Day 6

Chad has been told by the doctors that he can now eat soft foods.  He is starting his 6th day without solid food, so unfortunately he is not hungry.  We know that his digestive system works with liquids, but need to get regular food into him.  Minnesota has  been a cool change for us, but after being here for a week and with light snow today, we need Chad to step up to the plate and do some serious eating so that we can get back to Texas.  We thought some tutoring in eating would help, but showing him how well his parents can eat, hasn't seriously impressed him. 

Day 5

Good News! Chad had the NG tube removed this morning.  He was up every hour last night using the restroom, so his bowels are now fully awake.  He has started a liquid diet and is tolerating it very well.   

Day 3-4

It was not a very good Thanksgiving yesterday.  Chad became nauseated around 3:30 am Thanksgiving morning.  The anti-nausea medicines weren't working and after Chad was vomiting for 12 hours, the Dr.'s decided to put in an NG tube (a tube that went in Chad's nose, down his throat and into his stomach).  The reason Chad was vomiting was because his bowels were not ready to start working yet and were not allowing anything to pass through them.  So, anything that could not go down came up. The Dr. said that this happens in about 20% of patients. The tube gave him some relief through the night last night, but he was uncomfortable with the tube down his throat and still vomiting, although not as frequently.  A little before noon today, Chad finally had the urge to use the restroom, a good sign that his bowels were waking up. The Dr. has said that this little setback will put Chad behind 1-2 days in his hospital stay. Hopefully Chad will begin a liquid diet soon.

Surgery Day 2

Wednesday morning Chad is on a full liquid diet.  He is getting various tubes removed today and hopes to be more mobile by this afternoon.  This surgery was a breeze compared to the first according to Chad. We  just saw Dr. Cima  and he says Chad is doing great. So far so good.

Surgery Day

Chad finally went into surgery at 1:15 pm. and his estimated time to get to recovery is 1-2 hours.  We should see him maybe around 4-5 pm.  He was very calm and confident going into todays surgery.  We had to wait this morning because several of Dr. Cima's surgeries scheduled before Chad's procedure  took longer that expected.
Loving Father, I entrust myself to your care this day; guide with wisdom and skill the minds and hands of Dr. Cima and the medical professionals who minister in your Name, and grant that every cause of illness be removed, I may be restored to soundness of health and learn to live in more perfect harmony with you and with those around me. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Mayo Clinic Second Surgery

We arrived yesterday at Rochester without a hitch.  Chad has an appointment this morning  at Radiology to have a Hypaque Enema  X-Ray.  This test will insure the lower portion of the small intestine is all healed up and ready for digestive function.  Chad met with Dr. Cima this afternoon to go over the X-Ray results and it appears Chad's small intestine is healed up and looks good.  For those of you reading this that are in the Oil Field, the Dr. pressured up on the casing and the production liner tested good. We do not have to squeeze the liner.  The surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 10.00 am.  So far so good.  Please keep Chad in your thoughts and payers tonight and tomorrow.

Week 10

Less than two weeks to go until the take down surgery.  Chad knows that the adjustment period after his next surgery will take time.  However he has done so well after the first surgery I think he is very optimistic on his recovery time after the final take down surgery. Chad and I were out yesterday and he seems to be more energetic and I can tell his overall health is much improved.  The next blog post will be from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Mn. November 24th.