Sharmel's pain control has improved, she is only on a morphine PCA at the moment and only hits it sporatically. The Dr tested her G-tube on friday and found no leakage, he began pushing saline friday afternoon and moved to Vivanex (nutritional supplement) yesterday. Unfortunately everything that is being pushed in the tube is being returned on "residual" checks. Basically her bowels are in a coma and she is not absorbing anything through them. Dr was expecting this and says we just need to be patient, not to be get too concerned unless they are still in a coma after two weeks. He plans on testing the revision tomorrow with Barium to check for leaks in the pouch. If there are no leaks, he will start letting her swallow small amounts of water to see how she handles that, it is possible that her bowels will wake up this way. If nothing is passing through her as it should, tuesday he will do a CT scan with Ovnisource, which he says is like liguid drano, and will certainly go through the bowels and give a good image to see if something is twisted or kinked in her system that is preventing absorbsion. She is still pretty uncomfortable and any movement hurts, but dr is optimistic, we are realistic and maybe sometime soon the "optimistic train" will find the "reality tracks" and we will be headed to the "land of sanity".

My gosh Eric, my heart goes out to you two. Please tell Shar that we are all praying for her

Hey Eric, thanks for the update. My thoughts will be with you both & hopefully this is the magic one. (& yes, the dancing carrot & cheerleaders drive me crazy--note I never use them)

yeah - i'm not fond of the carrot.

so glad they're paying attention - REAL attention here. next year at this time - the two of you will go out dancing - with Shar in a very slinky dress!

much love- many hugs

I have been following along with Shar's journey, and I want to offer her my continued best wishes for a speedy recovery. Glad to hear that she is on the mend.

When she comes home, I think that will call for a dancing emoticon of some sort. How do you feel about the banana, or smiling sunglasses face? Just kidding.

I have never read this thread before today and feel shakey. Who would have know all this would happen? Anyone seeking weight loss surgery should read this.

I'm a lurker here but I've been following Sharmel's story.

Sharmel you are in my thoughts and prayers daily. Hopefully soon Eric will be able to tell us you're home and feeling much, much better.

Hang tight,
Judy