#30 Two down....

Pre-op

Seems like it took forever to happen, but surgery on LJ's kidney is complete.  I will admit it has been stressful waiting.  You want the surgery to go well, but you hope they didn't wait too long.  But, at least it's over.  As I write, LJ is still in the hospital.  His surgery was four days ago, on the 20th of June.  It took a little over two hours.  I got a phone call from the OR nurse during the surgery telling me everything was going well.  I was happy they did that.  Makes the waiting a little easier.  I wasn't alone, though.  Bruce and Kathryn Clark came and sat with me for support.  

I wasn't able to see him after surgery.  While in recovery, he was choking and having difficulty breathing.  He was sent to ICU for observation.  They made me go home, which I did.  LJ and I have always agreed to stay out of the way and let the staff do their thing.  Scooter had been alone for over 6 hours and needed to potty...I was just going to sit in a hard chair in the waiting room and at home I was only ten minutes away.  I didn't sleep well at all that first night and was back at the hospital early the next morning.  

He seemed fine when I got there.  He was confused as to why he was in ICU so I told him what they told me.  We did learn that during all of this, while in recovery, somehow his feeding tube got pulled out so they had to put in another one.  He was blissfully unaware of them doing it, but knew it had been done.  Probably not a bad thing since the original one had been in there four months and the little stopper on top was getting weak.  He was happy to get the catheter out they had put in for surgery.  So now it was just heal and go home.  While in ICU we were visited by a nutritionist who spelled out his tube feedings and the Urologists NP ( he was in surgery).  She told us what he needed to do to go home and explained it takes a week or two to get the pathology back on the kidney.

While I was there, LJ had a furry visitor.  Maggie the therapy dog came to see him.  She's very sweet and sees all the patients in the hospital she can.  Of course she ignored him and sat by me, hahaha.

He did well the rest of the day and was able to breath and cough without assistance so they decided to put him in a normal hospital room.  I expected it to be a semi-private room but the nurse told us they don't even have semi-private rooms except on one floor.  She said they rarely use them.  So off to a private room with a view of the rooftop ventilation we went.  We had talked to the nutritionist and he wasn't to get any food, only IV fluids, until Saturday.  He did say his throat, surprisingly, felt better than before the surgery.  We are thinking maybe the intubation removed some of the muck that was in there (from the radiation).   He was having a little difficulty peeing so I told him not to wait if he can't go...tell the nurse.  He kicked me out once he got up there so he could rest, so off I went.  In the meantime, after I left, Bruce and Kath came in and immediately texted me about his feeding.  To make a long story short, back to the hospital I went to sort it all out.  Discovered LJ (chemo brain) was confused as to how much and when he was to get fed.  So after talking it over, the nurse and I were on the same page.  And we learned LJ gets confused easily.  They had placed a new catheter right after I left the first time since he was struggling to pee.  He went back to sleep and I went back home.  Another restless night for me.  According to him he slept like a baby, mainly because he didn't have to get up and pee every hour, lol.

Saturday we saw his Urologist.  He's a great guy.  He gave us his personal cell number in case we need to talk directly to him or have any concerns.  He said the surgery went well but the kidney was covered in masses, making it a little difficult to remove.  They took the right kidney, some surrounding tissue and some lymph nodes.  He said he saw nothing to indicate the cancer had spread.  It seems confined to the kidney only.  We won't know for sure until the pathology, but he felt pretty good about it.  LJ has good remaining kidney function it seems.  He will stay in the hospital until the "numbers" are where they want them, but he is improving every time they test so that's good.  LJ's left kidney has a couple small spots on it.  Doc says they won't freeze or section those until that kidney is doing well on it's own, probably a couple months.  He said there is no concern about those spreading as kidney cancer is very slow growing.  We are not to worry.

He feels the aggressive throat cancer and the right kidney were the most concerning and now that they have been addressed, it should be all up hill from here!

Now for the OMG really? part of the story.  You know there had to be one, right?  It us, after all.  

