Home Sweet Home

Well, we're finally out of there. They gave Karen some simethicone - you probably know it as gas x - and we just waited it out. They gave her the option of staying another night, but she was ready to go home.

SMILE and Grimace

While we were waiting on the release, 1:30 rolled around. Every Friday, from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm, they play a BINGO-like game called SMILE. Instead of straight lines you have to make shapes; for example, a smile. Last time Karen won $12 in gift cards, this time she won $8 and I won $4.

Unfortunately, during this time Karen began having really bad abdominal pain. The two possibilities they are floating is either too much fiber, or gas issues. Either way, they seem to think it's related to eating food. It sounds like they want to hold onto her till 5 now to make sure it passes. Some of the nurses have been speculating that she won't get released till tomorrow now, but we haven't heard anything like that from the doctors. We're still planning on leaving.

Going Home

Karen is being released today at noon, but you know how the paperwork goes. She's on the maximum allowable Percocet dose, ibuprofen, Pyridium (for the bladder and urinary pain), and prilosec (to keep her stomach acid in check). They're going to prescribe her a nebulizer for home since they don't feel she would be able to use the rescue inhaler effectively with her diminished lung capacity.

She still gets up to a 5 out 10 on the pain scale from time to time, and she's having more pain around her stoma. The bladder still never drops below 200-250 ml or so, which seems to be an issue since the surgery. We saw increased urine output after switching switching pain meds, and Karen felt as if she were voiding more. But she still had quite a bit of pain, and shortly after posting yesterday, they did a bladder scan (using ultrasound) and found 243 ml in there. This caused quite a bit of emotional distress for her. It can get very painful and she was worried they weren't taking it serious enough. They've said since she's peeing frequently, and doesn't feel the urgency to pee afterwards, there's no need to be concerned. They've even gone as far as reversing their earlier recommendation to learn how to self catheterize, and are suggesting she just keeps doing what she's doing for a couple weeks and see if things improve on their own.

With all the excitement of leaving I almost forgot an important step in her recovery, solid foods. That was the last real hurdle before being dismissed. Karen had been building up to it for a while, but was a bit apprehensive after what happened last time. She started solid food yesterday with a late breakfast: a small bowl of cereal and an egg. They brought her food for lunch but she wasn't hungry yet and didn't want to push it. She ordered peanut butter and jelly with a side of peaches for dinner. They say her appetite will eventually return to normal. Breakfast today was the same, but with two eggs instead of one.