Very Slowly But Surely

As you know Kristi has had some big surgeries. None though have taken a toll like this one. We were trying to decide what’s different this time. We came up with two likely culprits.

One: the fact that the surgeon had to move the bowels around a lot, cut out a section, and remove two other tumors, one upstream and one downstream from the resection — not to mention taking the gall bladder. What we’ve read is, that amount of manipulation can really shock the gut.

Two: Progressing cancer and the pain that has come with it. The PET/CT Saturday showed progression that isn’t surprising but did surprise us a little. The pain in her neck — her actual neck, not me — has been increasing over the last two months; the tumor now seen in the last scan must be the culprit. This pain has been her primary pain over the last few days. 

All that to say, while X-rays and clinical signs point to very slow improvement each day, she is tired — very tired of pain, and not eating or drinking, and being here. She never complains. Well, maybe a little when she wants water, but who would blame her. 

Today’s Gastrografin X-rays (where they put contrast in her stomach to see if things are flowing)  was promising. The small intestines are flowing and not inflamed. We are very hopeful that the NG tube might come out tomorrow. 

While I spend 99% of the time in the room with her, I need to get moving a little. Today I took another walk around part of the Stanford U campus. The architecture and landscaping is so beautiful … and the black squirrels are cute and plentiful.