Mixed Messages

Question of the day: is Dan's GI system awake, asleep or obstructed?

Since Dan passed a little bit of gas yesterday, he was allowed to have sip on some clear liquid last night. Things went down fine, but around 3 or 4 in the morning, he got a bloody nose. He proceeded to swallow some blood which made him throw up quite a bit. The nurse got nervous as it was mostly bile (too much bile in vomit means the GI system is not absorbing and passing the bile through quickly enough), called the on-call resident who put Dan back on NPO.

This morning, when Dan's team rounded, he explained about the bloody nose and that he wasn't nauseous at all otherwise. The docs agreed Dan could be back on a clear diet today, especially since his bowels were making lots of noise and letting free lots of gas. About the time the tray of clears came, Dan got another bloody nose (heparin and toradol and a dry nose is making this happen a lot). Dan also received a rather large dose of dilaudid. Between swallowing blood and his head swimming from too much med too fast, he threw up again. Great. His day nurse also felt that his vomit had too much bile in it, so she asked Dan not to eat any more until the team makes a decision. Dan insists that he is not nauseous anymore and wasn't until he received the pain med and really doesn't think the episode had anything to do with eating.

Dan's body is once again sending mixed messages. Good messages: passing lots of gas, active bowel sounds earlier, no nausea when eating. Bad messages: vomiting bile, quiet bowel sounds now, no BMs. Though we know the vomiting could be from multiple things (food, drugs, bloody nose, gag reflex), it is often assumed that food is the problem. Unfortunately, the longer it takes to find out if Dan can handle solid food, the longer he has to be here. As his stay will hit the 4-week mark on Sunday, he'd really appreciate no more hang-ups. Of course, we also want the docs to make the appropriate decisions.

Thanks to the dilaudid, Dan is sleeping like a baby. This is a nice thing as no one let us sleep last night. We have a lot of walking to do today to catch up on our slowness this morning. Hopefully, Dan will also have eating to do....without throwing up.

Prayer Requests:
* No more throwing up and no need for another NG tube
* Dan's ability to eat and tolerate the clears well today
* Wisdom for the doctors making the decisions (hopefully, quickly)
* Control and improvement of pain
* Continued healing of incision and wound
* No complications or infections (he had a fever again last night)
* Ability for Dan to come home with me very soon
* A period of peace, health and rest for both of us...very very soon
* Encouraging news and events today