Hospital Stay

I sit here on day nine of this hospital stay. It is 6 weeks to 2 days since the first surgery. Bryan has been in the hospital 19 days of the time. 3 surgeries if you count the port placement. And I hope this will be the end for a while.

The good news is that we do get to go home today.

A week ago Friday, Bryan woke up early that morning experiencing some pain. It lasted an hour or so and then kind of went away. He thought it was strange, but he still went to work. His day was busy, as he had a big day scheduled for the next day. Saturday was the registration of the Utah Junior Golf summer season. Bryan had worked hard to get the decorating of all the Junior Golf wardrobe. Shirt, hats, golf bags, rain gear, and all of this for the kids and parents to see. He had even secured the Puma line of clothing for this big event. Needless to say, he was very disappointed that he was having another bump in our journey. (Thanks to James and a co-worker, the event was very successful)

About 4:00 Friday afternoon the pain started back up. It increased in strength and he knew something was wrong. He called me and I was in a meeting. He texted and asked me to come as soon as possible.

When I got to his office, he had been on the phone with Dr. Cook and his face showed intense pain. We pulled everything together and loaded the car with all the merchandise he was taking to show.

By the time he drove himself home (I know, but try to tell him he couldn't drive) he was feeling like he was going to throw up. He went home and tried to sleep it off. But no luck. Dr. Cook told him if he started to throw up or if a fever started to call him. You guessed if, it was only a matter of time before that they both started.

So about 9 p.m. we headed to the emergency room. Hours later and a few tests showed
he had a bowel obstruction. The bowel had found itself a new home. The best way to say it is the the rectum moved out (was removed) and the bowel moved in. The only problem was the space wasn't big enough for the bowel. The bowel was stuck.

The usual procedure is to see if the bowel would move itself out. But no such luck. So on Tuesday, we had waited long enough and surgery was the next option. Thanks to Dr. Cook, he was able to manipulate the bowel with a scope and get it to move itself out. He also was able to figure a way to cover the opening, so that this didn't happen again.

Then started the next waiting game. The bowel doesn't like it when it is bothered (I think it must be like a 2 year old--stubborn and not willing to have help) A normal waiting time for something like this is 48 to 72 hours before it will start working again on it's own. But Bryan, his was 96 plus hours before it decided to work. But the positive is that it did start to work on its own. Another tender mercy from God.

So here it is, Sunday morning and we are heading home this afternoon. I am so grateful.