Progress

Small bump in the road this weekend. It seems Ron jumped in to eating a little too much too soon! He did great on the clear liquid diet but when he progressed to full liquid--adding cream soups, puddings, sherbet, etc,--it was a little more than he could handle. Friday he started feeling crummy and ended up having to unclamp his gastric tube twice to drain gastric juices. He's also experienced extra discomfort around his g-tube site; we can't tell if there is any redness because it is covered with a special dressing and "wafer". No fever, which is a good sign. We can also tell that the area they drained is getting larger, not painful or tender but larger. No sign of bruising so we don't think it's bleeding, but possibly a build up of seroma fluid. We spoke with Dr. Shires and he wants to see Ron at Presbyterian tomorrow (Monday) at which time they will do either a CT scan or sonogram and he will go to Interventional Radiology to have the g-tube site looked at, as well.

On top of that, we started having air conditioner problems. We had all stayed up 'til midnight watching a movie Friday. When we were headed to bed Aaron noticed water on the pantry floor. As we investigated further, we found about 2 inches of standing water under the AC unit, the coat closet soaked and water in the garage. Aaron and Kristin went to the warehouse to get our industrial shop vac while Ryan and I (under Ron's direction) tried to figure out exactly where the leak originated. We dried everything up, cleaned everything out and placed buckets underneath the AC unit to catch the drips. We decided to maintain things until Monday so we wouldn't have to pay higher weekend rates. (Don't worry....we still have cool air.) We were all up until 2:30AM which I'm sure didn't help Ron! He slept in Saturday morning, then napped off and on, but still felt puny most of the day.

Today has been a better day, we back-tracked on his diet and have stuck mostly to clear liquids, only adding a cream-based item here and there, since Friday evening, and he has tolerated this very well.

Main areas of concern:

Increased size of drain site
discomfort at G-tube site
Continued swelling in legs (left especially)

Thanks for your continued prayer support and encouragement.

Much love,
Christie

This is what the Lord says, 'At just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation, I will help you...And I will make my mountains into level paths"
Isaiah 49:8 & 11

The purpose of our trials is not only to test our worthiness but also to increase it, just as the mighty oak is tested by the storms as well as strengthened by them