pray for that. BUT Jake has two more hurdles to jump. One, is to get off the pump and start taking his pain meds orally. The second is for him to eat and drink. This one may be the hardest as he is really protecting his tummy. We would be so thankful for your prayer over those things. He is getting up and around a bit more so that is encouraging but we just want to be home. The 9th has become our home away from home, and there is comfort in the community found in these halls. BUT there is real truth in the saying, “home is where the heart is”… we miss our family! On a lighter note…

I’m ALL CAUGHT UP on my Duck Dynasty episodes three times over! “That’s right jack!”