Whoo-Hoo!!!!!

Ian is home at last! He has been home three days and so far so good. He's up walking around and eating solid food again. He's got a lot of recovering to do, but he's making great progress. I still get to play nurse with dressing changes and making sure he gets his meds, but no more IV's at least. We're so relieved to have him home! Thanks again for all the well wishes. Another 40 pounds or so and we can post pictures of Ian again! We'll keep you updated on his progress.

Update: Best of Three?

Well the saga continues I'm afraid. Here's a quick run-down of what's going on with Ian. I told you that he was initially in the hospital for a week to drain an infection and received blood transfusions. Then we were home for a brief respite with him on IV nutrition. He then went back into the hospital for the colon removal. His surgery went well and he was in the hospital for five days getting his pain under control and gradually moving up to a solid diet. We went home, but were only there 2 days when Ian's pain suddenly became worse and his belly looked much more swollen. We went back to the ER and Ian was admitted to drain some fluid from his abdomen and have a tube put into his stomach through his nose to drain his gut. We then were in "wait and see" mode for a while to see if his gut would start working again. They also restarted the IV nutrition. Then his pain got bad again and they had to take him to the OR in the evening over the weekend. They had to remove some scar tissue and untwist his small intestine. They also had to scrub out his abdominal incision and culture the wound. Now his wound cultures have come back positive for a resistant strain of bacteria. So as of yesterday he was starting treatment for this most recent infection and was receiving more blood to help with his anemia, continuing on the IV nutrition and still unable to eat or drink. Whew! I think that's mostly the gist of it! My heart aches for Ian in all that he has suffered, but I hope that things will improve soon. In all of this I must remain grateful for my dear husband, my wonderful family, good friends that do more for me than I do for them, good insurance, a good surgeon, and a good workplace that misses me but also lets me have plenty of time off. We continue to hope and pray for positive progress and to have Ian home again soon. Thanks to you all for your continued thoughts and prayers!

Dinner is served!

Well I had thought after my last blog that I would be posting some pictures from my trip to Utah, however the trip turned out to be a little short! Instead, I figured many of you may be interested in our recent goings on, so I will fill you in. I arrived in Utah a week ago Wednesday. I got to visit for a little more than 24 hours before I had to turn around Thursday and rush home. Ian's health had unfortunately deteriorated once more, and he was admitted to the hospital that Thursday. Boy did that put new meaning to the phrase, "I'm packing my bags, 'cause I'm goin' on a guilt trip!" He was admitted for an infection related to his Crohn's and also ended up having some major bleeding from his colon. May I just say here how deflating it is as a dietitian to have his admitting diagnoses also include malnutrition? Oh the irony! But anyhoo, to make a long story short, Ian had a long week in the hospital, but after a number of blood transfusions and a quick drainage of his infection in the OR, he got to come home on Wednesday of this past week. I've been home with him making sure he gets all his meds around the clock and hooking up his nutrition that runs through his IV line every night. The up side? I have a week's worth of meals for Ian in my fridge:

(Doesn't that look good? I just slaved and slaved. )

He can't eat solid food anymore because his colon looks like this:

So we head back to the hospital this coming Tuesday and Ian will be having the left side of his colon removed. If all goes well he should be in the hospital just about another week. He then will eventually be going back for more surgery in about 3 months or so depending on how things heal. We are praying and are optimistic that all of this will make his life much better and that it may offer a somewhat more permanent solution to his health problems. So to share what has become our favorite quote over the last week or so, "We will just wait and see!" Thanks to you all for your love and concern. It is deeply felt. Oh, and just so there's a more uplifting picture than the last one, here's one of our kitties who are taking great advantage of the comfy set up we've got going for Ian in the living room. Love to you all!