Gearing Up To Hit The Road!

This morning, Andi awoke around four a.m.  I can't remember if it was vitals check or what, but she awoke rather upset.  We think she's having gas pains or stomach cramps, awaiting her system to get back online from the anethesia, morphine, and TPN slowing down the waste process.  I was unable to get her back to sleep and had to leave at 5:30, to take Daddy Bean to the airport for a work trip.  I figured I'd go back to sleep at the house for awhile after I dropped him off, but, that didn't work out.  I stayed at the house until 10 a.m. because yesterday, I decided that Maddux needed a day at daycare, and to make my life a little less guilt ridden, a night of boarding and more daycare in the morning.  It is my hope that when I bring Andi home, he will be tired and happy, not full of piss & vinegar about being neglected this past week & a half.  I don't want him to associate his neglect, or rather, his reduced level of attention, with Andi - and possibly take it out on her. So, instead of taking the glorious nap I was fantasizing about since 4 a.m., I took one look around our home and didn't like the three layers of dirt & dog hair I saw.  Therefore, I got to cleaning.  It took a good two hours of hustling, and there's another week worth of surface cleaning that can be done, let alone deep cleaning, but, I didn't want to bring Andi home tomorrow to a house of filth.  I even got to mop her Neocate marks off the hardwood floors in front of the TV.  It felt good to crank up some music and just hit the dust bunnies and their babies, hard.  When Andi is asleep or tethered to her high chair this next week, I'll try to tend to a room a day. I don't know how likely that will be, but, it's a goal.  Cleaning used to be a form of therapy for me. I used to really enjoy it.  Now, it's so far down on our list of To-Do's, that it's rather embarrassing.  Gone are the days of affording a housekeeper to come in for a few hours a week.  Man, that would be nice.  But, right now, I'd rather spend $40. tending to my dog, rather than $40. for two hours of hired help. I didn't want Maddux to be left alone all night.  We found hair on the leather couch, meaning, he hopped up there the one night we both stayed here at the hospital.  He's not accustomed to it, and he shouldn't have to be lonesome pup.  So, in my mind, it's money well spent.

Andi has been hanging out in her bed, playing with her toys.  When I came in from dropping off Mad, she was staring out the door and lit up with big smiles when I walked through the door.  That was sweet.  She just received the surgery team and Kaiser team.  They are going to remove the stitches around the g-tube today.  Everyone agrees that she goes home tomorrow.  The surgeon wants her back next Friday to have a contrast study done on her stomach, to check how things are working.  If that goes well, then we are to start with 10 cc's every few hours, in addition to the TPN.  Then, after that weekend, we'll start weening off the TPN and increasing the g-tube feeds.  The hope is to remove the central line two weeks from last Friday.  The longer it stays in, the greater the risk for infection.

I don't think I've explained TPN all that well, for those that haven't had to experience it.  We have a bag filled with contents that look like margaritas and a bag of white thick liquids.  The margarita has protein & carbs, the essentials, and the white bag are lipids, or rather, fats.  Because Andi has higher calorie demands, she's getting lots of good fats.  These two bags feed into one line, controlled by a pump, and that line plugs into the central line in her shoulder.  The central line goes directly into a main artery, so she's getting fed directly into her bloodstream.  This 'rita doesn't smell as bad as I remember it.  I am thankful. 

Andi has finally fallen asleep, clinging to Froggy, her very best friend.  I should probably lay down too and try to get some rest.  It's been a rather long morning, but a good, productive one.