Home Sweet Home

Reb is enjoying being at home. He was able to pick raspberries and look at his tomatoes yesterday. He came back in and rested for a bit, and went to watch the his grandkids swimming for a few minutes. They all are so happy he is back home.

Yesterday was a great no pain day too. Reb didn't take any pain medication, and was able to eat small meals throughout the day.

He is looking great, but it is still a long recovery. He tires really easily, and needs quite a bit of rest as his body rebuilds itself. While he doesn't last long, it is wonderful to see him poke his head in and wave to the grandkids. They all miss rolling around and jumping on the trampoline with Grandpa.

Welcome Home

Well, the doctors finally let Reb come home yesterday, the 29th. He was able to sleep in his own bed, without the disruption of nurses (just the constant noise that 10 kids can create). He was able to eat lunch before he left Huntsman, and had an entire hot dog for dinner.

They removed the staples before he came home, and it was quite painful. Now he just has steri strips and a cool scar to show for all the trouble.

Reb and Marsha also decided that the strong pain medication they were giving him was causing a lot of his sleepiness and nauseau, so they tried over-the-counter medications last night, and it seemed to work fine. We are hoping that now he will get back to eating and playing pretty soon.

Tomorrow's the Day

Reb had a great day eating. He had part of an omelet for breakfast, and nibbles on a salad for lunch. Not drinking phosphorous has done wonders for his appetite. He was on his own for dinner because Jill and the kids are in town, but we trust he ate well.

The doctors have given us the all clear for bringing him home tomorrow. He will get unhooked from the IVs, and perhaps best of all, he will get his staples removed tomorrow. They have been uncomfortably itchy the last few days, so it will be a welcome removal. He will also be glad to be without the finger pricks checking his blood sugar, insulin shots when needed, and heparin shots in the belly.

A strange side effect that happened today was that Reb had pretty yellow eyes. They checked his billirubin (just like the babies!) and everything checked out, just working out the jaundice while his liver figures out how to function at half of what is was before.

It will be a few more months until we have our playmate for the grandkids back in full force. He is still in pain, and is taking pain medication. He will also be pretty tired for a while while his liver regenerates itself. Being home will be good for him, as he will get good rest, and have a Marsha nursing him back to health.

A quiet Sunday

Today was like the old adage, two steps forward, one step back. The doctors and nurses have been taking blood work and checking Reb's blood sugar since the surgery. They decided that he was low in some nutrients, and gave him a drink of phosphorous. Phosphorous helps the body release energy from fat, carbs and protein, and low levels can signal malnutrition. Although important to get through a well-balanced diet, this is terrible tasting stuff to drink straight up!
The timing couldn't have been worse for the phosphorous. Reb had just started to get an appetite, and had ordered a turkey dinner, complete with mashed potatoes and gravy. He barely got the drink down before dinner came, and it soured his stomach so much, he didn't want to eat anything. The wonderful menu they have available to patients at Huntsman Cancer Hospital is almost going to waste. Hopefully by later tonight, some of the lighter foods will start sounding good to him.
Reb did have a couple of visitors today that lifted his spirits, and it is Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.

So depending on what he can eat tonight, and again tomorrow morning, we will see about checking out of the hospital Monday. The IVs remained in his central line because he couldn't bring himself to eat anything today. I guess the positive thing today was that he actually had an appetite, although that quickly disappeared. We are hoping tomorrow will bring a renewed appetite, removal of IVs and possibly a trip home. The doctors will tell us more in the morning.

Some good, some not as good as we had hoped

Well, we got a lot of what we had hoped for today. The epidural came out, as did some IVs, and some poop. Reb was feeling quite a bit better today. It was a great day for losing tubes hooked to your body. If he can now eat well, and drink well, they can remove the other IVs tomorrow, and he will be almost back to his old self. We are hoping for a Monday release now, in order to greet Jill at home.

The surgical resident also stopped in for a bit. We asked about the biopsy results. She said the little spot on the left side that they scooped out had great margins, but on the other side the tumors were right up close to the edge. The surgical team that worked on him are supposed to come in tomorrow and talk with him more about the options now. It sounds like another round of chemo is in order. She said tumors can shoot out tiny microscopic roots, and those are really hard to catch. She wished she could tell us they got great margins, but she said it was really, really close.

