That's a first! Things went well, still leaking some. The drainage tube had actually migrated out of the cavity and was barely underneath the skin so they had to put a new tube in. The key now is for the tract from the leak to the drain tube to dry out and close down, so now, we no longer have to do flushes on the drain. One less thing! YIPPEE! He is scheduled to go back next Wednesday; they will do a CT scan of both pelvis and abdomen; as well as another fistula-gram. Each time he goes to IR he has to go through hospital admissions and the procedure itself can take a couple of hours, as well, so it makes for a long day.
After the procedure, we went up to 6 West to visit all our sweet friends. It was good to see them, but so thankful it wasn't because we were being re-admitted!
Dr. Arslanlar (GI) is pleased with all of his stats. Even though he has lost a pound a day, he is still doing very well...blood pressure, heartrate and temp are stable. And his blood work shows his white blood cell count is 11,000 (very good for him! and almost normal for the rest of us), albumin (protein in blood) is 3.1 (normal is 4 but his has never gone above 2.2 while in hospital and is usually around 1.9), and kidney function looks good, too. He will tweak Ron's TPN by decreasing the protein and slightly increasing water. Dr. Arslanlar says whatever we're doing keep doing it! Obviously, his body is responding well! Very encouraging!
Now, to catch up on what's been going on since we've been home:
Friday, 4th of July, we made a deal with the kids that we would make breakfast in exchange for help with some much needed yardwork. We made bacon and Belgian waffles (very patriotic with fresh blueberries, strawberries & whipped cream!) Ron actually insisted on being in charge of the bacon...I cannot describe how it felt to see Ron standing at the stove cooking bacon! Such a mundane thing but so incredible!! We talked about how awesome God is, how gracious He is....it was exactly 8 months ago (November 4) that we were told he wasn't going to make it, yet here he is standing in our kitchen cooking bacon (even though he can't eat anything) as if everything is normal! We spent alot of time gathered around the table reminiscing over these last months. The kids spent the rest of the day trimming hedges and bushes; you should see our girls....building up those arm muscles with the electric hedge trimmers as well as, weeding flower beds, while the guys were mowing, edging, cleaning the patio furniture, etc.
That night we went over to Ron's parents house to sit out in their yard to watch fireworks. It was great to be together as a family celebrating a holiday somewhere other than the hospital! Not only celebrating our country's independence but our freedom from the hospital!
We've spent alot of time with the kids catching up on family time: playing cards, watching movies and sharing meals most evenings. I wonder how long it will take for the newness of Ron being home and life getting back to normal to wear off.
We've gotten into a pretty good routine:
Ron sleeps in til 10 or so which allows me to get breakfast, do a little work in the flower beds, a load or two of laundry, take a shower or whatever else I need to do to get my day started. After he gets up it's time to get busy checking and recording weight, temp, heartrate, and blood pressure, then comes Lovenox shot, steroid shot, empty g-tube suction device and move equipment into living room where he'll settle in for a couple of hours after walking around the house for about 15-20 minutes (too hot for him to walk outside). Early afternoon he's ready to take care of some business paperwork and phone calls; after vitals have been taken again. Late afternoon he's ready to kick back in the recliner for a nap. The kids are usually here by about dinner time. While we're preparing and eating dinner, Ron piddles with his beloved salt water tank. PICC line has to be flushed and TPN has to be mixed and set up around 9PM. Then before bed, vitals are checked again and he gets his second dreaded Lovenox injection.
Home health nurse comes on Mondays to do PICC line dressing change and blood draw to be sent to docs so they have results when we go to Presbyterian on Wednesday.
Wednesday evenings, medical supplies are delivered for the week...7 new bags of TPN mixture with all the vitamins & insulin for us to add each evening as we prepare, 14 pre-filled Lovenox (blood thinner) and 7 pre-filled steroid syringes, as well as needles, alcohol prep pads and batteries for TPN pump.
That's life in a nutshell for the Nordell's!
Things to pray about:
There will be no fevers as a result of the drain change
The tract will close down and the leak seal over
Weight will stabilize
Ron will continue to gain strength and stamina
Thank you for your support and encouragement as well as your calls, cards, and e-mails! One of my goals for next week is to get busy on some long over-due thank you notes!
Much love!
Christie
"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you." 2 Chronicles 20:12
Living a life of faith often requires us to leave things alone.
If we have completely entrusted something to God, we must keep our hands off it. He can guard it better than we can and He does not need our help. "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him; do no fret..." Psalm 37:7
Things in our lives may seem to be going all wrong, but God knows our circumstances better than we do. He will work in His own way and in His own time. Often there is nothing as godly as inactivity on our part, or nothing as harmful as restless working, for God has promised to work His sovereign will.
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