Update #103

Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend - I spent Saturday mourning Notre Dame's loss to Michigan State (Dave was pretty happy), and Sunday was our youth ministry kickoff for the fall, so things were pretty crazy.

After a rough afternoon on Friday, the weekend took a more positive spin. First, Dave was switched to a new type of tube feed, and the rate was being consistently increased. When we asked why, the nurse told us that according to the notes in the computer, the barium (dye) test showed that that hole in Dave's intestines is far enough along in his digestive system that he is actually getting at least some of the nutritional benefit of the tube feed before it goes out through the side of his body (this is what we were hoping for). Because of that fact, the doctors switched his tube feed to a type that requires less volume but gives more nutrition (less volume going in means less drainage coming out), and over the course of the weekend increased the tube feed volume, decreased the TPN (IV feed), and early on Sunday morning, turned off the TPN completely! We haven't actually had a chance to talk to the doctors, but we are hoping that the change will also allow Dave to start eating some normal food beyond soup and pudding.

As a negative sidebar to that positive news, Dave actually ended up back on TPN yesterday. The new tube feed that he is getting is much thicker than what he had been on, which means that the tube is much more likely to clog. And clog it did, to the point that the nurses couldn't get it unclogged and decided that they needed to put in a new tube. Unfortunately, when they tried to remove the old tube, it was so stuck after two months inside of Dave's stomach that they couldn't get it out. Even with the expertise of a physician's assistant, and with a lot of painful pulling and twisting, the tube would not release itself from Dave's body. We will not get word from the surgeons on what the next step should be on removing the old tube and inserting a new one until tomorrow, so for the moment, Dave is back on TPN and not getting any tube feed. Fortunately, it should be a very short setback.

As for PT, Dave's continues to make progress, and today for the first time, he will be trying out the "real" PT gym on the second floor of Drake as opposed to the smaller gym on his own floor that the therapists have been using. He is doing almost all of the work to get himself into the wheelchair for therapy every day, and according to the weekend therapists, he did most of the work in standing up the other day as well.

Dave also wore real clothes for the first time since his accident on Saturday, athletic shorts and a Michigan State t-shirt to be prepared to cheer his team on to victory against my Irish (I'm only mostly bitter). I can't even describe how much better and stronger he looked, simply by being out of a hospital gown.

Dave's mom is back from Michigan, looking relaxed and well rested, and she and Den will both be in Cincinnati for a couple of days before Den takes his own break to head back to Rochester Hills on Thursday. Jen and her family will also be down this weekend for another visit.

Aside from the mishap with the feeding tube, the past few days have been overwhelmingly positive. Keep praying for progress...more updates soon.