Update on Dad

Since my last post on my dad a few things have changed. Lets see, tomorrow he is coming home. Good news...however, he does have a long road ahead of him. Since last Tuesday (his initial surgery for the abscess) he was put on IV antibiotics. He had a tube going in his nose to his stomach, I think it is called a nasogastric suction. http://www.enotes.com/medicine-encyclopedia/nasogastric-suction. That was removed on Sat. morning. He has been eating very well. Since he didnt get any food at all until the 3rd. day and even then it was only liquid for a day or so. YUCK! He has gotten a PICC line put in his arm on Sat. also. That is for his antibiotics and for nutrients. My mom said he has large bags of different colored mushy stuff that goes into his PICC to give him everything he needs to build his strength back up and help him gain weight. He is currently about 145lbs and is 6 feet tall. Skinny! His kidney failed at some point. We do not know if it was before he went to the hospital, during the surgery or after. But today he had some procedure done by the urologist to get his kidney back up and running properly. From my understanding it worked. The Urologist said he did very well in the surgery and everything looks great. My dad is still in pain from his abdominal incision. They didnt sew it back up. They just pack it shut w/ gauze since they are going to go back in to take the mass out of his colon in a few weeks. He has been walking a lot. He gets around well. And his Dr said he is doing great. My parents are going to have a visiting nurse go out to the house once a day, for a few weeks, to change his dressing on his abdomen and to give him the antibiotics via the PICC. I dont think they are sure about the food bags yet. They may not send them home w/ him. My mom will learn how to do all this, but changing the dressing is very iffy for her. I dont think I'd be able to do that either!! ha!

Overall my dad is doing well. We are all worried what the future holds for him. I mean, a mass in the colon never sounds good. The Dr. never mentioned how big it is or anything. When he has that surgery he will remove the mass along w/ part of the colon a few inches above and below. And then sew the good parts of the colon together. This article will describe it best.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002941.htm

We do not know wether he will need any further medical treatment after that or not. We pray he doesnt. He will need to go get frequent colonoscopy's after all this. Fun times! But hey, would you rather have one of them done OR have a mass growing up in your ass? As of now his spirits are good. Better than they were a week ago. I am sure he is dying to get home to take a shower...a real shower. And sleep in his own bed! Please keep him in your prayers. It was stupid of him to put off seeing any Dr. all these years and because of that he is in this position. But that isnt what is happening NOW. I am sure he is learning his lesson and he feels like a jerk for not listening to everyone. And oh how I wish this didnt happen. But we all live and learn. I could kick him, throw rocks at him, yell at him, but that doesnt take away that, right now, he is dealing with. As some dude once said, "We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future."