A Long Week Has Passed

And I am sorry for no updates but its been a busy week and it's still hard to keep up with all there is to do even with all the great help from our family, friends, and neighbors. Joel is doing better day by day. The first couple of days at home were real rough. He wasn't getting any sleep due to back spasms. Sometimes pain causes muscles in different parts of your body to tense up and since Joel's back is already strained from laying on his side all the time, the pain in his abdomen area just stresses the back even more. We think he's got it more under control now with the right amount of pain meds, motrin for the inflammation, and a little more activity everyday but he said tonight its bothering him again so we'll have to wait and see. I suggested we try and get a hospital bed here at the house.

The home care nurse comes every morning and changes the dressings on Joel's wound. Can't remember what I posted about it before but Joel's incision got infected in the hospital so they had to open it up and let it heal from the inside out. The nurse does the morning dressing and I have been doing the evening but they just told us today that we need to step it up and do it 3 times a day so I will have to come home straight from work and do it then do it right before bed too. The wound looks so much better tonight. He goes in about every 3 days and they debraide it. (scrape away the dead tissue) Really gives it a jump-start on healing. Oh and Joel had the sutures in his rear taken out today. Doc said they healed really fast and all looks good on that wound.

It seems like Joel has 2-3 Dr appts a week. He can only ride in his truck comfortably because of not being able to sit on his butt and its our only car now since I turned in my lease on Monday. Makes it hard to work and get Joel to his appts but my parents have offered to switch cars on those days and take Joel in his truck if needed. Not having the lease payment and insurance will make things a lot easier though so I can't complain.

Joel got out and took a couple of walks around the neighborhood the last couple of days which was nice. He can't stay out long but its nice to see him getting about. Ty has been so good through all of this and really takes care of Daddy. He is so careful at home to not hurt Daddy's boo boo and even asks Dad if he is ok on our walks. So cute.

Just wanted to say thanks to all our neighbors that are helping us in little ways. We really appreciate all the help. The dinners you have been providing are awesome and the timing is perfect and mowing our grass last weekend helped tremendously. We love living in a neighborhood and though its not under the best circumstances we are enjoying getting to know some of our neighbors better.

Wooo Hoooo Joel pooped

ok, I know it doesnt sound like a huge accomplishment but it was one of the things that was keeping him in the hospital. Quite a milestone but he finally met it and they did a CAT scan last night to make sure that there is no infection under the incision and it came back clean so throughout the day today the nurses prepared Joel to come home. Its been a long 12 days!!

We finally walked out of the hosptial room around 5, walked to the car and got home around 6. Our neighbors organized a dinner for our family for the whole month of June so we didnt have t make dinner and ate Ravioli and salad...yummy!! After dinner we celebrated Ty's birthday. I ordered a Mickey Mouse cake from The Back Home Bakery and it was awesome. Ty opened his gifts and he had to try out the bike and the big wheel to make sure they worked out. Joel was in bed early and I am going to bed now.

He's still there

Today made 10 days and he's still there. Joel is so ready to come home and we are so ready to have him home but he hasn't hit a couple of the milestones that he needs to hit to come home. One of them being a bowel movement. He is on so many pain killers its gotta be slowing stuff down because there has been no movement since the surgery 1o days ago. Sounds painful to me. Also, his belly incision is still looking infected. The part that the Dr's can see is looking good according to Dr Huang this morning but Joel said they were going to do a CT scan to make sure there is no infection lurking behind the incision. I am pretty bummed. Typically this surgery has a 7-10 day recovery and then you are on your way home so I was so sure Joel would be home for Ty's birthday (tomorrow June 5th). Ty is taking Spiderman cupcakes to school and Ty and I will have a mini celebration with Gage by having his favorite meal (tacos) and playing in the sandbox. We'll wait for Dad to come home to celebrate with family. Would be nice if its tomorrow!! Oh and Joel is up and walking the halls now, he did a few steps today and started taking showers and rinsing out his incision a couple of days ago. So other than the 2 things above, he is moving right along. Night!

Flapjack Fundraiser

Oh man, what an amazing day. Our friends organized a flapjack fundraiser at Applebee's that served close to 350 people in 2 hours. The doors opened at 8am and people were already waiting at the door. I couldn't believe it. They had also collected donations from various local businesses and friends for a silent auction. I can't even describe how awesome everything looked. I want to thank everyone who came out and also Applebee's for donating their restaurant and all the volunteers for doing such an awesome job. Not only did they pull-off such an amazing fundraiser & auction but everything was cleaned up and we were heading out the door at 10:59 as the doors were opening for lunch. I think Donald Trump would have been impressed!!! I tried to get around to all the tables but I know I missed some. I wish there had been more time but it was great to see everyone, wish it had been for reasons. My friend took a couple pics and here they are: the first one was the 3 miracle workers behind most of the planning.

