| 7/26/99 12:30 p.m. | Another colonoscopy out of the way! The procedure was performed on July 21; this time the doctor found five tiny polyps, which he removed. We haven't received biopsy results yet, but he didn't think there was any need for concern at all, and said he'd do another colonoscopy in 6 months, maybe 8. :-) |
| 2/5/99 11:00 p.m. | She had her first post-op colonoscopy on January 13, and the doctor found only two tiny polyps (about the size of a BB, he said). He removed them, and tests revealed they were non-malignant, thank goodness. She can now wait 6 months until the next colonoscopy, which is good news! |
| 11/25/98 7:30 a.m. | Her second post-op exam was yesterday afternoon, and she's improved so much that the surgeon has released her to return to work! *WHEW!!* He wants to see her in a month just to be sure her incision has completely healed to his satisfaction (it's still not quite closed in one area), and wants her to see her gastroenterologist sometime in the next 3 months to have some small polyps removed from her remaining bit of colon (which he assures us is a simple matter and easily handled). Boy, do WE have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!! |
| 11/11/98 3:30 p.m. | Sunny's post-op checkup was today, and the doctor was very pleased with her progress! He wants to see her again in two weeks, but said that we don't have to put packing in her incision any more and she can now (*drumroll, please!!*) take a SHOWER!!!! |
| 11/9/98 1:00 p.m. | It's been a good weekend....*VBS* Sunny's been eating well, and feeling good. We've taken walks, watched videos, and took a short car trip to look at what's left of the fall foliage. Though part of her incision is still open, it continues to look better each day. |
| 11/5/98 8:00 a.m. | She's HOME!!! Finally!! They released her from the hospital about 7:00 p.m. last night. By the time we stopped at the drugstore to fill her prescriptions and got her home, she was really tired, but very happy! Today's her birthday, and she said it was the best birthday present she's ever received....*VBS* |
| 11/4/98 3:30 p.m. | One of the doctors told her last night that she might get to go home today, but she hasn't seen a doctor today as yet.....and we're both getting a little impatient, I might add!...*G* |
| 11/3/98 10:00 a.m. | She felt really good all day yesterday, and felt good this morning, too! They took more blood this morning to check her white count again. They can't seem to decide what's causing that problem. Her fever's down, her appetite's coming back, but her white count is still too high. |
| 11/1/98 9:00 p.m. | Now her nausea's gone, and her white count is back up.....*beating head against monitor*.....I think I need one of those dramatic graphics like CNN uses in a crisis situation: "Sunny's Hospital Stay....Day 25"!! They did a CT scan today and saw something they weren't sure about, so they're going to repeat the scan tomorrow morning to get some clarification. The strange thing they saw could have been simply a loop of intestine which hadn't yet absorbed the "contrast" material she had to drink for the scan, or (worst case scenario) it could have been a pocket of infection in her abdomen, which would require another surgical procedure to drain. Needless to say, we're hoping for the first possibility! |
| 11/1/98 7:45 a.m. | Quick update before heading back to the hospital. The fever's come down, and her white count is looking good, but the nausea worried the doctor. He had a stomach x-ray done Friday and again yesterday and found that there's a lot of air in her system (possible indicator of an obstruction). He took her off all food and water Friday night and had them put her back on IV fluids (phooey). She was really, really counting on getting to come home this weekend and was so upset that she's having to spend another few days in the hospital that I stayed with her Friday night. She was doing well enough yesterday afternoon that (in spite of the air still in her system), the doctor put her back on clear liquids again. When I left last night her color was good and she seemed in a little better spirits. I'm going back to the hospital in a few minutes to see how it's going today. |
| 10/30/98 11:00 a.m. | She's still battling a fever (but it's down some today); she was unable to eat her breakfast this morning, as well. She's having a great deal of nausea today. The doctor said that if it doesn't subside pretty quickly, they're going to x-ray her stomach to see if anything unusual is going on. He said that it could be that she just hasn't adjusted to having real food yet. |
