Happy New Years!!! Lets hope its a better one for EVERYONE!!

This morning jerrys blood sugar was 125!!!!! so lets hope that reducing the insulin helped! he had lunch of 112 and dinner uh oh.. forgot dinner #.. anyhow, much much better and hes up and about more readily as well. Maybe we can get him outside for a change!! He says the incision area around his belly button is sore/stinging like inside not outside, who knows.. maybe healing? but things seem to be much better.

I forgot to state that yesterday mornings bloodsugar was 44! after 8oz orange juice and 3/4 a banana, 20 min later he only raised to 51. so more OJ. finally got him up to 78 then 95 at the end. scary stuff. today we start the first trial of lantus at 30. i hope it helps if not ill call doc and have her OK lowering it again. We'll give it 2-3 days.

todays dish... hehe.. okay jerry takes 40 units of Lantus every morning same time. ( this is long acting insulin that runs thru the body 24hrs) well , jerrys bloodsugars have been in the 50s the last 5-6 mornings. scary. well i dropped him 2 units, to 38 then to 36 this morning. i called his local doctor, she called back and dropped him to 30! so lets see how it works. im gonna give it a few days and if his bloodsugars arent up enough ill call doc again!! i think hes getting WAY to much insulin per the caloric intake hes taking in. i could be wrong, Maybe when he starts being able to eat more normal portion sizes he might need to up it again but for now i think hes way under eating, over medicated. cant wait to get to the nutrition part of diabetes education on the 12th, 19th and 26th!! Our 20th anniversary is Jan 7th, sons 19th bday is Jan 13th.. hehe a friday again !!

well to keep up to date, jerry now is having low blood sugar .. here we were worried about HIGH. i think either, A>>>we are afraid of being too high and hes going to long with out eating, or B>>> his lantus is too high. 40 units in morning. WE not having seen a NURSE as of yet!! just dropped the lantus to 38 just to see. but i do have to say jerry isnt eating much and we really have to get him eating and moving about more. He is still hurting , and he says it hurts to breathe, its the incision area, the cuts he says hurts. I had him show me where. but other than surgical pain and healing it is really much better now! he walked around our yard 5 times. 100x100 lot. He also hurts from that. we arent regretting the surgery. Just impatient for healing.

we saw jerrys primary doctor today. shes going to give him another month recovery and see if we can step down the dilaudid first. then once off those we will step down the methadone as well. gonna be a long haul. We also got referred to a diabetes education center not far from us behind a local hospital. Three thursdays, 4 hours each evening. 430-830. but we need the info. We showed her Jerrys blood sugar numbers and she thought wed done pretty well with maybe 3 that were a tad low. HMMM jerrys bubble gum surprise and another where he ate pineapple and forgot and then did blood sugar and another was an early morning one. but we will learn how to manage and rearrange his foods to maximize his diet.

got home saturday early eve. beat to all get out.. went to bed. got up twice and got jerrys meds in him. his bloodsugars are between 77-120. so no fast acting insulin needed.. just the lantus in the morning. Today was good too. he did drop to 55 and drank some orange juice. he wanted half a cup more and dumb me i gave it to him. so thats why he dropped, i think. well hes better now. the flight home was hellacious! hit turbulance and turned so sharply to the right a lady 2 rows up came out of her chair and across the aisle. then the idiot wouldnt sit backdown she held onto the bar above the other man. thankfully there wasnt any more lurches like that one but it was rough and you could have heard a pin drop after the that first almost half roll until we landed! so glad to be home. our cats are funny they mustve missed us. one wont let us out of her sight. shes laying right in front of this computer screen sleeping. I did laundry and she went to back door and sat. then i went to clean tub and put hubs tub chair together and she went with me into the bathroom. shes determined we are getting out of her sight again!! shes also not a talker, but boy she let us have it when we got home!!!

