Bill Gotz a Lotz of Strings Now

Mid-afternoon report:

The news stays improved! Bill has more tubes, wires, and convoluted strings in him, on him, through him, and around him than a drunken hammock-weaver, but he is holding his ground!

After a shaky start, the overall picture is of an improved Bill. Definitely improved!

Insert huge sigh of relief.

Details:

1. He has thrown up a lot. That's due to the ileus: his entire digestive system is in lockdown mode, including his stomach. He still isn't even allowed to sip water. But they changed his anti-nausea meds so that he can be on them constantly, not just AFTER he upchucks.

2. He was awake a lot today, and seemed to be more a part of the human race than yesterday. He's back to sleep all afternoon, though, but rest is good.

3. He had two rather impressive dramas today. Both occurred when he tried to walk. Drama (1) After getting about 300 feet, blood started dripping on the floor in the hall and then started kind of pouring out. A maintenance man started freaking out and yelling in Spanish, and Bill got scared, and we didn't know what to do, so a nurse said, just get him back to his bed as quickly as you can. By the time he got back, the whole front of his gown was saturated, blood was all over the floor, running down his legs, all over his socks.

When the nurse inspected his stomach to find out where it was coming from, she saw it was his stitches, his main incision this time. When she took the bandage off, which was soaked, blood mixed with water was literally flowing UP out of the stitches of his main abdominal incision, flowing upward! Like a fountain--not a huge fountain, but literally bubbling UP higher than the stitches, before it poured downward again. I was HORRIFIED, and he was quite upset, too.

"What IS that? Is that supposed to happen?" I said, not all that calmly. The nurse said she thought it was okay, but would page a doctor.

No one ever came.

Then he threw up some more.

But later in the day, after the flowing wasn't happening any more, he wanted to try a walk, figuring that if the flowing blood happened again, we would get a doctor to come.

Drama (2) So off we went, him leaning over his walker, me dragging this pole with 800,000 tubes and bags hanging on it.

About 50 feet into the stroll, KABOOM! Here comes the blood again, pouring on his gown, rolling down his legs, creating a lovely river walk right in the middle of the hall.

We went right back to his bed. And THIS TIME, it worked. After they got all THAT cleaned up, a doctor came.

The doctor was a great explainer and very patient. She could see the little fountain flowing out between the stitches in his belly, and she worked on him a while. Turns out that it's not dangerous, but they will watch it. He has necrotized fat and a non-dangerous clot under his incision. If it gets worse, they have to remove his stitches and re-enter his abdomen and insert a sponge and drain. We certainly hope it doesn't get to that point.

But she said he is in such a state from so long without nutrition, that healing can't happen at the normal rate. So where normally, stitches would close him up, he is remaining open, so that the contents of his abdomen are passing through his stomach wall.

Oh, my disappearing appetite.

So he has a GIANT bandage on that now, and has no plans to try another walk. Walking makes it really pour out, which is good for relieving pressure, I suppose, but bad for his aesthetic experience, and for the maintenance man's blood pressure.

4. Apart from that, ileus is really now his only problem, but it has such side effects. He has so many bags running down tubes into his arm and sides that I can't even count them all.

But even with all that, he really seems to have stabilized, and seems more refreshed, with his new milky looking intravenous food.

I'll write the next time I hear something. Tomorrow, I think we get the pathology report. That's when we find out if he had any microscopic cancer cells that spread outside his bladder.

But for now, he's sleeping, and it's a better day!

Love and thank you.