| 10/29/98 11:00 a.m. | Still more good news: they removed the rest of her tubes last night! Luckily, I was able to be there when the doctor removed her JP drain. That was really painful for her, and I wanted to be there to help her as much as I could. They took her morphine pump away, too. It looks sooooo strange to see her walk down the hall without having to push an IV pole anymore!! I really think that if they can get her fever under control, they'll let her go home. I surely hope so!! |
| 10/27/98 8:00 p.m. | Good news and bad news tonight. Good news: She's begun to actually EAT a little! Not much, mind you (less than a cup all told today; she still doesn't have much appetite after eating nothing for 3 weeks), and nothing interesting (cottage cheese, pudding, ice cream), but it's real food!! Bad news: We've found the cause of the fever she's been running. When the doctor came to check on her this morning, he asked a few questions then said, "Okay, let's look at your tummy." When he looked, I looked too. Her incision was red and puffy. I commented "That's new." (Didn't want to scare the beejeebers out of Sunny.) He nodded and said he thought we'd found the cause of her fever. He explained to her that her incision appeared to be infected (RATS!!) and said he was going to remove some of her staples. He did so, and explained that if there was infection, this would allow it to drain. Sure enough, before he even finished writing up her orders at the nurses' station, about 1-1/2 inches of her incision opened and drained. So, they packed it and covered it with gauze, leaving it open to drain properly. They changed her antibiotic and said that draining the incision and the new antibiotic will fix her right up. Folks, I've seen some really unusual (for me) sights since all this began, but watching them pack that incision ranks right up there with the all-time Top 10 list of things I don't want to see again!! She was very brave during the whole thing (much better than I'D be!!), but has been really tired all day. I stayed with her until about an hour ago, and she was getting very sleepy, so I came home to get some rest. She's still able to get up and down, and we even managed a walk in the hall. The doctor has assured me this is safe, and will even hurry along the healing process. I hope to have better news tomorrow. |
| 10/26/98 2:00 p.m. | A little more good news: they took her catheter out yesterday and began giving her clear liquids (she really enjoyed her first container of apple juice!). Unfortunately, she began running a fever yesterday evening. They think it was caused by a possible infection in her central line, so they removed it. The central line had stitches holding it in her neck, so removing it was no picnic for her. Her fever broke after that, though, so we hope that was the cause. This morning she had a headache and was very tired, but seemed okay otherwise. |
| 10/24/98 9:00 p.m. | Good news (for a change)! They removed her NG tube (the one that went down her nose and into her stomach); now she can have ice chips, and we hope she can move up to fruit juice tomorrow. She sat in a chair for an hour today and took two more short walks in the hall. She was tired when I left the hospital, but had enjoyed a good day. :-) |
| 10/23/98 3:00 p.m. | They'd given her an epdiural for pain control (dilaudid), but it just didn't help. They finally capped it off Wednesday night and put her on a morphine pump. Things have improved greatly since then, thank goodness. She still has a catheter, a drain, a central line in her neck (which they can run all her meds through without additional IV sites being necessary), and an NG tube down her nose into her stomach, but is out of pain. I had her up in a chair for awhile yesterday, and I'm going to take her for a walk down the hall when I get back to the hospital (no easy feat with 2 IV poles holding 4 different pumps!!). She's actually feeling hunger, which is a good sign, and the doctor heard rumblings in her tummy this morning (an indication that her small intestine is "waking up" again; another good sign). |
| 10/21/98 12:29 p.m. | Sorry this'll have to be brief, gang. I'm just home to check the mail, check on the MeggieDog and grab clothes to spend the night at the hospital again tonight. Her surgery went well, but she had several abdominal adhesions; one which was well above the connection site had nearly closed her small intestine in a second location (90% closed). This was a very dangerous situation, but luckily the doctor was able to clear the adhesions and says she'll be fine. As for the moment, she has staples in her tummy and multiple tubes in multiple places. She's fairly miserable and as she puts it "I wanna go HOME!!". But they say she tolerated the procedure well, and will be much better in a few days. Gotta run; my parents are sitting with her at the hospital so I could run home for a few minutes, but I need to get back. I'll try to post again in a couple of days. |
