Courtney Update - Wednesday, May 5th

Courtney slept well last night, but her IV stopped working this morning. Jennifer convinced the nurse not to put another one in until we had a chance to speak with the doctor during rounds this morning.

We discussed with the doctor the concerns we still have and what we need to do to get Courtney home. We agreed that she needs to be able to eat and drink and keep it down and that she needs to have a bowel movement. She is having some issues with pain when she urinates also. So the plan was when I left this morning to give her an enema to check for obstruction and check for urinary tract infection (UTI). We would also see how well she ate this morning before deciding on putting an IV back in.

Courtney got her hair washed for the first time since surgery. They used a shower cap that washes and conditions your hair and then you pull it off and your hair is wet and you just dry it with a towel. Jennifer was amazed by it. LOL Kelsey braided her hair and spent some time with her, then went to her church to help clean up flood damage.

Jennifer called me later in the morning to say that they had given her a new IV, tested for UTI, and tried giving her an enema. However, there were problems getting the tube past hardened stool and they would have to decide what to do about that.

She has been crying a lot today with pain in her shoulder and the doctor told Jennifer that it was a muscle spasm and they would decide what to do about that as well.

The doctor tried manually removing some of the hardened stool, but it was up too high. They decided to get an x-ray of her stomach to see if they could get a better idea of what was going on. She got an extra dose of pain medicine to help deal with her shoulder.

I went by the house after work to pick up some more clothes before going to the hospital. When I got there Courtney was in the family quiet room looking out the windows with Jenn and Robin. She had walked downstairs to get the x-ray of her stomach and then looked at the fish in the pond. When we went back to the room, she went to the bathroom and actually had a very, very small bowel movement. She ate her tomato soup and drank apple juice.

Kelsey cleaned up after her work today and then went home and showered and came back to the hospital. She ate supper with us and then went to spend the night with a friend.

Sometime after 9:00, Courtney was talking to my Mom on the phone and Jennifer was talking to her Mom and out of the blue, Courtney started throwing up. She threw up everything she had in her stomach, including the yogurt she ate for breakfast at 7:00 AM. We just hung up on our Moms to take care of the mess. :-( Courtney called my Mom back and told her good night, then I explained what happened. Jennifer said to tell her Mom she was sorry for not calling her back, but since she goes to bed early, she didn't want to wake her. Once we got Courtney cleaned up and got a new gown on, they gave her several medications for her stomach and she drank some apple juice mixed with Miralax. Hopefully we can find a combination of these meds that will soften her stool and let her pass it out. I never thought I would be asking people to pray for "poop", but I am. Well, that and to be able to not throw up what she is eating. :-)

She is sleeping now and we might try to slip in a little nap earlier than normal tonight.

Please keep in your prayers all those people in Middle Tennessee who have lost their loved ones, their homes, their personal treasures, and means of income. If you can donate your time or your money to help these people in need, please do so. Tennessee is not called the "Volunteer State" for nothing. I think it is telling that the national media is not covering this very much because we take care of our own. I have not heard much uproar about looting, or complaining about not being taken care of. As I saw in another blog post, the biggest warning we have heard is don't play with the snakes or play in the flood water. May God bless all those who are helping and comfort those who need it.

Jennifer says to let everyone know that she now has e-mail.