Update #94

Where to start?

First, the negative. Dave has been throwing up a little bit today. Two potential explanations:

1. We found out this morning that he has another urinary infection. As we speak, the nurses are in the process of removing his catheter, which probably caused the infection.

2. He isn't getting any tube feed, so his stomach may be upset because there is nothing in it. For some reason, just before we left UT, the doctors increased Dave's tube feed from 30, where it had been consistently for a few weeks, to 65, almost the target level for the feed. Although this move seems positive, mostly, it just served to increase the level of drainage coming from his colon, which was making it very difficult for the Wound Care Team at Drake to control his wound. In an effort to slow the drainage, the weekend doctor turned off the tube feed. There is an order to start it again at a lower level sometime this afternoon, which may help to calm Dave's stomach.

Because of the nausea, the day as been rather exhausting, but Dave's spirits still seem to be fairly good.

On the positive side, at the risk of speaking too soon, it looks like the Wound Care Team may have found a method for dressing Dave's wound that will help control the drainage and possibly assist in getting the skin flap to readhere. Over the past three days, they have tried three or four different dressing methods, all involving vacuums, all of which exploded or leaked not too long after they were completed. The method that they used this morning has been holding since 8:00 a.m. or so...we'll see if it continues.

We also had a chance to speak to Dave's doctor, Dr. Weintz (there is an n in his name), again, and we got some further explanation on what will hopefully be Dave's final surgery. According to Dr. Weintz, there is a very good chance that surgery will be necessary to fix the hole in Dave's colon. Generally, the surgeons like to wait at least six months after the last surgery to go back into a patient's abdomen, so we are about three months away from that mark. The positive side is that in the meantime, once the dressing situation is completely resolved (hopefully today did it), Dave has plenty of rehab and therapy to keep him busy until he is ready for the surgery.

Dave sat up on the edge of the bed again today, which he seemed to tolerate well in spite of the nausea. He also had a follow-up meeting with speech therapy (SIDENOTE: I never realized that speech therapy also included trach care, swallowing, and cognitive rehab), and Marilyn, the therapist, seems pleased with Dave's cognitive function. She mentioned that the therapist who met with Dave over the weekend expressed some concern about higher level memory and cognitive ability (mainly things that might impact his ability to go back to work at GE full force - I'm assuming remembering engineering code and processes, etc.), so she said she may have another therapist do a higher level evaluation to pinpoint what Dave may need to work on in order to prepare his mind for returning to work in the future.

Dave's roommate Chris just showed up for a visit, so I'll finish updating later, but overall, it has been a good start to our time in Cincinnati. Keep praying...