| 10/18/98 8:00 p.m. | The doctor waited until today for her system to clear on its own, and decided to do a "balloon" procedure to help things along. He intended to do an endoscopy and use a balloon device to stretch the opening between her small intestine and her remaining colon. Unfortunately, he was unable to complete the procedure; he found that the opening had narrowed even further to about half the size it was last Wednesday. So he's put her on heavy antibiotics, which she'll continue to receive tomorrow, and he plans to do her surgery Tuesday morning. Though her system hasn't cleared out completely, he thinks it will have cleared sufficiently by Tuesday morning, and is afraid that if he waits any longer her connection will close completely (which will require a temporary colostomy). There is, of course, a chance that the colostomy will still be necessary, but we're hoping for the best. I probably won't have another opportunity to post an update until the end of the week, but will do so as soon as I can. |
| 10/15/98 3:30 p.m. | The doctor told her a little while ago that things are moving so slowly that it will probably be at least TUESDAY (Oct. 20) before her system's empty enough to do surgery. They don't dare give her anything to hurry things along, because there's a high degree of probability that it would cause her to have a total blockage, which would result in emergency surgery to do a temporary colostomy. So, slow and steady is the preferred (and safest) prep procedure. Very, very tedious to have no food OR water for that long, though! |
| 10/14/98 9:45 p.m. | Well, folks, Sunny has definitely had better weeks in her time. Yesterday was an unusually good day. She felt really well, and actually had an appetite. The doctor was so pleased with her progress that he allowed her some apple juice. Then they brought her a tray with cream of mushroom soup, jello, and ice cream. We were told that if she tolerated that well, she could come home today. Unfortunately, just a few hours after her dinner, she began experiencing stomach cramps again. This morning (after needing 2 shots of Demerol just to get through the night), the doctor sent her for a stomach x-ray. Immediately after that, he performed an endoscopy. The connection between her small intestine and her remaining colon has scarred heavily and therefore has narrowed horribly. There just isn't a large enough opening for everything to work as it should. So, after everything she put in her stomach yesterday has had time to clear out of her system (which can take from 2 - 5 days), she'll have to have surgery again to make a new, larger connection between her small intestine and her remaining colon. Surgery could be as early as Friday or as late as the first of next week; we're just not sure how long the preparatory procedure will take. I'll post another update as soon as possible. |
| 10/13/98 11:00 a.m. | They removed her NG tube yesterday morning, which helped her to feel better, at least! She couldn't have anything but water and ice chips yesterday, and actually began to feel hunger for the first time in months. Last night she had the first full night's sleep she's had since going into the hospital (with the help of a sleeping pill). When the doctor checked her this morning, he said that her stomach was awfully quiet when he listened to it (not a good sign), so he's increasing her water intake today to see how she tolerates that. |
| 10/10/98 9:00 p.m. | Well, she called her surgeon on 10/6, and got an appointment to see him on 10/7. When he examined her, he sent us to the hospital for x-rays and had us hand-carry the film back to his office. After he saw them, he immediately admitted her into the hospital again, suspecting that adhesions had formed, causing a partial blockage. She's been in the hospital since Wednesday afternoon, and on Thursday night, she became so ill that they put a tube down her nose and into her stomach to keep it empty. They're keeping her on pain medication and IV's. What they're waiting for is to see if her problem has been caused by a virus causing irritation which caused the small intestine to dilate (in which case this procedure will allow her small intestine to heal on its own with no surgical procedure). If this isn't the case, they'll do an endoscopy to see if there's an adhesion, which will require surgery. So, all we can do for the next day or two is wait to see what happens. Sure makes time crawl! |
