Meghan is 14

Meghan turned 14 today.  I am not sure why she thinks she is allowed to have a birthday and get older but she did anyway.  I am sure grateful for this sweet girl.  She is a big help to me!  I guess as the oldest child that is pretty much your lot in life, but she does it well and I couldn't hardly manage these days without her!! 

Happy Birthday sweetpea!!

 He's home!!  Yay!!!!!!  He felt so much better after they fixed him up a second time that he got to come home within a couple of days.  He has a crazy scar (mine is still bigger!!) and a "poop bag" as the kids call it, but he is home and that is all that matters.

His lovely ileostomy bag...or poop bag.  And yes, that is poop in it right now.  Ha ha sorry!

Why I hate hospitals (part 2)

You know those phone calls that you never want to get?  The ones where someone has been in an accident, or your kid is suspended from school, or your grandma died? 

Well I have a new one to add to that.  You never want to get a phone call from the hospital at 2:00 in the morning to tell you that your husband is being rushed into emergency surgery.  That is never a good phone call. 

That is what happened to me.  My folks showed up and said they could stay and help me for a couple of days.  I was thrilled!  That same night (actually early morning) the phone rang and the nurse said that they had taken Mike to get an x-ray done because his temperature had spiked and they discovered a tear in the internal incision on the colon resection.  Waste was emptying into his abdomen and he was becoming septic.  They had to rush him into surgery and if I could get there fast I would be able to see Mike before they wheeled him away.  I dressed like a mad woman, woke my mom to tell her, and drove like a bat out of hell to get to the hospital.  I got there just as they were wheeling him down the hall, but at least I got to give him a big kiss.  Then I got to go sit in this very quiet and dark waiting room while he had surgery...again.

The doctor told me that all went well and that they had to give him an ileostomy bag to remove his waste to help the incision heal more and not have this happen again. 

Hiccup

 That's what the surgeon called it.  A hiccup.  As you would assume, a hiccup is when something in the recovery does not go according to plan.  In this case it is that Mike has not been able to eliminate waste or gas and therefore it has built up in his belly.  He is all bloated like the our cows would get on the farm when they snuck into the hayfield and ate too much of the yummy fresh hay.  Yep, my husband is a bloated bovine.    Anyway, they had to put an NG tube down his nose into his throat ( I think that's how it works) to suck out the stuff from his belly and relieve some of the pressure and hopefully then he can pass it.  He is not thrilled about this at all.  It makes him pretty immobile.  Hopefully it works speedy quick.