I'm sorry ahead of this post, I am tired, and I think there will be lots of typos.
Larry Jr had his abdominal reconstruction, his 111th surgery on April 19th. It was a very, very rough surgery and last 10 hours. His intestines were taken out and all the adhesions, blockage, etc. were fixed. 5 holes were fixed. A bovine mesh was put in. This was done to help his with bowel obstructions and pain he has been in since the fall. He went to the ICU for a couple days before heading to 12 east at Mott, his favorite floor. He then, developed an infection in his pelvis cavity, so ped surg had to go back in, his 112 surgery, on April 23rd. Back to the PICU he went. This surgery/recovery has not been easy. They found a DVT in his leg, he frequently needs oxygen, he has a nasty abscess/infection, and he is in a lot of pain. They have an NG in his nose since the 19th which Larry hates. And a drain in his side to drain infection. He has been huge, absolutely blown up because of extra fluid. How bowels have not woken up, so he is on a dependent drainage NG tube and TPN for nutrition.
As of yesterday, (April 29) he seemed to be feeling better. Better enough to take an assisted walk with his PT and nurse. Still has the nose tube, dependent drainage, TPN etc.
Below is a post I did on Facebook a couple of days ago--to give you a glimpse of the challenges our Bear has faced the last couple of weeks.
April 28
I feel like things are starting to blur. Katie came home. Big Larry sent an SOS so she came to help. After little Larry’s second surgery he had a couple of days.....like four? Today is Sunday? So, from that second surgery which I think was Wednesday, all the way to this morning. Just a lot of rough patches. I just switched with big Larry this afternoon, so he is up there with Junior now. But things like infection pockets, needing oxygen, pain in his belly and abdomen, a clot, that tube in his throat hurts, and then he’d perk up a bit. And we feel like he was doing okay. But then the nights have just been awful.
I think today was his best day. It started out rough and scarry with blood coming through both his NG and his drain tube in his side. They think it’s cuz he could be on too much Lovenox for his blood clot. So, they stopped that. The Lovenox I mean. And as the day went on, he just seemed more like himself. He’s far from out of the woods. He is fragile. And he still critical. But he gets excellent care. The caregivers around him know him. Johnny and Stephanie are better from their flu bugs and came up to see him today. Larry loved it. When he was taken to his second surgery, all the sudden they came in, and there was this big guy pushing from the head of the bed and two on the sides and they were like running down that hall to the elevator. And I was running to keep up. I’ve never seen where they have rushed Larry to surgery so fast. We got to the surgery floor and they went running in and I yelled “Wait! I need to say bye!” And I kissed him on the forehead and turned and he went one way and I went the other and I cried so hard I couldn’t breathe. But they found the infection. It’s an infection that grew it’s yummy bacteria and they just identified today so they started him on two new antibiotics. I’m going to do paperwork and house crap tomorrow. And then I’ll go back up. Thank you everyone for all the prayers and love. P.s. I stole these photos from katie. She is quite the artist.
Back to today:
Here is a very big positive. Larry had a fundraiser to raise money before his surgery. So many were generous and helped raise over $20,300 to help families at Mott Hospital with financial needs that are faced when you have a loved one with life threatening chronic health issues. That is a lot of money! We are grateful!
Dr Park, Larry's dear friend and surgeon is having his own surgery today. Please, pray for him. He came and visited Larry last week. It was nice to see th two of them together.
Dr Hirschl and Dr Park. The one-two punch. Larry's surgeons and angels since I was pregnant.
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