One Step at a Time

Yesterday morning we took Pop to Lancaster General for the surgery to insert his port, and his feeding tube. There were two separate doctors, one to insert the port in his chest, and another to insert the feeding tube in his small intestine, and we felt great about both of them (in fact, the doctor who inserted the port on Pop is the same doctor who did the colon-resection on Mom and inserted her port when she had cancer). The prep stages went normal (where you basically sign your life away, and say that it's okay if they leave a few rubber gloves inside of you), and he was whisked away to surgery. The doctor who was inserting the feeding tube came out when he was finished to let us know how things went. Often they try to do these surgeries laparoscopically (which means they use a small incision to insert a camera and tools to perform the surgery), but since it wasn't going easy for Pop they decided to use the "old school" method where they make a larger incision, to see what they are working with, and work manually with their hands. In the end, this was the best decision for making sure that the feeding tube was properly installed for the long-haul. In the short-term, however, it takes additional healing for one of the most used muscle groups in the body. The port insertion went off without a hitch, and the doctor was quite pleased with how things went. So, once we talked to the second doctor we figured we be heading back to see Pop shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Due to the amount of medication that he is on right now, there is a delicate balance in the management of his pain. As to came out of sedation, his pain levels were extremely high. So began the process of figuring out how to get them under control without making him nauseous from the amount of drugs. When we finally got back to see Pop he was wiped out. He spent yesterday evening, and night, dry-heaving (which isn't helping the healing of his stomach muscles) and feeling nauseous. They are trying different pain medications, and anti-nausea medications, to see if they can get things under control this morning so that he can possibly come home. The amazing thing is that in the midst of all of this you can't take his humor away from him. As he sat dry-heaving in bed yesterday evening, there was a brief moment of peace, and he looked up with a grin on his face and said, "I don't recall this being part of the plan. I must not have read that section." Mom stayed up late reading him the Bible, and woke up by his side early this morning to continue reading. Please pray for continued wisdom for the doctors, and that Pop's pain would subside and become manageable from home. He wanted to say a huge thanks for all the prayers and thoughts. "It is these that keep me going," he whispers from bed. Thank you all!