Food, glorious food

Feeding Jamie since his surgery back in December was a bit tricky. He has only a certain variety of foods he likes to eat. Because of his initial surgery, he had some food restrictions -- no peanuts, corn, beans, seeds, gummy things, or anything that comes out looking very much like it went in. Foods like that could cause a blockage in his newly reworked digestive system.

Now that everything is hooked up again, he is off the food restrictions. We're still getting used to the fact that he can have some of his favorite foods again. Last night I picked up lots of his favorite treats -- popcorn, trail mix with peanuts and cashews, honey roasted peanuts, roasted cashews, and dried pineapple.

Today I fixed him my awesome chicken noodle soup with corn and black beans, and there is currently a crock pot full of 4-bean chili slowly cooking for tomorrow.

Hopefully, we can do more eating at home now that he can have a little more variety to his diet. YAY! I like to cook!

Home!

Jamie came home from the hospital yesterday. This was his shortest hospital stay yet (not counting having his port inserted when he was only at the hospital for a few hours). Everything seems to be working ok. He has some pain and discomfort right now, but hopefully it will continue to lessen over the next few days.

He is happy to have his bed, his tv, his wife-cooked food, and to not be bothered every two hours in the middle of the night. Most night nurses will just peep in on patients during the night hours, but we had one who insisted on turning on the lights and doing a full check every two hours overnight. We missed seeing two of Jamie's nurses who only work weekends. They were awesome night nurses.

Wednesday Update

Jamie's continuing to improve. He has eaten real food (the kind that requires chewing) today for lunch and dinner. Keep your fingers crossed - he may get to go home tomorrow!

Tuesday Evening Update 2

A few minutes after my last email Jamie's night nurse stopped by and said "I think I'll just go ahead and unhook you from the IV."

YAY! He still has the needle in his hand, but he isn't tethered to the pole any more.

*happy dance*

Tuesday Evening

Jamie saw the surgeon for all of about 10 seconds earlier today. "Belly's soft" was about all he had to say, which is good. A soft belly is what we want.

Jamie had a five-lap shuffle around the floor and sat up in a chair for most of the day. He was nauseous right after waking up but it went away. He has eaten chocolate pudding and applesauce, and was able to keep two vicotin down. He is conked out in the bed right now.

Things seem to be going ok.

Tuesday Morning

Not much to say this morning. We've only just actually decided to be awake for the day -- not that either of us really slept much all night. Jamie spent some time last night with his new book (Thanks Betsy!) and his new iPod, which is good because last time he didn't want to do much of anything but lay in bed and stare at the tv.

Hopefully today will continue to improve.

Monday Afternoon Update

Jamie's doing pretty well. He spent an extra hour in recovery because of pain. His surgical site is his main pain complaint this time. When he got up to the room, he was really nauseous, which seems to be pretty normal for him after surgery. After some Zofran in his IV and a shot of Phenergan in his hip, his nausea has subsided for the time being. We walked around the hospital floor twice.

We've seen lots of familiar faces and lots of people have recognized Jamie from his previous visit. We even learned that two of his favorite nurses (Chuck and Jen, they're Canadian) from his July stay are married to each other! How cool!

Jamie was on a liquid diet as soon as he got back from surgery. At least he doesn't have to wait on a sip of water. He'll probably be on the liquid diet for a little while. Right now he has a dinner tray of jello, broth, tea, and juice. If he's able to keep down something, then he'll be able to have some Vicotin.