This is going to be a long post...here are a few pics and the emails dad has sent (newest on top)...

Hey


He had a very rough night. Lots of bladder spasms and not much sleep for either one of them. They really happen when we are irrigating the bladder. All this is is pushing 30 ML of saline into his bladder and taking it back out. We unhook his one of his pee bags and put the saline in with a large syringe then suck it back out(With The Syringe), it only takes a few minutes. We give him some medicine about a half hour before we do it and it seems to knock him out enough to get through it without much pain... So Far.

The big news for the day is that we are out of the hospital. We are at the Children's House. We will be here until at least Tuesday, he has a doctor appointment on Monday at 4:00 PM. Guess we will find out then when we get to come home. Not sure what we are gonna do for the next four days. I am sure there is a lot to do here but we don't want to overdo things either.

There is talk of finding a Wal-mart and buying some needed medical supplies and maybe some food.

Well guess that is it for today. Will keep everyone updated on how his doctor appointment goes.

Buy-Buy

Don, Donna, Dawna & Gunnar
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Hey,

Not sure where to start on this one. I'm sure he would say the best thing was playing BINGO over the hospital TV and winning a Transformer. They broadcast over the one of the hospital channels on the TV. You get BINGO and you call them and they have you on the air to verify your BINGO and to let you pick your prize. He was kinda bummed cuz they had a Lord Of The Rings game that they had on the teen prize table for people over twelve. I told him it did not matter if he won or not cuz everyone got a prize and that he has too damn many toys anyway.

He got his epidural out. The doctor thought the area looked a little red and swollen so they took it out. Couple of bad things about this. One was that it was taped all the way up to his neck the other is that after it wore off he could feel it when we irrigated his bladder, it caused bladder spasms which are very painful. This is kind of a big deal as we/he will have to do this several times a day for life, so hopefully the spasms will decrease in intensity. They are going to give him some Valium before the next one at about midnight tonight will see how that goes in the morning.

He got one of his abdomen tubes out. It was the one that was just kinda floating in his gut area to soak up anything that may have been leaking on the inside. He has only got a few drops from it over the last couple of days. He still has three pee bags that he will come home with. These will be taken out at some point over the next month or so by his doctor in Omaha.

He got unhooked from all of his IVs. He still have several ports in him, one in each arm so they don't have to re-stick him if they need to hydrate or give him medicine, but he is mobile now. With these out, he really has to remember to drink. Was drinking water, Sprite and Fanta (SP?) orange soda most of the day.

He walked a bit with our help. Which leads into the next item.

He pooped. Once in a bed pan which kinda sucked and another couple of times we walked him into the bath room. This was a requirement before they would release him, the pooping not the walking.


He Ate Some Solid Food.

He had some chicken pot pie looking stuff with rice, a salad, bread, butter and an apple that he is saving for later in case he gets hungry. Tomorrow he really wants to have Subway, so we may try to get him down there for one meal. I think I said this before, the hospital has a Subway in its cafeteria area. Personally I am about sick of Subway as it is the only thing I have had to eat since last Thursday, they have other stuff to eat in the hospital, but as many of you know I am a picky SOB when it comes to food.

He talked to a bunch of people on the phone today. We found out that we could use our cell phone from the room because he is not hooked to any monitoring equipment, wish they would have told us that a few days ago. If anyone wants to talk to him give him a call, at a reasonable hour please, he can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

We are hoping to get out of the hospital either Thursday or Friday. The nurses think it will probably be Friday. We have to stick around for a another three to five days to make sure everything is going OK, then we start the trek home.

I am sure that I have forgot to mention something that I will remember right after I hit "Send". Take care everybody, keep those emails coming, Donna and Gunnar will be reading them once they get back here in a few days.

Bi-Bi

Don, Donna, Dawna & Gunnar

PS

Someone asked about "Cute Nurses". Will have some pictures of these ladies to send soon, for those with inquiring eyes.
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Hey,

First if you would prefer not to get these updates, let me know, I
will not be offended.

