Day 10 (SDH+9, PAO+4): post PAO surgery

We didn't get any sleep last night.  Most of the time I was just standing by Matt's bed watching him moan in pain, or I was praying or crying.   I know that my lack of sleep is making me more emotional.  I've been here with him at the hospital for ten days now.   I've never seen Matt in this much pain.  On occasion he would cry out, "Help me Jesus!"   The pressure in his abdomen was so intense he couldn't imagine how it could get any worse.  We were very concerned for his health and feeling frustrated with a lack of information from the nurses.  We couldn't go forward with any plan until we heard the results of the x-rays.  But the nurse who would fill us in wouldn't be coming to see us until the morning.  We felt helpless.

At 5am the nurse finally came and said that Matt has an ileus, basically his guts are asleep from the shock of surgery and all the pain medications.  He's mostly full of extra air, not necessarily constipated.  The game plan now is to get him moving as much as possible to get things moving around in his abdomen.  That gave us a little hope and I think it was motivating to Matt because I awoke to him doing pull-ups on the trapeze bar in his bed.

The nurse also prescribed some valium which helps relieve spasms and causes drowsiness so the pain isn't as difficult to manage.  After that I think he got a little sleep.  I slept from 6-8am this morning and awoke to the nurses saying it was time for Matt to get some more x-rays of his chest and abdomen.  This time Matt used a walker to get into a stretcher bed that they used to roll him down the hall.  He did a great job with his hip and wasn't in too much pain.  I'm just glad he's able to move around a little now.

The nurses have changed his oral medications to an IV med called dilaudid.  They don't want him putting anything else into his stomach until the pressure has been relieved and he's been emptied.  So no food or drink for him today.  He's still on an IV with fluids, however.

Thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement.  It's a huge blessing when we hear from you via email or blog comments.  I do read them all to Matt too.  It's wonderful to know that we're not going through this alone.  And most of all we are made keenly aware of our dependence upon God's mercy.  Yesterday when Matt was moaning in pain he said, "God is so merciful to us all the time."  That is true.  He is our sustainer in every way.