And on and on it goes! Mom 32 Days.

Well...as the saga continues, they did not do the 3rd endoscopy. She was prepped, we were told it would be early am so naturally we all planned to be there. Late Tuesday evening the surgeon came in and verbally said no, they weren't going to do the procedure. However, thats apparently all he did. Her tube feeding was stopped at 12 mn which was part of the procedural prep, and in the am, the docs in endoscopy called the unit to say they were ready for her. One of the nurses started to do the last part of the prep, when my younger brother who'd gotten there early said not to, as he had been there when the surgeon said they weren't going to do it. So....back and forth. Communication has not been good. Finally, everyone realized they weren't going to and started her tube feed again etc. Surgeon still thought it was the ulcers. They continued to check her blood, and as it went up and down they would give her more blood. She continued to bleed, though for a day or so it looked like less; then she had 4 bouts of throwing up the bloody drainage junk, count went down etc. The whole week has been this way. They've continued to give her heparin for blood clots since she's not active, insulin due to the tube feed, IV's, meds for the ulcers, meds for nausea, chest x-rays done daily to check on lungs (trying to hold of pneumonia).

We still just don't know how things are going. One day or even part of the day things seem better then she goes back severall more steps. Her frustration and depression are apparent. Today, they got her a special bed. The hospital rented this high tech special bed to try and help her with the back pain she suffers. Fingers crossed that helps her tonight get a decent nights sleep. She's managed to be up in a chair about an hour the last 2 days but is in pain when she does so; and then is totally wiped out afterwards.

Thanks to all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. I've continued to knit like a mad woman spending all that time at the hospital.

Bleeding among other things.

Good grief, things just keep happening; and not good things folks. She's had maybe one good day after chest tubes were removed and things started going downhill again. Instead of being able to feel better or do more, much the opposite has taken place. They tried again to introduce food and she's been unable to tolerate it; brings it back up. Each day she has more pain; not less and got weaker not stronger. She was very pale and blood work showed her hemaglobin quite low, only 7.9. 12 is normal. They gave her 2 units of whole blood last Friday to bring up her level and thought it would give her an energy boast. We all thought her discharge in several of her tubes had changed color and looked like blood, but when we questioned it we were told no ...docs don't think there's a problem. The following day her hemaglobin had dropped yet further to 7.3...a whole point lower after getting 2 full units of blood. They continued to monitor her blood counts over the wkend and it dropped a little bit more; but not drastically so. Sunday they decided yes, she was bleeding and they needed to schedule an endoscopy to determine the source of the bleeding. This is a risky procedure for someone who's had stomach surgery; though they said they would be very careful. The concern is pumping air in there to see, and rupturing the stomach due to the stitches etc.

Monday they did the endoscopy but told us they still didn't know the source of the blood. Yes she had blood in her stomach, but there was too much for them to see to know what was causing it, so they wanted to do it again the following day. Today that is, Tuesday. Today, we were told the same thing; it was too bloody to know the source of the blood. They think the source is ulcers, lots of ulcers that they saw on day one of the procedure and again today. Though in both cases they say they are not bleeding ulcers, but they think they might be seeping, oozing. They want to do yet another one tomorrow. Get this! The main reason they want to do another one tomorrow is someone was suppose to prep her for todays test and didn't and thats why they couldn't see!!!!!!!!! This woman hasn't been through enough; now because of yet another medical persons fault she has to endure more?

She was out of it most of the day today, she's still bleeding, she's getting the prep and they will consult ....the surgeons and the GI guys to determine whether or not to do this again tomorrow. They're typing and crossing her again for more blood and checking her hemaglobin again.
***forgot to mention she got 2 more units of blood yesterday.

Tired, frustrated, worred and now we're approaching the 5th day since we first wondered if she was bleeding.

Spent all day at the hospital, came home for a break and will return again a little later this evening.