As you can tell by the attached pictures Gunnar got his nose tube out
this morning. YEAH!!!! This allowed him to get out of his room and
go to the play room. He met a couple of other boys there and they
played Monopoly and some other games.

He got to eat today or should I say drink. He got a whopping 30cc's
of water tonight. Woohoo!! Guess he has to start somewhere. He was
not allowed to guzzle it, he had to take sips through a straw and if
he keeps it down the should get more tomorrow. Gunnar 109.jpg is a
shot of the big event. His first thing to eat or drink since last
Wednesday.

Donna seems think he has really lost weight. I am sure he has lost
some, but I am not sure how much. Picture Gunnar 108.jpg was tonight
before I left. He weighed 72 pounds when he entered the hospital, we
are not sure what he is at now, we will try to see what he wiehgs now.

I forgot to mention "The Incident" yesterday. At one point he got
some plhegm or something in his throat and could not breathe. He was
gasping for air and about gave mom a heart attack. It probably only
lasted for about ten - fifteen seconds before we could get him calmed
down, but to him I am sure it seemed like 10 - 15 minutes.

We started to learn how to flush his bladder. We will have to do that
several times a day from here on out. Lots of changes for everyone
going forward.

That be it for today.

Don, Donna, Dawna & Gunnar

PS

Dawna, I will burn you a CD of all of the pictures and send it to you
when we get home.
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Hey,

Nice subject huh?

Well he is starting to fart so the nurses and doctors at the hospital
are excited and thinking his nose tube will come out tomorrow. That
is one of the things they really want him to start doing as it means
his bowel is really starting to wake up. Tonight he really ripped a
good one and you should have seen the smile on his face, Ear to Ear.
Fortunately for us he has not eaten in so long there was no smell
associated with it. Once the tube comes out he will get very small
amounts of water and some chicken broth over the next couple of days
and then it is on to some real food, Jello. They are not sure when he
will eat any solid food, it might not be for quite awhile, maybe even
until after we get home.

His nurses this morning were amazed that he slept through his entire
exam, but anyone who knows him knows that he can sleep through just
about anything.

He got a blood transfusion today. O positive is his type. He was a
little low so they set him up with one pint. It took three hours to
transfuse, he slept through the whole thing. Donna thinks he will be
in longer than seven days because of the low blood count.

He played Play Station 2 for several hours today. He was thrilled.

Tomorrow he is expected to be able to go in a wheel chair and go the
play room another milestone he is looking forward to.

That is about it for today. will let you know how he is doing over the
next few days.

Don, Donna, Dawna & Gunnar
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Hey,

Dawna went home. :-((((((( Tears all around

Things went pretty good today except for the part above. He had/has a
bad case of the itches, which they say is because of the epidural,
they gave him some medicine for them, not sure that it worked that
well, he was/is scratching the hell out of himself. He went to
scratch is back and got the tape on his arm stuck to the stuff
covering the epidural, that was a scary moment as the epidural is
probably what is causing him to have very little pain.

He is in pain when he coughs or laughs, so we try not to be dusty or funny.

He is not on oxygen anymore, he was on it at times if he was napping
and stuff.

The doctor says once his bowel wakes up, he will get the nose tube out
and get something to drink and maybe some Jello. It could take
several more days. He is very weak and quiet probably due to lack of
food, which we were warned about beforehand by the doctor. They keep
him hydrated through his IV.

We were able lift him into a chair today. He sat there for several
hours watched TV and played his Game Boy.

The pictures are before and after shots(Yeah No Shit Right?).
100_0209.jpg is right after he was wheeled into recovery.
100_0226.jpg is of his bags (Not Those... Sickos!) He has several
bags draining from his abdomen region and one from his nose that is
hooked to a vacuum that sucks stuff out of his stomach.

I have a bunch more but did not want to overload anyone. Have more
graphic pictures of everything for those who request them, other wise
you will have to wait until we get home to see more. The purple glove
one is a thing to help his lungs get back up to speed.

That's about it for today.

PS

Laura I see we did not win the Powerball. Dammit I was looking
forward to an early retirement.

Dawna we love you and miss you already.

L8R G8R

Don, Donna, Dawna & Gunnar
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