Monday, April 11, 2011

Setback

We brought her home from the Vancouver Hospital yesterday. No one seemed concerned that she hadn't had anything to eat or drink for 5 days, just a few sips of water in between bouts of nausea and barfing. At home the nausea continued despite doses of gravol taken orally and by suppository. Every half hour she needed to throw up.

This morning I called the surgeon's office and had my call returned by someone at Vancouver Hospital. She suggested that I take my sister to Emergency to be rehydrated. It didn't have to be Vancouver Hospital Emergency, it could be Burnaby General, so that's where we went.

Her last meal was a grilled cheese sandwich on the night of April 5th. Today is April 11th.

At Burnaby General Hospital they examined her distended belly, ran a saline IV as well as a powerful anti-nausea drug and decided to place a tube down her nose to suction some of the fluid off her belly. Within a few minutes, to the amazement of the attending physician, they had suctioned 2 litres of bilious fluid. He was very upset that she had been released without ensuring that her bodily functions were in order.

She will be in the hospital for a few days. Tomorrow they will do a CT scan to ensure that there is not a bowel obstruction or abcess. The surgeon explained that it is probably just an ILEUS, the bowel being lazy after surgical intrusion to the abdomen.

When I left tonight, colour had returned to her cheeks and she was craving a McDonald's ice cream cone. These are both good signs but the ice cream will have to wait for a few more days.


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