There were plenty of people who helped but without Jamie, Katie, and Nicole, this fundraiser would have never happened.

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A couple auction & raffle photos

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A couple more of our friends and family

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A week has come and gone

I spent Thursday morning learning how to change and clean Joel's bag. The stoma nurse explained that there are tons of different options and that Joel will need assistance at first. I intended to return to work earlier this week but because Joel's second surgery I was held up a few days. So Friday was my first full day back at work. It was nice to be back. After work I picked up the kids and we headed to the hospital to see Dad. Joel was doing so much better. He is still in a lot of pain and he thinks he may have pinched a nerve in his back from laying funny all the time but overall he looks so much better. Since its so painful to try and sit up a little or hard to lay on his side and eat, Joel decided today that it was much easier to eat meals while standing so that's how he took lunch and dinner. Whatever works. The nurse showed me how to pack Joel's incision. It got a little infected at the beginning of the week and the Dr removed about 4 inches of staples that run down his abdomen. I have to take care of it once he's home. I won't go into details but gross!! Joel got to take his first shower today. I am sure he was pleased with that. We had a nice visit today and Joel even did a lap around the whole 8th floor and walked us to the elevator. Only a couple more days. They are keeping Joel to at least Monday so that he can do stairs and to watch the infection a little more. I can't wait till he comes home, I miss him so much and so do the kids. Ty didn't understand tonight why he couldn't come home and kept telling me"Don't leave him mommy" as I pulled out of the parking spot. I cried.

Days 5 & 6

Joel is getting better day by day but progress is still slow. He was able to get up and take a few steps down the hall on Tuesday night. Pain is still an issue. Nothing seems to work and Joel is getting real tired of being in pain. The epidural worked for a couple days but it stopped working and they switched to a morphine drip which didn't work that well. They took the catheter out and all the IV's so now Joel is on oral meds and they didn't help at first either and Joel had to get something stronger. Just doesn't make sense that someone should have to be in such pain for days before getting the right script but it then again I think the meds work as long as he doesn't move. So if he could just be a statue life would be swell. I decided Wednesday night was my last night at the hospital because Joel was over a hump and I needed to get back to work and the kids needed to be at "my home" as Ty says.

Post Op Day 3 & 4

Sorry I didn't get on to update yesterday but I got out of the hospital for a little while and spent some time with the kids and Joel got moved back to the regular floor. Yesterday the Dr's thought Joel might have fluid on his lungs but I have yet to get a confirmation on that. His incision was a little red and looking like it might have an infection but they were just going to keep an eye on it. I couldn't stay last night since he was in a double room. One of the Dr's came around later in the afternoon yesterday and told Joel he had to get up 2 times and he wanted him walking. Joel did very well. The first time was rough and he needed assistance standing but around 10pm he got up again and took 2 baby steps. Dr was there watching so the pressure was on. I stayed till almost midnight and Joel was sad when I left for home.



Day 4 had a rough start. I didn't get in bed till almost 2 am and had the alarm set for 5:30am. I hit snooze till 6 and finally got up and got into the shower then headed out the door to my moms house where Gage and Ty have been staying. I nursed Gage and headed out the door with Ty and dropped him at school on my way back to the hospital. Joel had a really rough day yesterday so I called into work today. I know it sounds weird but I get so much more rest when I sleep in the chair bed at the hospital. Joel had a really slow start this morning. He started coughing this morning and I started coughing this afternoon so it sounds like we are both getting sick. Coughing is causing Joel tremendous amounts of pain so I hope they can get him something to keep it under control. Joel got his own room again so looks like I will be staying with him tonight. I know that relaxed him a little. He has had wonderful care for the most part but last night be had a nurse that wasn't so good and he was in pain most of the night so he got no rest. I am glad I will be here tonight to help out if needed.

The Dr came in this afternoon and removed a couple staples in 2 different places along the incision line that runs up Joel's belly. The wound was a little red and seemed to be infected. She packed the open area with gauze and hopefully this will help it heal. Joel has been in pain most of the day since the staples were removed and all the coughing. He was also moved off his bed to go get a chest x-ray and also check his legs for clots. It's been a busy day and 1pm rolled around and he still hadn't gotten out of bed. I had a little chat with him and he finally got up and stayed up for over 10 minutes. No walking yet but it gave the aid a chance to change his linens and I washed him up and changed his gown. He always looks better after he gets up and I am sure he feels better with fresh bedding. I had a chat with the nurse because Joel was eating and she got him to eat 4-5 bites of lunch and 4-5 bites of dinner. It's a start. He's sleeping now so I got a couple minutes on the computer but I am going to go get some rest now.