A Midwife’s Muse

We visited last night and the change was remarkable, for the first time in weeks he looked healthy. Yes, he was sitting in a bed with lines in, and out, IV fluids and morphine going in and catheter and drain coming out, flowtrons on his legs and gripping the magic control for his PCA (patient controlled analgesia) for all he was worth but he was no longer gaunt. He was being allowed to have fluids and soft foods, jelly and ice-cream, so was altogether much more positive.  He showed us his wound site and stoma, I think to gauge our reactions more than anything, so I was careful to just be inquisitive and discuss practicalities. The surgeon had been round earlier to discuss the operation and, although very positive about how it all went, then cautioned son that he cannot be certain that the ulcerative colitis diagnosis was correct as they discovered something that is seen in patients with Crohn’s, something to do with the sigmoid or transverse colon. They won’t know for 3 weeks, his colon has been sent to a specialist lab for investigation, but if it is Crohn’s then they will not/cannot (not sure) reconnect the bowel, so his ileostomy will be permanent and he will still have an inflammatory disease. Son seemed to be surprisingly relaxed about this news, I suspect that the morphine may be playing a part in his demeanor! DIL was there, looking tired and uncomfortable, but no wonder really as baby has now ‘dropped’, only 2/5ths of it’s head being palpable on Monday, and it appears to be having a bit of a growth spurt.

This morning, less than 48 hours post-op, son phoned to update me on how last night was. His pain was quite well controlled, until 4.30am when it started to increase dramatically. He did a few investigations of his own, moving his legs, scratching his stomach and felt that the epidural had stopped working. When he called the nurses they explained that couldn’t happen and told him that he didn’t understand how it worked. Bad move as son does know and was now in even more pain! Eventually, after arguing with him, they decided to change his position to see if that would help, and discovered that the epidural catheter had come out. After a discussion with the Docs his morphine dose was increased and he is now quite comfortable. Today, as he now has the feeling in the legs, they are going to get him up and, if he can cope, they will remove the urinary catheter, he is becoming decluttered, I have cautioned him about being too ambitious but it is all really good news.