Shane's Post-op day 6

Hi ho, everybody.  This is still Kaye subbing in for Shane.  I expect that everybody's wondering how Shane is doing so far.  Thanks for all the get well soon wishes.  

From post-op day 3 to post-op day 5, Shane grew increasingly grumpy from being attached to so many tubes and drains and suction machines and the incessant beeping and whistling sounds emitting from various sources.  Oh, yeah, and the pain that he had to endure 24 hours around the clock.  I really couldn't blame him for being irritated, but by day 5 (of visiting Mr. Grumpy-pants instead of  my loving sweet hubby), I had fantasies of kicking his urinary catheter bag across the room and watching it sproing back like a bungee cord.   (Bad, Kaye, bad, bad, Kaye).

But starting yesterday, Shane had his various tubes and drains removed - very unpleasant experiences, but Shane became happier and less stressed as each one was progressively yanked out of him.  He had his nasogastric tube (that's the tube going past his nose into his stomach for drainage) removed this morning.  He wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything until after his barium swallow test (basically, an x-ray that checks for any leakage at the new joined connections of his stomach and where his old esophagus used to be).  Shane said that whatever the radiologists gave him to swallow tasted horrible.  He told them, "Man, I haven't had anything to eat or drink for 7 days and the first thing you give me is THIS YUCKY?!!"  The radiologists said that nothing leaked, so, yay, Shane can start on a clear fluid diet, then, a full fluid diet, then, a soft diet probably before he gets discharged from the hospital. 

The chest and neck tubes surprised Shane and me.  We weren't expecting the lengths that had been buried into Shane's  body.  (ew, gross!)  Shane had to have another x-ray done of his chest after the tubes were removed to make sure that nothing was out of place.  The porter, Ian, was really friendly and nice (such a sweet young man!), despite the pierced nostrils and him telling us of his bad experience with morphine when he experimented with various drugs which was how he ended up in prison.  But he's much better now.

Speaking of morphine, Shane is still hooked up to a continuous IV morphine drip and "pain pump".  He still complains of pain, but the removal of all of the tubes and drains really diminished his suffering by ALOT.  Unfortunately, he still goes "woo hoo" due to the side effects.  I felt so sorry for Jen, the dietician, because she really looked like she was lost when she tried to talk about dietary management with Shane.  Shane was rambling nonsensically on and off topic (which reminded me of "Rose Nylund" from the Golden Girls, when she would tell profoundly strange stories about her hometown).  Shane's diet management has always been a sore point in our marriage.  We unfortunately bickered in front of Jen.  She later asked us how long we have been married (11 years!), because she only got married last year.  Hope we didn't scare her.

Anyhow, Shane still looks pretty good.  All the drains and tubes are out (with the exception of his peripheral and central IV sites).  He's doing his own sponge bathing (thank goodness).  He's able to walk laps around the unit floor and can climb up the stairs.  His incisions are clean and shows no signs of infection.  The incisions are held together with staples, so he looks like Frankenstein.  His vital signs are stable.  

Shane might be discharged by tomorrow afternoon. Who knows?  I'm hoping that he won't be, because I really want to see how his new stomach and sewn up connections tolerates ingestion of food.  I guess we'll find out tomorrow.