Tuesday, March 29, 2011
A few Days later...
So much has changed...yet nothing has changed. Mom is still doing well. Her vitals have all stabilized and the infections are under control with the many different antibiotics she is on. She is determined to get up and work past the pain and weakness every day, and she is doing remarkably well with that. She is still at the same hospital in Nevada and will be there until we can find a bariatric surgeon in the Seattle area who is willing to accept her as a new patient in the serious condition she is in. The feeding tube placement scheduled for a few days ago never happened because, according to the radiologist, mom's insides are so messed up that there is not a feeding tube long enough to get past the hole in her stomach and into her duodenum. So, she is still on TPN (IV nutrition) and will stay on that until they can get a feeding tube in her, or until the hole in her stomach heals completely and she is able to go on a liquid diet by mouth. We have been warned that at best, this will take at least 2 months, and maybe much longer. We are hopeful that we may have found a surgeon willing to take her on in Seattle, so we are hoping that we'll be able to transfer mom to Seattle this week. We'll find out for sure in the next couple of days. If the new doctor feels she is on the right track to recovery, she will probably be able to go live at her home and have a home health nurse come each day to take care of medications and feedings, etc. The really unfortunate thing about having so many of us family members all show up to be with mom at the same time is that now, 3 weeks later, we all have to leave. I flew home today and am now back in Texas and Jarom, the last family member with her, will leave tomorrow morning for Idaho. Mom, we all wish we could still be there with you. We love and miss you. Keep fighting! We'll all be together in 3 months at our Yellowstone Family Reunion!
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I know Wendy's situation isn't the same as our son's but it might help with the healing time. He ruptured his bladder and had a hole in it. He had a superpubic cath in for almost four months before they felt it was healed enough. It does take time. We've followed Wendy's progress and have been so concerned for her. Our prayers will continue for her.
ReplyDeleteWendy and anyone who is advocating for her! Wendy and I have the same weird anatomy. I had a team of doctors from Virginia Mason perform an experimental surgery on me in order to capture my duodenum and place a stent in the main pancreas duct. No one else had ever done that surgery with our anatomy! Maybe they would be willing to work with you to help get food into you! Virginia Mason is a teaching college and the two doctors are world reknown. There are no better or more well known in the world. They are Dr. Richard Kozarek and William Traverso. They were able to open me up just below my ribs and reach over to the right side to capture the duodenum. They then opened it up and were able to reach the pancreas that way. Seems to me they could do the same thing to insert a port so you can get some food in you. That was the 3rd time I was opened up in the same spot and the healing only took about two weeks. No big deal! It would give them a chance to improve their skills and teach others about the surgery. Someone needs to contact them and see if they would consider that. Let me know if I can help with anything. Hang in there Wendy, you have a boat load of people praying for you!!! Love ya cuz! Cindy Johnson
ReplyDeleteKatie, we just found out about everything that has been going on and I am so sorry! How terrifying for all of you. Justin and I are heading to Las Vegas on Saturday and if Wendy is still there, we would love to go see her and spend some time with her. My boys are all so worried about their "Aunt Wendy with the boat" (They all adored her after our trip to Montana 2 years ago) and we are praying that things will be back to normal soon. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help out.
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