Nate had wonderful nurses today. I believe one or two were mine when I was in the hospital in May. They took good care of him and we were really glad.
His incision hurts as bad as you would imagine a 9-inch incision would hurt (and yes, I looked again today and though I didn't have a tape measure as promised, I still believe it to be that big). However, despite having a fever in the night he managed to walk with a walker two times today.
There is always the risk of pneumonia when someone has a surgery like this and is on their back taking shallow breaths for so long, and this morning they were very concerned about Nate getting this because of some things that had gone on in the night. But he made good enough progress today that he may not need the pneumonia vaccine tomorrow that his doctor would like him to have. Hopefully tonight will be better than last night and this won't be as big a concern tomorrow as it was earlier today.
As far as the pancreatitis goes, Nate's lipase and amylase levels in his blood have continued to come down--these are the indicators of pancreas problems, so this is good news. Normal lipase is below 60 and when Nate was admitted his was well over 5,000.
His pancreas still has to be healed before he can come home though, so we need to pray that those numbers continue to drop (last word was that the lipase was below 1,000). The doctors don't expect him to be coming home for at least another two or three days.
BEST MEDICAL JARGON SO FAR:
CHASING STONES
As in: We are not in the habit of "chasing stones" when we've got you open.
Translation: We only remove the gall stones we can see during surgery, if it's in your bile ducts you're on your own or we'll call the gastro guy to go down your throat.
SLEEPING BOWELS
As in: The pancreatitis and the surgery have put your bowels to sleep.
Translation: Your intestines are paralyzed with fear at the thought of you using them again, and if they can't get over it we'll call the gastro guy to go down your nose or throat ...
GASTRO GUY
As in: The Gastro Guy.
Translation: The doctor who does all the things you can't imagine having done, so hopefully Nate won't have to meet him.
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3 comments:
Thank you for the updates! LOVE the jargon translations. Good, good stuff. "Gastro guy" sounds like a good halloween character. I'll see if Johnny's interested...probably will be. I may go as a gall stone & scare the pants off Gate.
seriously loved the medical jargon. Gastro guy sounds like a plumber, or a superhero. Hope natey enjoys his stay & can breath deeply so as not to get pneumonia.
Hi Tam:
You don't know us - we're from Nate's CCC days in El Cajon. Just to let you know that we've been praying for you guys since we heard of your cancer battle, and just found out about Nate. Oh my. Please be assured that your names are falling on the ears of the Father often...
Mike Atkinson
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