September 26, 2010

Josh got sprung from the hospital yesterday, in the late afternoon.  Dr. Sutherland said he was not the fastest to get out after auto islet, but he was pretty close to the fastest.  One young woman got out on day 7 - she holds the record.

Warning:  I'm going to post a picture at the bottom of Josh's incision.  Hopefully Dr. Sutherland will take the staples out on Wednesday before we come home.

Now I'll begin the saga of things gone crazy, which explains why I did not write on the blog last night.

We came back to the hotel where I had carefully requested to be moved to adjoining rooms, went to the rooms, and they were not adjoining.  Josh only wanted to lie down and sleep, but I insisted they move us, which they did.

Then I had to start moving all my accumulated stuff from my other room to the new room, which was quite a job.

We then looked in our large bag of prescriptions for the test strips and lancets for the glucose meter, and found that we had the wrong brand and they would not work.  I called the hospital pharmacy and they wanted me to come over to exchange them.  I didn't feel comfortable leaving Josh at that point, so I asked them to find out if security would bring them over to the Radisson.  (It is really close, just 2 blocks.)  That did work out and security delivered the new test strips and lancets.  They are SO nice in the midwest!!

Then Josh started the hiccups.  They were bad.  He had them his last night in the hospital and they eventually gave him a prescription medicine which made them stop.  He was in terrible pain every time he hiccuped.  I really didn't know what to do, but it became clear to me that I needed to do something.  Dr. Stone had given us his cell phone number and I texted him.  He texted me right back and called in the prescription which had worked in the hospital.  Now I had to go out and walk to the hospital to get it.      Oh well.  I did, but the prescription did not work this time.  I got Dr. Stone again, and he called Dr. Sutherland, and they decided if they didn't stop, I needed to take Josh to the ER.  Just then, while we were talking, the hiccups stopped.

I thought we were all set.  Josh ate a little bit, and all seemed ok.  Then the hiccups started again, with a vengeance!   Back on the phone with Dr. Stone, and we decided to go to the ER.  As Josh and I were getting ready to go, the hiccups stopped.  So we didn't go.  Dr. Stone said if we didn't go to the ER, we were to see him the next day (today, Sunday) and he would run some tests to make sure everything was OK.

When the hiccups stopped the second time Josh said he was going to sleep, which seemed like a good plan.  At about 2:30AM, I heard him hiccuping again.  I went in his room and he was fast asleep.  He hiccuped for a few hours, and slept through most of it.  I think I was awake for most of it.  They eventually stopped.

This morning we went to the hospital to have x-rays of his chest and abdomen, and blood work.  Everything was normal.  However, the nurse decided to take his vitals and found his blood pressure low, and heart rate high.  Dehydration!  They gave him two bags of IV fluids and he is now feeling really good.

When we left the hospital a little while ago, it was Josh's idea to walk back.  (The hotel would send a shuttle if we asked.)  I was pretty impressed that Josh, 10 days after this major surgery, easily walked the 2 blocks back to the hotel with me.  That's how he's going to get better!!!

There's a lot to do with the testing of the glucose, administering insulin, counting carbs, but we are getting it.  We will see the Diabetes Educator again on Wednesday so we will find out anything we are doing wrong or whatever.  Josh has been very motivated to do it correctly.  The doctors want to give the islets the best possible chance of settling in and working, so it is important to keep the blood sugar under good control.  They don't want to "stress" the islets.

So hopefully things will be smooth from here on out.  Josh is looking good and happy to be on the road to recovery.  The whole insulin thing is not bothering him.

Here's the incision, with the staples and some normal bruising at the bottom.

xxoo
Deb