Recovery Day 6

Today is another day with Jennie feeling a little stronger and becoming more mobile, but little other progress. Dr. Sutherland came in this afternoon and said that he hopes to get the NG tube and catheter out tomorrow. I would guess if that does happen Jennie might be out of here by early next week, although that is just my speculation. Even if we do get out then, we will likely spend most next week in the hotel recovering and waiting to see Dr. Sutherland in clinic before coming back home. Really how fast Jennie's recovery goes at this point is mostly dependent on her GI tract beginning to function again.

We have already gone on 3 walks for the day, which is very good. Hopefully we can squeeze one more in before the end of the night. Jennie also wanted me to make sure that I put on here about the largest ulcer rupturing as soon as Dr. Sutherland touched it to remove it. We are very lucky it happened in surgery instead of before, or we would have been rushing in for emergency surgery, which is never good.

Rita and I have switched, and I will be spending the night tonight, so I will hopefully get the post up earlier tomorrow before I go back to the hotel for some sleep. Thanks for all the support, her room is really starting to liven up with all the cards and photos.

Recovery Day 5

Today Jennie seems to be doing much better. We have been for two walks in the hall today, and I can tell she is getting a lot stronger. They have taken her off the oxygen and they removed her central line today. She has also begun having bowel sounds, and the doctors have mentioned removing the NG tube possibly tomorrow depending on how she progresses through the day and overnight.

They didn't mention it, but I would guess they will be removing the catheter about the same time, it seems like they usually do. It seems like her hemoglobin is stabilizing also, it actually went up from a 9.1 to a 9.3 today which is very good to see. Hopefully the transfusions are over. We have also begun receiving cards from everyone, and her room is quickly being transformed. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers, it is great to hear the words of encouragement from everyone.

Recovery Day 4

There hasn't been much change in the last 24 hours. The two units of blood yesterday have gotten her hemoglobin up to a 9.1 which is much better than the 7.3 from yesterday. Today the NG tube has started really irritating Jennie's throat, so we got some chloraseptic spray to see if it will help. Jennie has gotten up and sat in the chair twice already today, which really wore her out.

The only issue Jennie is having at this point is that we still aren't hearing any bowel sounds, which will determine when she is able to start a clear liquid diet and get the NG tube removed. I know she will feel much better once that happens, especially if we can avoid getting the TPN (IV nutrients). They will have to start them before long if her GI tract doesn't start working, but she doesn't do very well with it.

I was finally able to get the pictures we received into a slideshow and burned a DVD of it for Jennie this morning. She loved it! Thanks to everyone that was able to send pictures. If we get any more in the next few days I will add them, so don't be discouraged from sending them.

Recovery Day 3

Jennie is still doing pretty well today. Her hemoglobin has dropped from an 8.0 yesterday to 7.3 today, so they are going to give her two units of blood. At this point we are unsure what the cause is, but Dr. Sutherland hasn't come in yet today so hopefully he will have some ideas when we see him. Jennie is not feeling as well today, but I think that is likely due to the low blood count so with any luck she will feel better after the transfusion has begun.

PT would like for her to get up and walk a bit today, but I doubt that will happen until after the transfusion because she is just so weak. I will post again if we find anything major out, but it looks like today will be another day with lots of rest and just letting her body heal a bit on its own.

Recovery Day 2

Today Jennie is doing well. They have increased her pain medicine several times, and it seems to finally be keeping her fairly comfortable where she can get some sleep. They also increased the suction on her NG tube which is helping to keep her from getting so nauseous. Other than that, she has sat at the edge of the bed again, and seems to be getting a little stronger. I don't know how much real progress we will see today, but hopefully she can get a lot of rest and rebuild her strength. I am sure once tomorrow gets here and Physical Therapy comes in they will be trying to push her even more.

Anyone that would like to write, her address is:

University of Minnesota Medical Center - Fairview

500 Harvard St

Attn: Jennie Boggess Floor 6D Room 6-514

Minneapolis, MN 55455

Please don't send any gifts, only cards. We are limited in space both in the room and for the trip back and the Hospital won't let her have flowers in her room. Thanks again for all the support and prayers, hopefully we will be out of the Hospital and back on our way to KY soon!

Recovery Day 1, Round 4

Last night was a difficult night for Jennie. Even though we talked with Dr. Sutherland and his staff multiple times about making sure she had a high enough level of pain medicine, Jennie came out of surgery with not near enough medicine, similar to the last surgery.

It took us about 3 hours before we were able to get the on-call doctor to come up, and when he did he was afraid to increase the pain meds too much. For some archaic reason even though the hospital is totally computerized now, they can't seem to access her previous records from the other surgeries to determine what level of medicine she required in the past. Anyway, when the team of doctors came in this morning they did increase the medicine enough to give her some relief, it just seems ridiculous that she was in pain for 10-12 hours with little relief.

Other than the pain issue, it seems like Jennie is recovering well from the surgery. She still has a lot of abdominal pain as would be expected, but her hemoglobin has stayed fairly high and there doesn't appear to be any complications at this point. They are also taking additional steps to prevent her from getting MRSA again, we just hope that it works.

Thanks to everyone again for the prayers and support, hopefully Jennie will make a lot of progress in the next few days.

Surgery is done

Dr. Sutherland came out just a few minutes ago and it appears the surgery went pretty well. He was able to remove the ulcers, a little more of the stomach, and he was able to cut one of the Vagus nerves. He was unable to find the other Vagus nerve, but he seemed to think the one would likely do the trick. If it doesn't work, he said the other one could be done without opening her wide open again.

He also noticed a large amount of adhesions and removed as much as possible. We are not sure why she is developing the adhesions so quickly, but the slow recovery the last 3 times due to MRSA is bound to factor in. Anyway, Dr. Sutherland was pleased with the surgery and the fact he was able to finish in less than the 4 hours he estimated makes us feel good about it. Thank you all for the prayers, hopefully the recovery will go smoothly.