Cincinnati day 2

Kyle is out if surgery. He looks better than I expected. We are still waiting to see if he will go to the floor or the ICU. They are working to get his pain under control. The surgeons said that his surgery went well. The cuff was removed and was such a classic appearing problem cuff that they want to use a photo of it in a paper they are writing. Not exactly a celebrity but still...
The diseased portion was only about 6 cm long and is gone now. The length has no significance in recovery time. It's just an interesting detail I wanted to know. Between both operations his whole sigmoid colon is gone and the remaining colon looked good. Dr Leavitt expects that Kyles bowel will take about 4-7 days to start moving. He can't eat or drink for this time. He is receiving 10% dextrose via his PIC line. He won't feel hungry. Once it starts he expects that it will be hypermotile for 3-6 months. Meaning 10 plus bowel movements a day. Gradually the bowel will readjust as it "realizes" that the stricture is gone and it will slow down. The ultimate goal is to have an enema once a day then be clean for the next 24 hours.

The neo-Malone is done. The catheter is in place and will remain in place for the next four weeks. It is right through his belly button. The one way "valve" is a peice of the colon wrapped around the newly made "neo appendix". It shouldn't leak... I truly hope this is true. There is a risk of developing a stricture and needing a surgery to open it up in the future. But we just have to take that as it comes. We will start using the Malone for flushes this week. No more golightly! Although the flushes (enemas throughout the Malone) will put us on the potty everyday for an hour. This part of "cured/healed" isn't very pleasant but he won't be sick all the time now. The new testament "healings" sound better. I'm putting in an order for continence next.

As I'm writing this we got clearance to go to the floor instead of the ICU. That's really good news. He has a button to push to deliver pain meds. It's called a PCA. The goal is to keep him comfortable enough to sleep most of the time over the next few days.

That's where we are at. I'm feeling fairly optimistic. Alan volunteered to stay with him overnight. I think I'll let him. I slept fair last night and for a few hours today, but I've been pretty anxious over the last several weeks anticipating this. I think I might crash tonight because of relief. Alan has been super through this. He knows I get really particular about things being tidy when I'm stressed. He even folded the laundry and put it away. It's really good to have him here!

That's what I know for now. More later.

Spring