We now move forward. Tomorrow Reb will get bedside church, and hopefully talk to the surgeons so we can have a little better idea what the chemo regimen will be. We are all hoping he can feel a little better tomorrow, and eat more, so he can lose the last of the tubing, and go home on Monday.

One interesting fact the nurse told us. If the intestines are touched at all during a procedure, they will be paralyzed for a while. It takes a few days for them to start working again. We hadn't ever heard that before, even during his previous surgery.

Tomorrow's goals are to get a good meal, keep doing poopies, and find out from the surgical team what the next step we take will be.

The Great Poop Watch of '08

Reb is doing great today. He has a lot of his color back, and is able to stay awake for longer periods of time. He still has his epidural, but they took off his Magnesium and Potassium infusions. He was able to walk the halls again, with one hospital gown in front, and one hospital gown in back.

We expected to see biopsy results today, but the doctors didn't see much of Reb. We are all hoping tomorrow to have more news, and the removal of the epidural.

What we are all really hoping for tomorrow is a bowel movement. Reb has been quite uncomfortable and not wanting to eat anything, as it is just sitting in his stomach. He won't be able to check out of the hospital until he poops, so the nursing staff and doctors are all on poop watch. Once he gets going, we can start making plans for him to come home and enjoy the visit from Jill and her kids.

A Pioneer Day to remember

We are spending today in the hospital, enjoying the view, and waiting for fireworks to begin.

On Tuesday, July 22nd at 6 am, Reb and Marsha arrived at Huntsman for surgery.  They took Reb back about 7:30.  After fainting during the epidural insertion, the surgery got off to a great start. Mark's brother Michael was the anesthesiologist during the procedure.  At about 3 pm, part of the surgical team came to talk to the family in the waiting room.  The surgery went well.  They took off the entire right lobe, it totaled about 50% of the liver.  While they were cutting away, they found another suspicious spot on the left side.  They scooped that out and sent it for biopsy.  He didn't need a blood transfusion, which was wonderful news.  The liver is such a vascular organ, blood transfusions are very common during this surgery.

Right after surgery, they had a hard time controlling the pain, so they kept adding on the narcotics.  After a while, they were having a hard time waking him up. They cut down the pain medications and gave him some different medication to counteract the narcotics in attempts to wake him up.  At about 4pm,  they finally brought him up to the recovery room.  He was heavily medicated and trying his best to put on a show entertaining the nurses.

They had Reb hooked up to many wires and machines.  He had IVs in each hand, and a central IV line in on his left shoulder. He has an epidural in his back, and oxygen in his nose.  Reb was so heavily sedated, his breathing alarms kept going off.  Marsha had to keep reminding him to take big deep breaths.  At about 8 pm, they decided to reduce his narcotics and readjust his monitors and that seemed to do the trick.  About 10 pm, everything was running smoothly, and Marsha could finally go home.

On Wednesday, the 23rd Reb was able to get up and walk around.  He was making laps around the 5th floor in no time.  They also started him on regular food.  His last surgery, they had him on broth only after about 24 hours, and another 24 before he could try something simple like soup.  He was eating a real meal about 24 hours after recovery.  He couldn't eat much, but it was the effort that matters.

Today, the 24th, they moved Reb to a different room.  He is no longer in the intensive care unit.  He still has a west-facing room to allow us a great view of fireworks.  His new room number is 5504.  It is a good step up in recovery.  They have removed the IVs in each arm, and are going to probably remove the epidural tomorrow.  He has had a few visitors from the ward and various friends to keep the family company as we keep our vigil.  

Jeff is in charge of taking pictures, so we are going to post pictures of the amazing view we are enjoying from here.

If you want to give Reb a call, his number is (801) 587-5504.  When he came to the hospital, they said he would be here about a week.  We aren't sure what day he will be released, but he is looking forward to resting at home in his own bed without nurses rushing in every hour.