A Hospital Stay--Twice

Upon arrival home on Tuesday evening, Kent went straight to bed complaining of severe abdominal pain.  He has been experiencing similar pain off and on for over a year now, but the frequency of the episodes has increased.  A month ago I took him to urgent care, and over the weekend he had another bout, although less severe than Tuesday night's.  When he was doubled over and unable to find a comfortable position, and the ibuprofen he had taken had done no good, I suggested we go to the hospital.  He said, "Give me half an hour to see if it feels better."

"You have until my mom gets here," I replied, and off we went to the ER.

After being doped up on morphine and following an ultrasound and blood work, it was determined that Kent's gall bladder had gone south and needed to be removed.  His pain had been severe enough and the images from the ultrasound looked scary enough that the ER doc decided Kent should stay overnight and the surgery would happen the following day, Wednesday.

Kent at the ER, awaiting news of his condition

Kent got a day's reprieve.  The surgeon, Dr. Brian Gill, had a very full schedule on Wednesday and would not have been able to get to Kent until the evening, so he suggested that Kent go home and even go to work if he felt up to it, and then come in today, Thursday, for the surgery.  We all agreed this was a much better plan, and so Wednesday morning Blythe and I picked Kent up from the hospital, he went to work, and this morning got up bright and early to have his gall bladder removed.  When he mentioned that he was going to be losing a part of his original equipment, I pointed out that it could be a lot worse.  He agreed.  Other parts would certainly be missed more than his gall bladder.

The anxious patient being prepped for surgery.

 

Dr. Gill and the anxious patient.

Kent was in good hands.

Kent's feet are always hot.

He initially had socks on, but he requested that he have naked feet.

Adele, the pre-op nurse.

Surgery went well this morning with only a minor hiccup.  Dr. Gill is very nice and in his own words, "the best at this procedure."  He has been a surgeon for 25 years and never had a problem with a gall bladder removal.  Kent gave him a bit of a challenge.  When Dr. Gill opened up the duct from his gall bladder, three large stones and seven or so small ones spilled out.  Stones just kept coming.  Dr. Gill tried numerous times unsuccessfully to get a small x-ray probe into his bile duct to insure no stones had passed into that portion of his body.  There were too many stones to actually get what he needed.  He was able to remove the organ and following surgery showed me and George a picture of the inside.  It was, in a word, disgusting.  Kent's gall bladder was filled with stones large and small floating in a puddle of black tar-like sludge.  Horrible.  I'm not sure how it hasn't killed him.

Dr. Gill is somewhat concerned about the possibility of there being stones in the bile duct, so he kept Kent overnight again tonight in order to monitor liver enzyme levels.  If there are stones in the bile duct, the liver enzyme levels will rise and Dr. Gill will have to go in through Kent's stomach and fish them out.  Lee and Aaron (Kent's brother and his son) came to give him a blessing, and we are exercising our faith that the blessing will take care of any need for a further procedure.  We want him home.

I had excellent help with the children today.  Brandt went to school but Aunt Mikayla picked him up, fed him lunch, played games with him (he beat her soundly at Parcheesi, and she didn't even give him a break because he is only five), and then ran a couple of errands.  I dropped Blythe off at Aunt Michelle's and she watched a movie and went to the park and helped Michelle around the house a bit.  I am grateful, so, so grateful, to have family close and always willing to help me in times of need.

This evening I took the children up to see Kent.  Brandt in particular has been so concerned about Kent, but both children wanted to see the pictures and have me tell them all about the surgery.  They wanted to know about all monitors Kent has hooked up to and how his bed worked.  They moved him up and down.  We made two rounds of the halls on a little walk with Kent pushing his IV cart and holding his hospital gown closed.  Brandt read him a story too.  As I was putting the children to bed tonight, Brandt had several more questions mostly about how Kent felt--did the surgery hurt?  Was Kent in pain now?  When would he be home?   He is such a sensitive little guy.

Kent is, of course, not super thrilled about being in the hospital again tonight, but he is certainly relieved to have his diseased organ removed and to be free of the pain he was experiencing.  We hope he comes home tomorrow.