Jerry is doing well today. we had a slight scare, he chewed three bubble gum balls, the big ones, against my better judgement. well i thought oh well he will have to learn. and sure enough, his blood sugar at 8 am was 95 , after the gum it was 241! so hes like throw that stuff out now. I guess if he wants a gum ball, he is going to have to buy the diet kind. sugar free ect. He is having neck/shoulder pains, that the doc when questioned said it was the nerves acting up from learned response. it will fade over time. We can deal. Anythings better than waiting for that next acute attack,never knowing if its the one that will kill you or cause a cyst or cancer. so now we just deal with keeping the bloodsugar level. not a biggie so far. a shot in morning of long acting lantus, and then check blood sugar before meals we can do that ! he also got some lidocaine patches he puts near his incision for 12 hrs and then it has to stay off for 12 hrs. Being nothing to do but sit , i slept and woke up around 1145 last night and watched out the window, there mustve been some christmas parties going on in the main ballrooms/conference rooms because it was valet central down there and the guests were dressed to the nines!

Jerry stretching up in bed so i could TRY to get a pic of the tracks left when they took out the staples. they were titanium im like HEY jerry take them home get them melted down to the shape of a mini pancreas thats crunched lol (in other words a knot) only we would know what it was hehe. that stuffs expensive! or keep one in near bellybutton as it will be the only piercings he will ever get! notice the tat on right arm. he covered an old tat with my name and a thundercloud and lightening bolt.. im like good choice because i was going to have a fit when i got home. he looks funny trying to stretch up YET not STRETCH to cause pain.

I tried to get pic of jerry just before she took staples out and then after. i still havent figured out this camera. sometimes it needs flash sometimes it doesnt and when you think it does, it doesnt and vice versa. so of course, neither came out. here he is taking off the winter coat LOL~

We are both back at hotel. They didnt say anything about coming back on friday. she released him with a follow up at his doc with in five days. they also took the staples out. we got slammed with some heavy snow, and of course i had my roller bag, his coat and his b ag of clothes/shoes to lug over there . the wind was the worst. and the sidewalks werent cleaned off yet. SOME FUN folks.. NOT! but we made it. so now well just hole up and watch his insulin and meds and plan on early sat flight home to the 60s! we will leave these single and negative temps far behind~!!!

i kept meaning to get a pic of the view out jerrys window. unfortunately the mighty miss, defrosted lol i sat one day and watched the iceflows back up and before the day was done as far up and down as i could see was solid white. im sure it will be soon again. Thats another hospital in the distance. Helicopters would fly over from that one. the airport is to the left and barley visble when you look out. Cant wait to get home!!! it will feel like a heatwave!!

TOMORROW IT IS!! Dr.Leslie came by this morn and told us that its a go. jerry will be leaving hospital after 11 days!!! we have a flight home on sat. and have to go back to hospital for bloodwork on friday. also they are setting up home health to come check on him i think she said three times a week. do blood work ect. and to follow up and see how he is doing on insulin ect. Ill have to make up a chart for him i guess. well, i was soo worried about them telling us that month long ordeal, and then about going across the river to a rehab center. WHEW what a relief! so jerry will have a day and a half to just relax before getting on plane. Minneapolis is supposed to get upwards of 6-10 inches of snow starting tomorrow. and letting up by friday to flurries. Hope its not bad so we can get out of here!!

WELL YOU WONT BELIEVE THIS ~~ i got really great pictures of jerry today, as he was feeling his oats!! and all anxious i got here as quick as i could hooked up and there are NO PICSSSSSS on my hobble/run here , i mustve jiggled something and it cleared the camera!!! im just sick over it!!! another lesson i didnt think i needed to learn.. DO not cram your bag so full that things hit against one another in tight space. DRAT!!!!!!!

but on the good side, occupational therapy came in and was going to go over things and he interrupted the lady to say OH? you mean to go in to the bathroom? he gets up puts on his socks robe and tied it, walked quickly to the bathroom and came back undressed and got in bed. the lady said hmmmm, nevermind. how about i discharge you from occ. therapy. LOL you obviously are ahead of me LOL. cool.. thenn later physical therapy came in and took him for a walk around floor, came back did some standing exersises with him, gave him a handout reviewing the exersises and toldhim she was going to discharge him from pt as well he was beyond where she needed to have him too!!

so, as much as i wanted to share those great pics, dang dang! i guess if i had to choose the plus of the day, it was getting him dismissed from those two therapists!! ((((hint hint, we were told MAYBE maybe, we might be totally discharged on wednesday, but would have to stick around anyhow and not leave til weekend so his bloodwork could be done on friday before going home)) works for us!! BUT i havent heard any thing of the sort from THE man, dr. Sutherland so we will wait to hear what he has to say. but it is nice to have hope to do so. today and yesterday ithink she said he was sooooo busy and he was doing another islet tranni today!!

