Karen passed a very small amount of stool earlier. In the past this has been enough to get us on a clamping trial. That's where they clamp your NG tube and see if you get nauseous. If you do, then it's due to the pressure of your own digestive fluids building up again and this tells them things still aren't moving like they should be. This time it's not enough. It was suggested a clamping trial could still be a day or two off.
Our favorite doctor, the one who did the original surgery and watched over us in the hospital in the past, wasn't able to take us on this time for one reason or another. He did stop by "just socially" to say hi and offer some words of encouragement, which means a lot coming from him because he's one of the few doctors that's always given it to us straight and has never been one to dance around bad news. We have a different doctor who has taken the lead in Karen's care this time. So perhaps this doctor is just more conservative in her treatment of bowel obstructions compared to him.
The only other thing that comes to mind is the output from the NG tube. The output they are getting seems to be more than I remember in the past. There's no shortage of doctors around and I've asked what output volume would be a healthy amount, but no one seems to have a set amount. They just seem to be expecting "less." And the output doesn't seem to have changed much since the previous day. I'm not sure if the depth of tube placement matters in the amount of output, or if certain locations are more likely to catch more of her digestive/gastric fluids even when things are moving. But that is a possible issue.
Since this was a mid to high grade blockage maybe there's just more progress that needs to be made before the clamping trial. I'm just not sure how they are gauging progress. I'm a little surprised they haven't used more imaging to check on the obstruction. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.
