As most of you know by now Mike had a feeding tube (peg) put in this past Wednesday. Ruby, Mike and I started the day arriving at Methodist at 8 a.m. to check in and get prepped for the short procedure. Mike had fasted since the night before so he was anxious to get going before hunger struck. By 9 a.m. Mike was making his way down the hall with the nurse to get his peg put in. It was a little comical as he was whisked away with his tennis shoes poking out from underneath the sheet. Yep, he still had them on :)
Around 10 a.m. Mike was brought back to the holding room. He was still quite groggy and barley awake as the sedation wore off. Thankfully Mike was sedated and has very, very little recollection of what happened. After they were sure he was good to go and pretty much awake he was checked into his room to gear up for the rest of the day ahead and a night of observation.
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| Still waking up, and being a true man of few words. |
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Once Mike was up and coherent he was in quite a bit of pain and quite a grump by the end of the day. The surgery went well, but a longer day of pain was ahead. Ruby and I headed home after lunch to catch a nap and let Mike be while the nurses did their best to keep his morphine going. Later that night Mike was talking a little but still in a lot of pain. Ruby and I made our way home and hoped for the best for Mike.
Thursday morning Ruby and I made it back to Mike by 8 a.m. hoping to check out and be home by noon. Little did we know that there would be some miscommunication and therefore keep us there until 7:30 p.m. No one was quite sure when Mike could eat. Finally at 1 p.m. they gave him his first tube feeding and then let him enjoy a light lunch of cheese pizza :) After some food back in his system quite a bit of the pain went away and he was able to talk more and actually share a smile. We did a lot of hanging around the room as doctors and nurses made their way in and out checking on Mike and the new tube.
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| Ruby tried her best to hang out with dad while I kept pulling her away from all the fun new tubes. |
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| Finally smiling and even working on getting out of bed! Yes, he has shorts on :) |
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| Ruby and I spent a lot of time in the courtyard on it's play equipment. |
Around 6 p.m. we got to meet with Iowa Home Health Care and they explained how to use the feeding tube and explained some of the services they will be offering for us as the weeks go on. Then at 7:30 p.m. we said adios and made our way home!
Thursday night was quite long as Mike struggled to get comfortable in bed and keep the pain away. By morning we were still trying to figure things out and was blessed with Iowa Home Health Care arrived to provide us with more information. They explained the ins and outs and then went on to let us know that Mike's doctor had asked for physical and occupational therapist visits over the next couple of weeks to keep an eye on things and make sure that everything was going smoothly.
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| Strutting his new tube! |
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| I like to call it Peg Leg...Mike's not a big fan of that one! |
It is now Saturday evening and we are much better off already. I've added nursing to my resume and am much better with working the tube, cleaning the skin area, and making sure to turn it off before I disconnect anything! It's quite the adjustment, but day by day it will get easier! There are still moments where pain is more than Mike would like to deal with and frustration sets in when Mike and Ruby are in need of me and I can only help one at a time, but it's not on our own strength. Mike and I both know that in the long run, weight gain will work in his favor and it's worth the pain now.
On a lighter note...
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| Isn't this all how we walk a dog??? |