So night one in the regular room (Friday)...He tells me he almost killed the night nurse.  This from the guy who treats his nurses very well, lol.  Apparently he started choking and gagging on the buildup in his throat.  He can't breathe.  Nurse comes in and says "oh, I'll come back"!  He says he's reaching out for her, gagging, and she walks out of the room.  Now, in her defense, he was coughing, too, so ....  But she probably could have stayed, just in case.  He gets it under control.  A few minutes later it happens again.  She comes in again.......and leaves again.  When he got it under control again, I guess she came back to do her nightly check.  He of course read her the riot act.  I'm sure he used small four letter words and she put the "AH" sign on the door to warn the others, but he was right.  Why she left while he was choking is beyond me.  Of course he tells me about it the next morning when I get there.  I'm not happy but what's done is done.  He's ok now.  The day nurses are fine....or are they.....

The rest of Saturday goes well.  He's up and walking.  Still has the catheter and IV, but he's doing fine.  BP is high, but he's been off his meds for four days.  They started him back Saturday afternoon. At his request, so he can rest, I leave.  We text later.  He's doing fine.  Another restless night for me....He slept just fine.  Fortunately no overnight choking.  All is good with the world.

I went and saw him this morning (Sunday).  They have removed the bandages.  Little incisions, so scars won't be too bad.  The NP told him the catheter stays until he sees the doc after he is discharged.  Still no increase in food or the required passing of gas, so he can't go home.  He sends me on a mission to find a lighted hand mirror. (It has to do with his throat..don't ask, lol)

I was gone about two hours, running errands, looking for the elusive just right mirror.  I get back to the hospital with the mirror and walk into his room.  He is having a "chat" with the day nurse.  Oh geesh....

So as the story goes... He is up doing his walk.  He walks by the nurses having lunch.  In his words, he lingered there..because, you know.. food..

He gets back to the room and decides to brush his teeth.  At some point the IV becomes detached (at the connection, not the vein). He is now spewing blood everywhere.  He calls for the nurse.  They answer their phone "May I help you?"  Why yes.. my IV has disconnected and I'm bleeding profusely all over the place and am pretty sure I'm going to bleed to death.  "Ok..I'll tell your nurse."  He manages to get the IV put back together to stop the bleeding.  He looks at the clock and ten minutes has gone by.  Now, if he hadn't put it back together, I don't know exactly how much blood he would have lost.  He calls again.  "How can I help you?"  Repeat... "Oh, well your nurse is at lunch.  I'll be sure to tell her when she comes back". click.  So when I get in the room, his day nurse is back from lunch and in there hearing the story.  He made it clear he did not blame her but colorfully told her how he felt about the nurse who ignored him.  He said "What does she think?   I'm not seated in her section, so I don't get service?"  Poor nurse apologized profusely.  He did make it clear it was not her fault but it would probably be a good idea to keep the other one in protective custody.  Yea, I'm sure that was good for his blood pressure.  Oh well.  He's fine now.  They fixed his IV.  He kicked me out because the whole thing made him tired... Sigh.....so here I am.  Watching baseball and updating the blog, lol.

So,  for now this is where we stand:

Throat and thyroid cancer radiated and chemo given

Kidney cancer - Bad one gone, good one on standby for treatment

We won't know how successful everything has been until next month when they re-scan him, but fingers crossed.

House is moving forward...only a month to go.  They took down the fencing so it's actually starting to look like a home and not a model. 

Scooter is a little confused as to why dad left with me and didn't come back with me.  He keeps looking for him.  He lays on the couch looking sad.  Then he sees a fly, barks, gives chase and forgets he's sad.  He does sleep on LJs pillow at night, though.  He's eating, drinking and bringing me his toy to play, so he'll be fine.

And that's the way things are in the James' world.  Keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  I appreciate all the messages.  Forgive me if I don't have a chance to respond.    I'll just leave you with a Noah picture.  Can't wait to be able to see him in person.  Wonder if he cries with an English accent, HA!   Love you all!

NOAH!!
5 months old!!