The doctor's appointment

I had a lot of nausea in the night so at 4am I turned my feeding tube off so that I could get some sleep. When I woke up at 7 I still didn't feel good and my side around my JP tube was really hurting. I got some pain meds in and took my other meds and re-hooked up my feeding tube even though I still didn't feel good, I knew I needed to. We left for the doctor's office and got there around 9am and got checked in. I was still having quite a bit of pain in my side and my vitals reflected it. My BP was in the 150's and my heart rate was 111. It didn't take too long for the resident to come in and examine me. He said they would take a sample of the drain fluid and call me later in the day with results. The nurse then came in and took some of the fluid and we waited to see the doctor. About 20 minutes later, the resident poked his head in and said they wanted too see what the results were before we left so they could take action if necessary, so we waited and waited. Over 2 hrs in the room we waited. Finally, the doctor came in. She said that it took the lab a while to get the level because it was so high it couldn't be measured. It was over 250,000 again. Tears started swelling up in my eyes. I asked how could that be? She said she didn't know so she talked to the head pancreatic surgeon of the university and he said it can happen and since it has now been a month since the surgery, he said to take the feeding tube out and let me eat and my body will heal itself. I kept asking are you serious? She was like, well do you want it out or not. Of course I wanted it out. YEAH!!! No more feeding tube, as long as I can eat and tolerate food, otherwise it goes back in and it wasn't pleasant coming out. So I am on a clear liquid diet for today and can start normal food slowly tomorrow. So far I have had a whole can of chicken broth and am feeling fine so hopefully things will go well. I am just super glad to have the feeding tube out. I still have to have the drain in my side but I can totally handle that much more than the feeding tube. Please pray that I am able to start eating normally again with no trouble so I don't have to have the feeding tube again and that my pancreas continues to heal like they said it would. I go back in another week for a check up again.

7/30/09 7:30 pm

Today was a litle bit of a better day. I started the day with nausea however that just wouldnt go away. Finally around noon I felt better and a nice shower helped me feel better. This afternoon I felt like I had a lot more energy. I was able to get a few minor things done around the house. I am having quite a bit of pain where they messed with my JP drain before I left the hospital that I just cant seem to shake off. I have my follow-up doctors appointment to test the amylase level tomorrow so I will ask them about the pain then. On a good note, I only had 1 anxiety attack today and I caught it early so it was minor. I have never had anxiety before so any of you that suffer from it, I totally feel for you. It is absolutely horrible if I let it get full blown. I will completely have sympathy for my patients in the future who say they suffer from anxiety. Please keep me in you prayers tonight that my amylase level will be down so that I am that much closer to getting this feeding tube out and back to eating normal food. I miss food.

My 1st post back home

Well this last week has been rough on me. A week ago today I woke up thought I was feeling fine. I got showered and got ready to take Landen to his 9 month appointment. I drank my protein shake and we headed out the door. The minute we started driving, I started not feeling good. I started getting hot flashes and my stomach started churning. We arrived at the hospital, I opened the door and got sick on the side walk. After that I did feel a little better. We made it through the appointment and back home and I was exhausted. I collapsed on the couch. Things just got worse from then. I didnt know what it was but I knew something wasn't right. I laid down in my bed and became entirely weak. I could barely keep my eyes open. Finally about 9pm that night, I made Tim take me to the ER. I didn't know if I just needed fluids or what but I knew I needed something.
They put me in a room and tested the fluid coming from my drain. The amylase level was over 200,000 and my white count was over 19,000. It was determined that I had a bad pancreatic leak and a possible infection. So they admitted me. They did a CT scan and saw a pocket of fluid around the pancreas, the same one the saw on the CT scan in Des Moines but decided that this time it needed to be drained and my pancreas needed to rest.
The nest day I was taken to interventional radiology and the placed a new drain that would drain that pocket of fluid. Then a feeding tube was placed through my nose, down the back of my throat through the stomach, through the 1st part of the small bowel and into the second part of the small bowel. This tube gives me nutrients with out making the pancreas work.
On Monday, they measured the amylase level in the drain again and this time it was down to 89,000. Much better but it has to be less than 1,000 before they will take the tube out of my nose. I have an appointment on Friday to remeasure the level. Please pray that my pancreas is healing and my level will be less than 1,000 so I may get this tube out. With it being down my throat, I get nauseas a lot and lately I have been struggling with a lot of anxiety. Pray that I make it through these next few days of my pancreas healing and that it may heal fast so I can get this tube out of my nose. Thanks for all your continued prayers throughout this struggle in my recovery. Will try to keep you updated with my progress.

Lindsay

She's Home

My mom went over this afternoon and took Lindsay home from the hospital. The feeding tube and the JP tube are still in. The levels from her JP tube were still high so they are testing her again on Friday to see if they can possibly remove it then.

I'm sure she still has a long road ahead of her but is probably thrilled to death to be back home and hopefully will be back to posting here soon!!

More News

The big news for today is that her wrist is awake. She took her brace off today and she was able to lift her wrist up. She has not been able to do that in the 3 1/2 weeks since the accident so to her this is huge.

Right now the JP tube is still in. They think there might be a blockage in it but they don't seem too concerned and may still take it out today or tomorrow.

Her hope is that if her X-rays and CT scan come back ok they will release her today or tomorrow. Her feeding tube will stay in for now but I think she is ok with that as long as she gets to go home.

Much of the Same

Lindsay had much of the same kind of day today. They took her for either and MRI or a CT scan (my mom wasn't sure and I didn't want to call since she didn't really want to talk to anyone) and it took two hours so she was pretty down after that.

They also took X-rays of her back and neck to try to make sure there were no additional injuries and determine when she can go without the brace.

The big news for today is that she was able to touch her thumb and her index finger together on her left hand so they are hopeful that part of that nerve is starting to wake up.

Sunday Recap

Today has been a REALLY tough day for Lindsay. She is mentally worn down and ready to just be done and go home. She has been sick to her stomach a lot even though the feeding tube is bypassing her stomach.

They had been trying to give her meds orally which I think was upsetting her stomach so they decided they would try to put those in her feeding tube.

She had a visit from the Neurosurgeon and he said he is pretty sure there is a fracture in one of her vertebrae so she had to continue to wear the turtle shell brace for another couple of weeks. They also looked at her arm today and said that the nerve will only heal about 1 mm per day and so it could take a couple months for it to heal and 3 - 6 months for her to regain full usage.


They took a sample of the fluid coming out of her JP Tube and are sending it off to test the levels. If they come back low they could possibly take the JP Tube out as early as tomorrow but they are not really giving her any answers as to how long the feeding tube will be in after they remove the JP tube. Best she could get from them was anywhere from 2 days to 6 weeks.

Overall, I think it was just a tough day for her. My mom said she broke down when Tim left and again when they left. She is tired of being in pain, tired of feeling sick and just wants to go home.

Any thoughts and prayers that you would have for her tonight I'm sure would be appreciated.