Corey's Surgery

Here are the notes that I wrote on Facebook to tell the story. I am going to post them here and fill in the blanks.

Day 1-March 1
While getting off a graveyard today, Corey called and complained of some stomach pain but was going to work. Later in the morning I got a call saying that "the bad pain" was back, like he had two years ago. While he struggled with problems for years, this is only the second time it had gotten this bad. He was having intense, stabbing pain and throwing up. He couldn't even stand upright. I convinced the stubborn boy to meet me at the ORMC ER. We were checked in and proceeded with about a six hour wait for lab results and a CT scan. White blood cells were elevated to 13.5. CT scan showed a small bowel obstruction, exactly like two years ago. We were admitted to hospitalist services and the medical floor. We were told that it would be a waiting game to see if the obstruction could pass on it's own. a surgeon was consulted for precaution. When she came to see Corey his pain was untreated and very severe throughout his abdomen. She said she wanted to take him for surgery right away to explore what could be going on cause a 24 year old should not be dealing with these symptoms so frequently, let alone at all. She was concerned that blood supply to the bowel could be interrupted and the bowel could die. Corey was wisked away. At 8:08 pm he went into the OR, at 9:10 pm the Dr came and explained what happened. She found that a large portion of his bowel was tied up in "adhesions" (like scar tissue) and it was obvious the difficulty he was having. The hard part is knowing why he has these adhesions sine he's never had abdominal surgery. This could be a problem again in the future but at least we had a solution. She straightened out the bowel and removed his appendix since she noticed it was positioned weird and would be a difficult surgery if he ever had a problem with it. Corey hit the recovery room at 9:27 pm. At 10:15 pm they took me back to see him. Seems he was "having some problems". Well after the breathing tube came out they gave him some pain med and he stopped breathing, they put the breathing tube back in and gave Narcan to reverse the pain med. He only needed the breathing tube for three minutes but NO MORE NARCOTICS!! Corey is also sensitive to sedation and was very confused. He calmed as soon as I got to him. We proceeded to watch him for an hour and they gave him some IV ibuprofen. Pain control and breathing, two big problems, but the nurses were great at working to help resolve them. A transfer to surgical and recovery begins. He has a tube in his nose to drain everything out and IV fluids to hydrate him. He can't have anything to eat or drink. They did start a very conservative PCA and its working well. His incision is about 4-5 inches long down the middle of his stomach. He will be in the hospital approx. one week.

Thank you for all your concern. Please call/ text, especially before visiting.

Day 2
Corey's night when he got out of surgery was a struggle to keep him asleep and pain control was an issue. We were up most of the night. The day however went a little smoother with him sleeping on and off. Pain control is headed in the right track. Corey got up in the morning and stood by the bedside, he then walked out into the hall in the early afternoon, then a long walk to the end of the ward in the evening. This made Corey feel slightly human again. However things got a bit bumpy again in the night. Corey slept for awhile but then awoke feeling like he was "suffocating". We tried sitting up, coughing, deep breathing, repositioning the drainage tube for better flow, whatever we could think of. He was receiving 3 liters of fluid at the time and I was really concerned it was too much. we stopped the fluid for a bit and started a new IV and got him some more medicine. He started to feel better breathing wise but the med caused a massive headache so no more of that. We started his fluids at a slower rate and tucked him back in. This is where he is currently, sound asleep. I hope that lasts through to the morning. I've always seen the roller coaster of recovery and corey's case is no different. I can tell we'll have plenty more bad days and more and more good days. Hoping to keep his spirits up in the meantime. Thanks for everyone's loves, prayers and thoughts. We sure appreciate them.

Day 3
Corey slept pretty well last night after all the drama. He got up this morning and got a bath, took a long walk and sat in the chair for a few hours. Then back to bed with a headache still. So we were only having him use the pain pump and nothing else so we learned that that was causing the headache. The doctor came by and said that we would test how much was coming out of the drainage tube, change his meds and we needed to keep him walking to move his lungs so it'd be easier to breath. So he walked 3 more times and farther or faster each time. He is responding well to the treatments. No nausea or vomiting for 6 hours now that the tube has been clamped so hopefully they will check the output soon, if it's less than 100 mL then we get to clamp it for another 6 hours and check it again. If it is still less than 100 mL then they will pull the tube out. Then if he can go 24 hours without nausea or vomiting he gets to start with clear liquids, then they will advance his diet each day. They just checked his tube and there was nothing, YAY! That means stuff in his tummy is moving a little. We had several visitors today and while he has a hard time talking and sleeps thru a lot of it he loves people stopping by. He asked me to read to him all the comments (it's hard to read with the headache) that everyone has left and he is so appreciative, we both are. We have the best friends and family ever. Thank you all so much! Well he is sleeping so I will try to get some as well.

That was all that I had written about but there was so much that went on for the whole month of March. Corey was in the hospital for a whole week and was sent home then only because I was a nurse and could continue all of his treatments at home and watch for any decline. A little TMI here but he hadn't had a bowel movement and that was a concern. We went home and get him settled. For about a week we worked on his bowels, pain control and tried to keep him entertained. One day I was sleeping after having worked a graveyard and Corey woke me up because he was really nauseated. I gave him his meds and was getting ready for his follow up appointment when he started profusely throwing up. I called the doctors office and asked if we should go to the ER or just come to our appointment. They wanted another CT so off to the ER we went. An ileus was the diagnosis. A spot where the bowel stops working. He got readmitted and given lots of medicine. I had to go to work that night but told Corey to call me if anything changed or have his nurse call me. I got a call from Corey while I was giving report in the morning. He had started throwing up again so they were going to put a tube down his nose again. I booked it from work and got there so that I could help him through the procedure. (I was really wishing he could have been at McKay-Dee so as to save on driving and could have been there quicker for him) It took three tries to get the tube in. So there we were again, no food or drink, tube in the nose, pain and an uncomfortable hospital. Needless to say, Corey was incredibly grumpy. It took six days this time to send him home. After that though he did better and just had to deal with typical recovery symptoms.

Since this surgery, he has been feeling great. He doesn't have stomach pains anymore. He is not restricted in his diet or activity anymore and besides being self conscious about the scar, he doesn't have any complaints.