| May 17, 2003 Jake is having surgery this month. It involves his urinary system. It's called the 'Mitrofanoff procedure'. The doc connects a segment of cecum colon to the bladder to directly divert urine flow through an opening in the skin. In other words, he can ditch the Foley and (hopefully) self-cath - through his belly-button. This is a long surgery, we are told between 6-8 hours. |
| The reason I say he can 'hopefully' self-cath is because of the very limited use of his hands. He has wrist on the left but that's about all. With the Foley gone, he may not have so many UTI's and that would be a blessing. UTI's lead to dysreflexia. |
| Jake loves living in Minnesota - the Twin Cities are very friendly to the handicapped. He is contemplating moving to an assisted living apartment and attending college there. |
| For most of the past two months Jake has been on limited bed rest due to a skin ulcer. That seems to have healed up for the most part. |
Friday, May 23, 2003 Jake had his surgery on Tuesday, May 20th. It was 5-1/2 hours long - he's doing ok. He is not experiencing much pain - that is mainly because of his injury level. For example he has gallstones but can't feel them. (he just gets dysreflexic but no pain). He can feel stomach upset/reflux. He can feel skin pain/sensation. Weird huh? |
| On Monday, before the surgery, he threw up a lot due to the junk they gave him as prep. He totally dreads vomiting - he doesn't have the same muscles we have to expel. |
| They took 15" of Jake's colon and formed a 'bladder' with a stoma (hole) by his belly button. The Foley is still in for a while to make sure everything is working ok. Today he is still NPO (nothing by mouth). They attempted to give him sips of water but he became very nauseated. It is crucial that he go slow with drink and food due to nature of the surgery. The doc warned us of this right after the surgery. He is being nourished via IV. |
| He still has the skin ulcer on his buttock. It is very small - about the size of a dime - but very worrisome. It also is hampering his recovery because he cannot be turned onto his left side. Lying flat on his back causes rubbing too. |
| Jake must have MRSA isolation precautions while in the hospital. Since I am not the best at trying to explain things, I am giving you a link to a very good explanation: MRSA |
| The above picture was taken this past week right before his surgery. Unfortunately his lenses turn dark in the sun. I need to tweak but can't at this time. In the near future I will post pics of Jake and some of his friends at the Courage Center. |
| I forgot to mention what happened when we got to the Courage Center on Saturday. Jake complimented me on my choice of hair color (I didn't have any in my hair) but didn't say anything about Terri's hair. She had 8" cut off about a week before. When we finally brought it to his attention all he could do was stare at Terri with his mouth agape. :) |
Saturday, May 24, 2003 Jake called late yesterday afternoon. He was very excited. He was able to swallow some water and it stayed down. Now he's hungry! He started talking about McDonald's french fries! |
Sunday, May 25, 2003 Yesterday the doc allowed Jake to try a small salad and unfortunately, he became sick again. So it's back to square one. But the (continued) good news is that he still has no major pain from this drastic abdominal surgery. |
| btw, he is mourning the loss of his belly button. :) |
Monday, May 26, 2003 Jake was able to keep mashed potatoes down yesterday. He later discovered that any food he doesn't throw up seems to leave his body only a few hours later. The doc says that those symptoms should be better in one month or so. Now this would be very inconvenient to the average person but is a serious situation to a quad, who has no control over his bowels. This is partly from the meds, partly from the surgery. |
| Last night when they brought his dinner tray the nurse lifted the top off the plate only to discover that the plate had nothing on it! They rectified the error by sending for another tray. I couldn't help but chuckle when Jake told us that. |
Wednesday, May 28, 2003 Jake was scheduled to be discharged from Abbott Hospital this a.m. and return to the Courage Center. We don't know if that in fact happened but will assume he's discharged. They took the drain tube out yesterday. |
| He was up in his chair for 5 hours yesterday. He's tolerating solid food now, with just occasional nausea. |
| I don't know if the Foley is out, or if the stoma is working properly. I assume all is well or they would not have discharged him. |
| He was able to get a copy of his operation report. (which is rather exciting if you are a medical coder and have never coded anything like that before :)) |
Friday, May 30, 2003 Jake emailed me today: " im doing great...i get the belly button tube, which is capped off, out in 10 days and the cathater out a week after that :)....thats all for now i'll ttyl love you jake" |
Thursday, June 19th Jake phoned Terri today. He is catheter-free. No catheters/tubes in his body. First time since the accident. They pulled the Foley. Now he must cath himself, via his 'belly-button' to remove the urine from his body. He asked Terri to buy him a watch and/or an timer so he can set it for every 4 hours. He is very excited. Here's hoping no more UTI's! |
| He is optimistic that he will be moving to an assisted-living apartment at the end of this month. Both Terri and I are a little apprehensive about this but he assures us that he will be fine. He will be responsible for everything in his life - his meals, his laundry, his meds, etc. |
| He is in the process of applying to University of Minnesota - with hopes of attending either spring or fall of 2004. Now that the surgery is behind him he can start planning for a future. |
| Thank you for your prayers. |