The poop prayers have been answered!

Caren continued to do well over night. Some bouts of nausea that would pass after the NG tube was flushed, but nothing major. I was delighted to hear that she pooped this morning! I called her as I was getting ready to head out to catch the train and apparently she got up to pee after the head surgeon visited and she pooped too. She's slamming the call bel to see if the surgeon is still on the floor and he comes strolling in to find her on the commode with a huge smile. I'd call it a shit eating grin, but given the circumstances it would seem very inappropriate.

Now the conversation has turned to keeping the BMs coming and getting the NG tube out - hallelujah! They did come in and remove the JP drain. It was a drain that was inserted deep into her abdominal cavity to drain any blood from outside the surgical site. The amount of fluid it was draining steadily decreased over the last few days, so it was time to go. The NG tube will remain until they are comfortable that the bowel is going to work consistently. Best case is, she poops all day and they yank it out tonight. More than likely, if she has a few more regular bowel movements, they'll take the NG tube and connect it to a regular collection bag (like a foley bag) tomorrow morning. If that goes well, the tube will be removed tomorrow afternoon-ish and they'll start her on some food. Once the NG tube is out and she's eating and pooping without nausea and vomiting, we can start to think about getting out of here.

I have to say, I think the decorating the room a little bit has made a huge difference. Yesterday my sister brought over some pictures of the boys and her parents brought down a framed picture of the three of them. It was an hour later that she started to pick up energy. Modern medicine is so deeply rooted in science, and logic, and cause & effect, that it completely forsakes the psychological aspect of healing. We spent a week focusing on what's causing this or that and how do we resolve it, that we nearly forgot WHY we were doing this in the first place: a healthier body to provide more hours, days, years and decades with our kids and family. For now, we fight the good fight and actually dream of the day when the boys are jumping into bed with US at 6am! Yeah it early, but if the last week has taught me anything, it's don't take the little stuff for granted.

I'll post again this afternoon with the latest on our poop-saga. If she's up to it, Caren said she might want to post something herself.