It's Roy again... I just talked to her doctor who had just completed her 3 1/2 hour surgery. Tory's just fine...but she's not out of the woods yet. Now it's just a waiting game to see if her digestive system will start functioning normally again. On the plus side, the tube that was sticking through her nose and down to her stomach has been rerouted. Now it just comes out of her stomach through her abdomen. Now I can actually give her a kiss without fear of accidentally kissing a hose full of draining bile. Always look at the bright side, I say.
I'll update you sometime later with more info.
A later update from Roy again...
The doctor came in tonight to talk to Tory. It sounds like the best bet for curing what ails her is to have the surgery to correct the blockage between her stomach and her intestine. Friday at noon, she goes in, for what we hope, will be the last time for surgery. It sounds like the doctor will indeed be going through the same opening as the last two operations.( I knew it should've been zippered the first time). After this operation, which WILL BE THE LAST OPERATION (pray, pray), the doctor optomistically gave here another week to ten days here at Swedish to recover. She probably could go home a little earlier, but we want to make sure that plumbing is really working this time to avoid a repeat of the trip back here.
The most interesting thing is the fact that she was told how this would effect her weight gain possibilities. She was shocked earlier this week when the doctor mentioned "The Swedish Weight Loss Plan." Tory was down to 110 pounds at the time, after just gaining two. Tory told the doctor how she had felt better about her weight because she was gaining some back. The doctor told her that the "Weight Loss Plan" would kick in when they removed the stuff they were feeding into her. She could expect to lose 10 pounds not long after this is off. This would essentially make her down to 100 pounds...I think that was her weight in the 6th grade.
Oh the irony. Where was this "weight loss plan" when she was up 50 pounds last year. To top it off, the doctor mentioned how hard it would be to actually gain weight after this procedure tomorrow. He told her that if she was striving to hit 130 pounds, she may top off at 115. It would actually be hard for her to gain pounds. (Yes, this is the dream of many of you out there). I believe her maintanence diet will now consist of "killer brownies", "Krispy Kremes" and hamburgers just to maintain her weight. Yeah, it'll be tough...for me!
I'll update you tomorrow sometime to let you know how things turn out. Tory's mom will be here while she's in surgery, so that will be nice. Keep her in your prayers.
Roy
Usually no news is good news. At least that's how it's supposed to work. I haven't personally updated anyone this week because I turned to the dark side. Yes, I signed up for an AOL account so Tory could get online and check her email and so on. I'm sure I'll regret it. Tory still gets charged $24.00 a month for an old AOL account that we've canceled several times....she can't even access it because she doesn't know what log in or password she's used. I'm pretty sure that I'll cancel this account next month...and then we can be charged $48.00 a month for AOL accounts that we'll never use.
Bac k to the news.....I wish that I had better to share. After 3-4 long days of taking the doctor's advice and just waiting this thing out...there has been no change in her condition. Last night the doctor ordered a CATSCAN to take a look inside once more to see if they can figure out what the deal was...and why Tory was suddenly was bleeding in odd spots (both inside and out). And if that wasn't enough for her, she started having mysterious spasms (sometimes painful) in her abdomen area. Fortunately, morphine has been very kind to her.
You know, when you are stuck in a hospital room for over 2 weeks off and on, there is very little to look forward to while waiting around for doctor updates on your condition. One of Tory's little bright spots is watching "American Idol" each Tuesday and Wednesday. She's addicted to the show (okay, so am I). Guess when they did the CATSCAN last night? During the "American Idol" elimination show. I don't know what upset her the most, the CATSCAN or missing "American Idol". The doctors here are cruel, I tell you. Well, at least she has a working TV now. On Monday, the cable mysteriously went out in her room and in the 6 rooms abover her. It was out for over 24 hours. I was crying with her on that one, fortunately I hooked up a DVD player to ease our pain and suffering.
This morning we received the results and recommendations of the CATSCAN. They were not the results that we had hoped for, but I guess they could have been worse. There is a tiny infection inside of her, but that apparently can be cured by a long needle in the right area. I won't be watching that.
The bleeding inside seems to be a nonissue according to the scan. It looked like it was no longer happening.
The big kahuna...the reason that we are here...again...in the first place... the part at the bottom of her stomach that is attached to her intestines that was closed....is still closed. It is showing no signs of opening up on it's own...Supposedly the many days of rest was supposed to help, and it didn't.
Tory was given these options: To wait for her original doctor to come back from whatever vacation spot he disappeared to on the day that he let Tory out of the hospital last week, so he can take a look at the problem OR To have another surgery to go back inside and fix the problem (I swear she should've had a zipper installed on her abdomen).
Neither one sounds appealing, but both make it sound like we'll be hiding Easter eggs around her bed on Sunday. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be many hiding places in there to make it very challenging. "Oh look, there's an egg in the bedpan! You found it!"
