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Wednesday Update: 9/28/05

Holy cow, can it really be September 28th!?!?!

Matt’s wonderful Aunt Linda sent me a note recently and told me that I should keep a little diary of the blessings that happen during this time. It’s true that you can tend to focus in on the negative things and overlook the wonderful little positive things when dealing with a stressful situation like this. So, I have decided to start each of my updates with something positive.

Earlier today I truly felt like the only positive thing I could say was that I like my new sweater. It has just been one of those days. However, I can now say that there were a few positive things that have happened today:
· After the attempt to insert the feeding tube in his stomach failed (further details to follow) the GI doctor was able to reinsert the feeding tube back in his nose and it was placed correctly the first time so we didn’t have to do 4 more x-rays and have him lay on his side all day.
· The physical therapists said he did even better today with his exercises, even though he was very groggy most of the day.

The day started out pretty rough. Mom got here early and the nurses told her that they had to give him a sedative around 6:30 this morning because he was being too agitated. Of course, we do NOT want him to have these sedatives as it really knocks him out and he loses valuable therapy time. So we were a little upset about that.
Next we head down to do the PEG insertion Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastric Tube (G-Tube)…inserting the tube directly into the stomach. We head down, wait for him to be prepped, wait for an hour as they ‘do’ the procedure, then head back to recovery…where we find Matt sleeping soundly with the tube back in his NOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course, we were instantly furious. Turns out that due to his ‘anatomy’ the GI doctor couldn’t see well enough to tell where he was and didn’t feel comfortable poking around much more than he did. I am glad that he realized his limitations and didn’t put Matt at any more risk, but was very upset that he had to have that stupid tube put back in his nose. He is now on the schedule to have the G-Tube inserted tomorrow, and the Radiologist will do it. Apparently, they will go from the outside in this time and shouldn’t have any issues. Please pray that the procedure is a success and we can finally move forward. He has been very groggy all day and will be again tomorrow after his procedure, so we’ve lost 2 days and that is frustrating. At least these procedures buy us more time to get him referred to a skilled care facility. I’m anxious for that next step, to get him doing more therapy and really on the road to normal. I know we have to be patient…and that is the hardest part for me. We all need prayers for that. I know this is going to be a long and painful process and am just SO ready to be moving on from here.

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