| l0/5/98 10:20 p.m. | Sorry I've not updated in several days, but I was hoping for better news to post. She's still suffering violent nausea and severe cramping; I've asked her to call the surgeon tomorrow to see if he can change her medication or tell her something we can do to help her. Hope to have better news tomorrow |
| 9/26/98 2:50 p.m. | She's still improving...*VBS*...she saw the doctor again on Wednesday (9/23) and he seems very pleased with her progress, and thinks that a problem she's having with nausea in the evening will take care of itself quite shortly. She has another appointment to see him next Wednesday. She's able to drive again, and went to lunch with a friend today, so life is slowly returning to normal. She still tires rather quickly, but time will help that too. |
| 9/20/98 7:20 p.m. | Much better again today....she still tires very easily, and we've adjusted her diet back to things easily digested until she gets her stomach settled really well, but otherwise she's feeling pretty good. We went for another ride today and stopped by my parents' house to visit for a little while. She was really tired when we got home, but still likes to get out and ride. I know she'll be glad when she's able to drive again! |
| 9/19/98 4:40 p.m. | A slight backset...she began suffering violent nausea and vomiting last night and hasn't been able to keep anything down today. But we've filled her prescription for Phenergan, which should fix her right up! She was able to let me put her in the car and take her for a ride for awhile today, and she really enjoyed that. Nice to see something other than apartment walls for awhile! |
| 9/17/98 6:27 p.m. | Today has been even better! She didn't run a fever at all today, and has been up and moving around much more. In fact she even sat on the front porch for about an hour after dinner. She's very tired this evening, but otherwise feeling pretty good. |
| 9/16/98 9:15 p.m. | Sorry it's taken me so long to update this page, gang...it's been a busy few days! Poor Sunny spent all night Saturday night vomiting and running a fever, then was fairly miserable all day Sunday. She slept pretty well Sunday night though, and Monday she was much improved. They finally began feeding her real food Tuesday, and they were pleased enough with her progress to let her come home Tuesday night after dinner. By the time we stopped at the drugstore to get her medication and got her home, she was completely exhausted, though. She's eaten fairly well today (especially considering that she went a whole week without food), but ran a fever for about 4 hours. I don't know what caused it, but two Tylenol got rid of it. She's taking very little pain medication now, and can move around fairly well. Her surgeon is very pleased with her progress, and all things considered, she's really doing awfully well! The "band-aids" come off her incisions Friday, and she goes back to see her surgeon next Wednesday. |
| 9/12/98 9:30 p.m. | I spent both Thursday and Friday nights at the hospital with her, but she'd improved enough this evening that I felt it was safe to come home for a night's sleep. Yesterday was a really bad day for her. She developed a fever (from being under anesthesia for so long Thursday and being rendered bedfast by pain medication Thursday night and Friday) and spent the day battling pain and fever. The fever broke in the wee hours of Saturday morning, though, and today (though she slept a great deal) seemed better for her. She's been out of bed to take very brief walks three times, and each walk seems to be a bit easier for her. So, she's still on the Demerol pump, still has an IV and a catheter, still running a slight fever, and still can't have anything but ice chips to eat. But it's better than yesterday! |
| 9/11/98 12:15 p.m. | Just home for a few minutes for a quick shower and wanted to let you all know how Sunny's doing. Her surgery was unusually long (7 hours), but they were able to do it laproscopically (sp?)....4 small incisions instead of one great big one (thank goodness). In addition to her polyp-filled colon, they found a cyst the size of a golf ball on her right ovary that they drained while they were in there. We didn't even know she HAD that! Because she was asleep so long, she's feeling pretty crummy today....running a fever and hitting the button on that Demerol pump pretty often. The doctor says she's doing fine so far, though. If all goes well, I hope she can come home Monday or Tuesday. I'll be in touch! |