Fortunately, her mom will be arriving tomorrow sometime. I'm sure that the daily updates that she's been getting have been frustrating...not being able to be here with her daughter. They've shared a lot of tears on the phone. Having her brother Craig around has been great though. At least she has someone to be with besides boring ol' me.
If you're lucky, I'll smuggle her digital camera into her room this weekend and add some pictures for you. I bet she would love it if everyone can see the tube sticking out her nose....Then again, once she sees the pictures, I may be the one in the hospital. I'll think about that idea some more.
Thank you everyone for you emails...and for the flowers. The room smells great with all of the roses. Keep emailing her your positive vibes. At least reading them kills some time. We can't believe that there's less than two weeks left in April, and aside from one full day at home, we've been here most of the time.
Roy
Hi all,
This is a quick update on Tory.
She's been moved to room SW 700, only 6 doors down from her last stay here at Swedish.
The good news is that she's feeling much better having a whopping 3 gallons of bile drained out of her since Saturday. I'd be feeling better too. She still has occasional pains, but NOTHING like she had on Friday night/Saturday morning. She talked to her doctor this morning to figure out the next step in her recovery process. She'll be having another fun X-Ray and CAT scan today to see how here insides are looking. She's so looking forward to that. Soon she may glow in the dark due to the amounts of radiation she's been subjected to. If her stomach still appears blocked, tomorrow they'll send a balloon down to the problem area and open it up that way. The wonders of medical science are so amazing. She was told that she would not have to endure another surgery. For that, she's extremely happy.
Thank you everyone who is sending emails to her room. That really lifts her spirits. I think if you go to www.swedish.org there is a link on there to send an email directly to her room. She's at the First Hill Campus...again. She still has a tube through her nose, so feel free to mention that :)
Her brother is going to be here today to visit. She can hardly wait. She just wished that she looked more presentable. She's also (ironically) worried about how much more weight she has lost this week. When she came home from the hospital, she was at 110 pounds. She's looking a bit like Calista Flockhart. She's finding it ironic that it's uncomfortable lying around so much because her back end is so bony. Favorite quote: "Why couldn't have this happened when I was 30 pounds away from reaching my goal weight?" Those last greuling 30 pounds to lose wouldn't have been so bad.
I'll update again sometime tomorrow afternoon or so.
Roy
This is not Tory. Some of you may have noticed that Tory has mysteriously disappeared from online. Where's Tory?
Here's the story.
She was sent home Wednesday and was pretty much told that everything was fine. She just needed the slow healing process to continue on. She could eat small amounts of food, take her medication and just rest. On Wednesday night, she became very, very sick. After she threw up though, she was fine. I called the doctor that night and he recommended some over the counter medicine that would help her feel better.
On Thursday, she seemed okay.
On Friday, things changed. Her temperature fluctuated between 99 and 102+. She complained of severe cramping...and she started vomiting again...and again...and again. I called the doctor and found that he was out of town, so I got ahold of his assistant. He said to monitor and if things became worse to take her to the ER at Swedish in Seattle. By 3:00 that afternoon, that's where we headed. After waiting 90 minutes in the waiting room, she was admitted into one of the side rooms and waited some more. To make a long story about waiting short, the doctor on duty said that she had a stomach flu. Tory was given the option to stay overnight for observation, or to go home. I personally would've taken option one (considering how she felt all day) but Tory (for whatever reason) chose option two-going home.
Saturday, 5:30 a.m. "Honey, I need to go to the hospital."
Fortunately, we were able to call the doctor and bypass the ER. She was quickly admitted back to Swedish Medical Center: First Hill Campus. (She's currently in the southwest wing again: Room 716. This is a shared room, so she'll be moving to a private room on Monday. I'll update you on that room change tomorrow hopefully.) Yesterday she was given a catscan and the results were of a good news/bad news variety.
The good news: We now know why Tory was in so much pain and throwing up constantly.
The bad news: According to her Catscan, her stomach was stretched roughly the entire size of her abdomen. It was so full in fact that it had tipped over and was lying on other internal parts. That explains the cramps for sure. Stomach flu....it's not. Once anything hit her stomach, it stayed. The exit was indeed blocked. What she was throwing up was mostly bile, which explained why she was throwing up more than she had eaten.
The doctors (painfully) inserted a tube down her nose into her stomach. They've been vacuuming it's contents out for about 12 hours now. Literally they've taken out 2 1/2 gallons of stuff...and it's still coming out. She will probably be having an endoscopy (sp?) tomorrow once her stomach is completely empty. We're hoping that will take care of it...otherwise there may be another surgery in her future (she doesn't want to have that, and neither do I).
Some of Tory's family will be up this week. Her brother will be arriving tomorrow, and her mom will be here on Friday. I'm glad. This has been a tough 2 weeks mostly alone. Thank you to everyone who had sent messages of encouragement and offers of help. She may be in the hospital until Wednesday or Thursday.
Feel free to email her at the hospital. She loves those! She probably won't be at a computer though until she comes back home, so any communication will probably be one way...except whenever I can come home and update you.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
Roy
