Monday, January 27

Today I had breakfast in the cafeteria instead of in Sou's room. He hadn't eaten since Saturday night so I figured the smell of eggs and sausage would make him hungry. When I returned, I decided to do homework. Sometimes with all the hospital stuff going on, I forget that i'm still taking classes. I sat down and got situated. Then about 4 nurses and the surgeon walked in the door. It was time for a dressing change. I decided to continue with the homework because I was propped in the corner, out of the way. They decided to elevate his legs as is he was in stirrups. I saw a nurse walk over to the IV pump to increase his Fentanyl. The female surgeon took off her lab coat and put on some gloves. From where I was sitting, I saw her remove the packing. She walked over to the trash and threw it away. Then she started stuffing something into his wound. As this happened, I saw Sou frowning. He also began to pound his fists against the mattress. Obviously they didn't wait long enough for his pain meds to kick in. I remembered Sou once saying that my presence usually makes him fell better. I stood up and went beside the bed to hold his hand. He stopped pounding on the mattress and squeezed my hand hard. I saw the surgeon unwrap a "fluff roll" like the kind from work. I guess that's what they use for packing? Oww..Sou frowned even more and squeezed my hand hard as they finished up. I don't think his Fentanyl kicked in until after the dressing change. 

The next couple of hours I worked on homework and went online. A little before 11am, the group of docs walked in the room. This time they brought the pharmacist too. It was nice to see the same crowd follow him even though Sou had changed floors. The leader listened to Sou's stomach. The fellow walked over to the computer to look at Sou's labs. The third-year resident stood by the leader. The other doc, who came to see Sou the most, also looked at his labs in the computer. And just like always, the newbie stood there and did nothing. It's been 6 days since Sou pooped. They were having their discussion and decided that they could remove his breathing tube sometime today. When the tube is removed, then they'll work on his constipation. They also discussed his chemo treatment with the pharmacist. One of the liver labs in the computer was "elevated". I heard them say that the Arsenic Trioxide was more important that the All-Trans, they decided to stop the All-Trans for now. The doc said they wanted to do an ultrasound of Sou's liver and gallbladder some time soon. A few minutes they all left the room and gathered in the hallway outside the door. 

The next few hours, I continued to do homework. Occasionally I would get up to check on Sou. Sometimes he would write something on the notepad. He write stuff like, "You take me home", "When can I go home", or "Hungry". He hasn't eaten anything in about two days. A little before 5pm, they nurses came into the room and said they were going to turn off the breathing machine and see how Sou did for about half an hour. Then they were going to draw his blood to check his oxygen. If all went well, they would remove the breathing tube. Sou did really well without the machine, breathing big deep breaths. After the blood test, they decided that he was ready. I didn't feel like watching that event. Sou kept looking at me across the room while a few more people entered the room to prepare. Once there were about 4 people crowded around his bed, I slipped out of the room. It took about 5 minutes, then the nurse poked her head outside the door and told me it was over. I went back into the room and Sou had an oxygen mask on and a smile on his face. He said something and he sounded almost like a robot.  He was happy to have that tube out. Despite the fact he was hungry, they weren't able to let him eat yet. They said that some people have difficulty swallowing just after removing their tube. So Sou got ice chips to start. Once they felt like he was okay, he got dinner. He had a fruit platter with grapes, cantelope, watermelon, honey dew, and orange. At about 10pm my mom stopped by on her way home from work. She was happy to see Sou without his tube. Before she left to go home, Sou told her that he wanted to marry me as soon as he got back to Alaska. I think we'll figure that out later. Getting Sou better is priority number 1.