Another nice day at UMN

Yesterday started slowly - we were waiting to hear back from the doctor to see if I could get my drain tube removed. Also, I found a small leak in my j-tube (see my previous post), and it's really sore and looked like it might be infected. You'd think that would be enough for one day, but no. Then I started wheezing again and you could hear my lung crackle. Really? Yes, really. The upside is that the doctor now has time to see me. So we trucked on down to the hospital for a chest xray and then to see the doctor. Dr. Dunn was in surgery, so I saw her backup. It was kind of funny when I got my xray. Bill the xray guy and I have gotten to be quite good friends. The xray shows up on a screen in the same room, so you can instantly see the image. Bill says, "Is it your left lung that they're looking at?" Yes, sadly. I pointed to the fluid at the bottom of my lung and said, "That's the bad gunk in my lung, right?" He says, "Yes. I mean, it needs to be read by a radiologist." Yeah, that's what I thought.

So, the Dr came in and told me that we need to leave the drain tube in just a little bit longer. When they cultured it, it still came back that there was lipase in it. This is not a good thing - lipase is one of the pancreatic enzymes that digests your food. If it goes anywhere else in your body though, it will just digest that. And I'd really prefer to not digest those organs that I have left! So he wants me to come back on Tuesday and I can probably get it out then. For the j-tube, he said that these things leak all the time and mine was so small that it wasn't worth it to change. That process is pretty intense, so I've heard. He also didn't think that anything was infected. I had some celluloids (I think that's what he said) that he burned off with silver nitrate. He said it wouldn't hurt, which it didn't until he stuck the swab down into the hole where my tube comes out. I begged him to stop and give me a little break. I had to catch my breath, it hurt so bad. But, he said that should help with the redness and it won't be as sore. Only time will tell - it's still red (and black) and sore. Then, he looked at my xrays and said that there was a bit of fluid in my lung, but it's just the remnants from the pleural effusion. It's better than the last xray, so he said I'm good to go. Yay!

Then we decided to go over to the student union to find lotto tickets to the Mega Millions lottery, which was at $640M. They had nothing, so we started walking back to the apartment. We stopped at Applebee's to get some takeout. I got some mashed potatoes and some chicken wonton things to try to eat at home. Then we found a liquor store that sold lottery tickets (not the first time a liquor store has come to my aid!)
Then we went home and I was going to try eating. But I have absolutely no appetite at all, plus I'm nauseous all the time, so they are waiting patiently in the fridge. I'm just not sure what to do here - I know I have to eat before they can take out my j-tube, but food is so unappetizing right now. I try to force something in there, but I get so nauseous. I don't know - maybe they could lower the rate of my tube feeds or something. Hopefully someone can think of something!

Other than that, I'm doing great. Getting better every day. I know I still have a long way to go, but I'm up for the challenge! Oh, and we didn't win the lotto. At least, that's what we're telling our friends and family... :-)