Jerry and PT had him walking. up and around the bend and back.

Jerry this morning
he ate solids and didnt use erythromyacin yet to help move it. albiet small amount he ate, but im sure that will change.

this morning, i went in and jerry had eaten solid food for breakfast, cereal, cream of wheat too, toast, and juice. the nurses came in to remove his lidicane strips but he had already done so, one staple is already coming out and they are all loose, they look really good, nurse said oh, after three weeks they look like this and are ready to come out , the doc will prob have them out any day now, well i look at her, look at wall calendar and said. um.. today is the tenth? and he had surgery on the 2cd. its only been 8 days.. she looked back at jerrys staples and was like wow.. youre healing really fast, those look old not new. well hallelujah. maybe we can beat kathleens 20day stay? i could only wish to be so lucky. hes up and about, now if theyd only take that dang catheter out, hed get up more to go pee. they also stopped his basal pain meds. gave him oral methadone, and left the bump on the pain pump optional for him well there was a slight goof on meds, and thank GOD we caught it, she toldus she was there to give him his oxycodone, we both blurted out. oh nooo nooo not that one. i told the nurse the one time he took ONE twelve hour extened one it put him in hosp for a week. no thanks!! so instead she had to call down and get methadone, well we told her 5 - ten milligram pills for a total of 50 mg 2x day. well she brought him ONE 5 mg pill. okay accidents happen so she went and had reorded it. well he ended up going about an hour and a half with out pain med. so it climbed back up on him , and he was hurting. so he was going to try to sleep i left at 4. a nurse told us this morn too , that he has classes tomorrow and monday. i think around 2pm. i think for diabetes. so we will do those in hopes of getting out quicker. lol.

Today jerry was up and walked to the bathroom and was going to shave, but his room mate came back and needed in. he was in pain and being argumentative, so i left. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. we will see.
first thing this morning he gave us the thumbs up but after being up and in the bathroom for a bit he was hurting.

More good news!! jerry not only had the NG tube removed but he walked down one way of the hall then back up and to the other end and back to his room! also while he was waiting for the occupational therapist to show up he took the walker and walked around his room! so hes getting about now better. Good news!! Im staying in bed with leg propped up on pillows trying to get the swelling to go down. when i get up i can tell the difference it has helped! i told jerry tomorrow am, i want to hear hes been up sitting in his chair~! So bad on me no pics today but i hope to get pic of him walking around! and no TUBE in his face LOL he said it was really gross feeling coming out. i cant imagine ick~!

Well backlash on ME today, i woke up early , 3am, cant open up my knee, freaked me out, but somehow i was expecting something like this to happen. so i hobbled- basically i sat on bed and bounced stood up on one leg and twisted to the other one then scrambled to end of the other bed and grabbed wall and hopped to bathroom got in hot hot water and just soaked until i could get leg to unbend, i came back out of bathroom hobbling and called jerry , told him i couldnt make it over today, he was doing well. They did end up giving him two units blood last night and back down for another chest xray. he sounded so much better on phone. he let them put the lidicane strips down sides of his incision. its 12hrs on 12 hrs off. well he thought it wasnt helping. but after 24 hr without them he figured he'd try them again. he felt decent and was even looking forward to walking!!! he said the lovely nasal gastric tube would prob be removed today. He hates the pressure socks on legs but as soon as hes up and walking 4x's a day he wont have to wear them any longer. personally i think they should take out the catheter then hed HAVE to get up to go to rr! then hed get his walking in! i guess 5 days out of that surgery is too soon. i cant imagine it. thankfully! he coughed while on the phone but didnt moan and carry on like he was yesterday, since it caused so much pain before. maybe those muscles from getting up and going to xray and such are starting to loosen up. he told me his plans were to get up and out of here as soon as possible. we can only hope!

kathleen was sprung from hospital today. she flies out with her sister tomorrow morning. I was hoping shed get out ofthe cold but the weather channel showed texas dallas area with 20s and ice! so dang she wont get a break from the cold! Im sure she wont mind. just wants to crash into her own bed for a good rest! nothing like the nurses telling you to rest but they keep coming to stick your fingers and or take vitals. some sleep. ha! well i cant wait to get into myown bed myself! i painted the room to look like it had big bricks on it. walls were textured but not like brick. so its different for a while. LOL anyhow.. we are jealous of kathleen being out already!! 20 days of hospitalization will drive you nutty!

