Day 9 (SDH+8, PAO+3): post PAO surgery

Please pray for Matt.  I'm really concerned for him.  I think today was the most eventful day so far.  Matt has a lot of discomfort in his abdomen and lots of pain in his hip when he moves.  Today's events were primarily attempting to deal with these two problems.

He's continuing a routine schedule of taking two primary pain medications oxycodone (every 3 hours) and oxycontin (every 12 hours).  He's also given vistaril (every 4 hours) to help amplify the effects of the pain meds.   To keep on top of this schedule we're using our iPhone to set alarms so we or the nurses don't forget, especially when we're trying to get a precious few moments of sleep during the night.  Our iPhone has been a wonderful thing to have here on a long hospital stay.  I've used it to take pictures, check email, make phone calls, look up information, etc.  These medications make Matt very groggy and sleepy.


The nurse gave Matt an enema today.  We hoped it would loosen his bowels to bring some relief from his huge bloated belly.  He must have sat on the commode for an hour but there wasn't much to show from it.  All that sitting cut off the circulation a bit to his legs and as a result caused red blotches all over his legs.

Matt's diet today has been mainly clear liquids.  He's afraid to put anything else into his stomach and add to the discomfort.  He's also been a little nauseous and is afraid he'll chuck it all up.  

Dr Mayo is going out of town so he asked a general surgeon to come look at Matt's abdomen.  Dr Lynch ordered chest and abdomen x-rays.  Matt is in so much pain from his hip that we talked the technician into letting him come get his x-rays on his bed instead of having to get in and out of a wheel chair.  I helped a man wheel Matt down and around the hall in his bed.  Again we heard someone rave about Dr Mayo.  The technician who took the x-rays said that Dr Mayo is a phenomenal surgeon and does precision work.  We're waiting for the results of the x-rays.

Matt had his catheter removed this morning, but hadn't urinated all day.  I guess it's quite common to be unable to pee afterward.  The nurse decided to do a bladder scan to determine if Matt was full of urine.  He was indeed.  They inserted a straight catheter to empty his bladder.  They measured about 975 ml of urine.  That helped to relieve him a little.

Matt has developed a new rash on his stomach.  When Dr Mayo came to visit us this morning he said it looks like some sort of chemical reaction.  Thankfully neither the rash on his stomach nor the rash on his back is bothering him.

The nurse removed Matt's hemo vac (tubes inserted near his surgery incision to expel extra blood) today.  It's nice to have less tubes and contraptions to deal with now.

Today the physical therapist came to see Matt while I was down the hall for a little break from the hospital room.  They got him into a wheel chair and he came down the hall to surprise me.  The excitement didn't last long though because of intense pain in his hip.  Matt said it felt like his hip was made up of little sticks that were breaking.

The nurses often ask Matt to rate his pain on a scale of 1-10.  I think he's rating his pain too low.  He said a ten on his scale would be for someone to rip his femur out of its socket and beat him with it.  I think the lady next door has a different scale.  I overheard her say that her pain was at a five or six, as she explained to the nurse with a cheery and enthusiastic voice.

At 9pm we were notified that Matt was to be taken to get an ultrasound.  Evidently this is routine for Dr Mayo's patients.  He wants to make sure there are no blood clots in Matt's legs. 

When we arrived back from the ultrasound, the nurse gave Matt some Miralax, a laxative formula.  We're hoping it will get his bowels moving to bring him some relief.   It's already 11pm and nothing has happened yet.  I think it's going to be a really long night.