Jim called me at 7 this morning. I don't know how well he slept through the night... I'm thinking probably not real well. He has a lot of pain on right side of chest, so the pain medication he receives through an IV was increased this morning.
Dr. Parekh, the surgeon, has scheduled a colonoscopy for him 8 to 10 weeks out -- it will be July 21. I'm just positive Jim will thoroughly enjoy taking that delightfully tasting prep drink again (NOT)!!
It's going on 1 p.m. I arrived at 10 a.m. He has had pain in the mid-chest area. His day nurse, Ashley, said it could be the chest tube poking whenever he moved a lot. Eventually he was given more medicine more frequently through the IV button - like every 6 minutes. He had a visit from the pharmacy guy regarding his meds and how many are or are not available in liquid form. He cannot take flomax so are looking into something different - possibly a tablet that can be crushed and dissolved into the feeding tube. The flomax helps with bathroom duties, so the catheter will probably stay in until things can be better managed.
Two goals were set today. One - Tube feeding begins on Friday. Two - to go home by Sunday.
Today is Day 1. Yesterday, the day of surgery, was Day 0. If everything is okay, the earliest he will go home is Sunday afternoon, but it might be Monday.
Several visitors have come this morning - the Dunnahoos from Wilton Baptist, where Jim has preached occasionally; Rocky, Christina and Austin - our adopted family ... they brought flowers and a get well balloon and cards. Austin picked out a card just for Papa with a giraffe on it, because he knew Papa liked giraffes. It was so sweet. Austin didn't quite recognize Jim as his voice was rather hoarse. A longtime friend, Joel, who loves Hannibal almost as much as Jim does, came to visit too.
At 5 p.m., Jim had a chest x-ray. That revealed the nose tube was tangled up inside him, making it no longer user friendly, so the tube was removed.
Another test is scheduled in the morning that will show how things are progressing for the planned tube feeding on Friday.
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