| 9/9/98 9:30 p.m. | Just a short note to let you know that we have to be at the hospital at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow, and her surgery's scheduled for 7:30 a.m. The doctor says to expect the surgery to take 5 to 6 hours if everything goes as expected. I'll stay at the hospital with her tomorrow night, but will try to get a note posted here Friday when I come home to shower and check on the MeggieDog. Keep your fingers crossed!....*G* |
| 8/27/98 6:00 p.m. | Sunny had her upper g.i. done today; luckily, the gastroenterologist found no polyps in her stomach. He found some in her small intestine, but says they're a different type than those in her colon, and that the polyps in her small intestine are not dangerous...*whew* He did take some biopsies (results won't be back until Monday), but doesn't see any cause for concern at all. So, he feels that once her colon is removed (on September 10), she'll be just fine. |
| 8/21/98 2:00 p.m. | AT LAST!! She finally got a surgery date!! She will have surgery on September 10 (2 weeks after her upper g.i.). We wish it could have been scheduled sooner (she's having a great deal of pain now), but we are happy to at least finally have a date for the surgery.... |
| 8/20/98 1:30 p.m. | Well, we did find out today that her gastroenterologist scheduled another upper g.i. for her next Thursday (August 27) at 12:30....now, the confusing part of this is that the surgeon had told us that he was conferring with the gastroenterologist to see if he wanted to do an upper g.i. while she was under the anesthesia for the surgery. She called the surgeon's office, spoke with his nurse and explained the confusion. The nurse said he's in surgery today, but will call her tomorrow...we'll see.... |
| 8/19/98 6:00 p.m. | ....and we still don't have a schedule!!! (This is getting awfully tiresome.) After waiting most of the day for the surgeon to call, Sunny called his office and was told he still needed to confer with the gastrointerologist and would call her as soon as he did so. When I came home from work, there was a message from the surgeon that the gastroenterologist does want to do an upper g.i., and that Sunny is to call his office to schedule it....now I, myself was under the impression that this was supposed to be scheduled by the surgeon (since that is what we were told), but heaven forbid that I should actually know more than a surgeon, right??...*losing patience with know-it-all medical personnel*...*taking deep breath*....*trying to control temper*...oh, well...maybe we'll know more tomorrow...all we've found out for sure is that she won't have surgery next week, because the surgeon is only performing surgery one day next week, and it's already booked...*rolling eyes* |
| 8/12/98 6:00 p.m. | Well, gang, we thought we'd know a surgery date after her appointment today, but her surgeon wants to confer again with her gastrointerologist (to see if he wants to do another upper g.i. producedure while she's under anesthesia for surgery) before scheduling surgery. The gastroenterologist is out of town until next Tuesday (*rolling eyes*), so the surgeon is going to call her next Wednesday. Seems lately that all we do is wait for someone else to get their act together!!...*fuming*...We'll keep you posted! |
| 8/11/98 7:30 a.m. | She was well enough this morning to go back to work. Still taking anti-spasmodics, and still feeling crummy, but better than yesterday. :-) |
| 8/10/98 3:30 p.m. | She was feeling pretty terrible, so I took her to her 2:00 appointment today. The doctor who saw her said that her pain was probably caused by one of two things: 1) either her colon was spasming or 2) one of the polyps may have spasmed and twisted enough to cut off its own blood supply and was dying, causing pain. Since her bleeding has now subsided and she has no fever or other indication of infection, he felt it was best to give her an anti-spasmodic medication for her pain and that it would be pointless to put her through additional testing now to treat the colon since it will be removed very soon. She still has an appointment on 8/12 to see her surgeon. |
| 8/10/98 10:00 a.m. | Though Sunny has an appointment to see her surgeon on Wednesday to schedule her surgery, she's been feeling a good deal of pain all weekend, and has developed some bleeding this morning. She called her surgeon's office, and was told he's not in the office today or tomorrow, but they scheduled her to see another doctor at 2:00 p.m. today. |
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