Day 4

There has been a lot of changes today. But change is GOOD! Changes mean a day closer to going home. One of the biggest changes today was removing the epidural. He received an epidural prior to surgery to help with pain control. But today they removed that so they can begin changing to oral pain medication. He was receiving Valium every 6 hours (through IV) along with the epidural. Now he will be receiving Oxycodon every 4 hours orally in addition to the Valium through IV. They will eventually remove the Valium probably sometime later tonight or tomorrow morning depending upon his tolerance level.

Another change that happened today is transfers. He finally got to get out of bed and transfer to a wheelchair. He tolerated this wonderfully and sat up for 2 hours the very first time. He probably could have sat up a little longer but lets not push it too far yet. Baby steps are good.

The last thing that is making him feel better is being able to poop. Due to all the meds and everything else that's going on he has been getting constipated. He has always had issues with constipation but last night you could tell he was not comfortable. His stomach was very extended, to the point his belly button was an outie instead of an innie. He slowly started to go this morning and then when he heard he was going to have to be given a suppository he finally went on his own. So he has been smelling up the room quite nicely (well not nicely but you know what I mean). Being able to poop is good.

Now that his epidural is out. We are going to be able to take Tyler outside to the hospital rooftop garden to enjoy this beautiful fall weather we are having. So when he wakes up from his nap, we hope to get him out of the room and enjoy that sunshine. I'll post some pictures later tonight.

We have also been talking about discharge. The earliest would be tomorrow but we are kind of thinking Wednesday will be the big day. Keep your fingers crossed that changing to oral meds will control his pain and we will be on the right path.

Thank you again for all the prayers, they are definitely working.