Friday Evening Update

It is Friday evening, and I have been here at the hospital with Master since about 12:30 this afternoon. When I arrived this afternoon, He was miserable. He complained of more or less continuous "regurgitation" of liquid into His throat in quantities that would certainly cause choking if He were not constantly swallowing and/or spitting it into a basin. The coughing and throat clearing and gagging attendant upon all of that was making His already tender belly very sore and achy. On top of that, He hadn't slept (except in brief snatches of a few minutes here and there) in well over 24 hours. Now, some 6 hours later, He is freshly showered and installed in bed, resting comfortably for the first time in about a day and a half.


The working diagnosis, at this point, is that Master has a post-operative ileus -- a temporary paralysis of a part of the intestine, causing food and liquids to back up rather than flowing through as they should. This is apparently a fairly common complication after abdominal surgery. The doctors do not seem to be terribly concerned, and are basically telling us that the treatment of choice is to "rest" the


I've been in regular contact with T, who remains at home, and she continues to do well and feel good. She has reduced her pain medication, and feels really well. We've discussed it, and as it stands right now, I'll likely spend the night here at the hospital with Master. If T needs me, a phone call can take me to her side in about 25 minutes.

One really good piece of news in all of this confusion and worry -- As of this morning, four days out from surgery, Teresa has lost a total of 21 pounds. How kewl is that?

swan