Friday, July 12, 2013 > Follow-up Appointment with Dr. Blaes (Oncologist)
We hadn't seen Dr. Blaes, mom's oncologist, since shortly after the Whipple surgery, when she visited my mom in the hospital. She was unaware of the complications mom had so going to see her meant filling her in on all the excitement of the past few weeks.
We spent the first 20 minutes or so with a resident working with Dr. Blaes. She was very nice although had a bit of an accent which made for an interesting visit. Mom hadn't had much of a chance to perk up since the bowel surgery. She was feeling sick and tired of being sick and tired and there were quite a few tears shed as we explained all that had happened and mom's lack of interest in daily activities to the resident. The resident nodded and explained that what mom had been through the last month was a lot for not only her body but also her mind. She asked if mom had been feeling "teary". The resident's accent combined with mom's loss of hearing (years in the making, nothing to do with recent history) had mom asking the resident incredulously, "Have I been feeling cheerie!?"! I couldn't help but chuckle a little. Needless to say the resident restated her question and we got to the correct answer. Mom was down and feeling like the light at the end of this tunnel was dimming rather than growing brighter. We needed some good news and lately hadn't had much but set backs.
Dr. Blaes came in after reviewing the resident's notes and mom's recent hospital history. She smiled and stated the obvious, "You've had quite an exciting few weeks". This brought on a smile since we had joked with Dr. Blaes before that mom's journey was far from normal and each bend in the road brought something new. We talked some more about how mom was feeling and Dr. Blaes recommended getting out of the house more, starting to eat things that sounded good and that mom remembered liking... Starting to just do the daily things which would help mom to feel "normal" again. She looked at mom's wound and talked about how she was healing. When all was said and done we were back on the Chemo Calendar, tentatively (dependent on mom's recovery), for the week of August 12th.
Compared to surgery, Chemo had seemed a walk in the park. Mom seemed a bit brighter knowing we were getting there, slowly but surely.
Saturday, July 13, 2013 > More G-tube FUN!
We were changing the bandage of mom's incision 2 times a day. Saturday morning I awoke, had some coffee and headed downstairs for bandage change #1. The wound was seeping quite a bit the bandage had previously looked a clear, slightly cloudy or pinkish color. This morning it looked green; lime green. I was immediately transported to the ER after the horrendous ambulance ride a couple weeks ago, remembering the green, chunky fluid which was coming from mom's wound. Scared and unsure of what to do, I texted a picture to Kim, ever on-call for Mom.
Kim called almost immediately and asked if it really looked as green in-person as it did in the picture which I assured her, it did. She then sent the picture to her friend, the chief surgical resident at the U of MN who in-turn sent the picture to mom's surgeon, Dr. Vickers. Kim called back and asked some questions: how was mom feeling, any nausea or vomiting, fever... None of the same symptoms which sent us to the ER the last time were present but none of us could deny the green coloration of the bandage. Off we went to the ER.
After a quick triage and getting settled into a room we were greeted by Kim's friend, the chief surgical resident. She took a look and agreed that the green coloration was not ideal but she did not seem too concerned after looking at the wound. It seems the green may not have been stemming from the incision but maybe from (drum roll please) the G-TUBE! The tube seemed loose and because of that may have allowed some drainage to seep into the wound. The tube would need to be cinched tight and sutured to the skin to prevent further slippage, but all-in-all, it would be a quick visit. A scan with contrast confirmed that this was in fact the issue and in 4 short hours we were back on our way home. Dr. Vickers, mom's surgeon, had also come to take a look and said that the wound looked good but that we should try to change the bandage 3 times per day if possible and keep an eye on the dreaded G-tube. Who's idea was this G-tube anyway?!
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