today i found jerry in great pain. always have to have a step back to appreciate the steps forward i think. anyhow turns out he was up all night in pain. his lungs are clearing up and the ewww flem is causing him to cough, which in turn pulls those stapled muscles. so he hurts. he coughed while i was there too. holding the pillow to him, i went to move a line, and barely i mean barely touched his abdomen and he was like a cat on a hot plate jumping. he really is sore. they finally got him up in a chair, but if he hadnt been coughing theyd have walked him. he did take a walk last night, he goes across the room to the door and back. i cant wait until he can make it out into the hall. i tried to get more pics we will see if they come out. hmmm they came out but wont let me post. must be too many folks on this hub. ill post it later if i can.

Yesssssssssss I dug out the battered instructions out of my bag, lol. Found a pic I took of Jerry today!!!! he was cold so we draped his robe ( i made him before coming up) over his shoulders. hes holding it together inhis lap he was cold but the fleece is soo soft and thick it warmed him up really quick. i couldnt intrest him in his slippers yet. im just glad he got out of bed!!

Finally found a photo we took night before surgery. it somehow was lost on here someplace.



MMMMMM MMMM good.. mag cite. nothing like a good green beverage to make you go hmmmmmm.

jerrys ultra sound of course was negative. i could have told them that. They said his hemoglobin was low, and thought maybe he might need a transfusion, but waited and redid his hemo, it was 8.3 .. they do trans if below 8. Personally, i think jerry needs out of the bed! when he sits up , everything regains normalcy when he crawls in bed everything goes bonkers. his blood sugars range from77 to 114.. he had once a 122. he finally today is passing gas, TMI im sure but want you all to know what goes on. if you dont pass this gas by either methods we all know , you will have pain from it. so i asked again the major question.. can you tell a difference in the pain? ohh yes he said. its not that boring burning pain, this is all surgical. His intern is on vacation so he was going to deal with someone else but they didnt come by by 4 and i wasnt staying any longer since it was growing dark. winds blowing and actually a few more flakes. brrrr i took more pics but they are of feet for some reason.. i cannot focus this camera. dang it! well again its just him sitting up in bed or in chair. i wish i had better ones drat it all. i did take 2 with a standard cam so when those can be developed i can put them on the board but i wanted to put them on daily! pray i can aim this thing better!!!

today, jerry was more alert, but still sleepy. resident docs came in and asked how his chest pain was, and im thinking huh?1?? well then they sent him down for a ct scan, checking for a blood clot. well he came back and sat up in chair for quite a bit. then he got in bed, occupational therapist came in and discussed tools to use since he cant bend/lift/push/pull ect. shower chair and hand rails. well, he was wiped out from being up and going to get ct scan, and was resting when his nurse came in and said he has to go down for an ultrasound of his right arm. im sure they are thinking of the swelling but since hes been up today , the swelling was down, its the same he always got from laying in h ospital. so im not worried. so i came on back to hotel. i only got a few pics, so hopefully more than 2 came thru this time! they are all very impressed saying hes doing very good ! EXTRA good news.. Kathleen is going home wednesday!!!! Crud none of the pictures came out. ill have to find out where extra light is at. they are all black pics but he looks same as yesterday and day before not a really big change in the way he looks. im disappointed though. I wanted to put a pic of him sitting up here. oh well theres more days to get it.

These are todays pics of jerrys incision. just staples. im surprised i thought for sure hed have been one huge bruise! Today jerry was sleepy, wanted to be left alone, but of course, he got no such thing. his respirations were still up and his blood pressure too. his fingers are a bit swollen. his bloodsugar was reading 112 then 114 then 122 she bumped them up then he read a few in the low 80's and she bumped it back down. he walked and sat up for a bit yesterday, well today a not so aggressive nurse let him get by for an hour before getting himup and we had him sitting up for 2 hours! the occupational therapist came in and asked him to walk to bathroom(which she let him out of since he had been sitting up for 2 hrs. but will not let him out of tomorrow~) and to wash face, hands, and to lift arms and clench and unclench fists. it took lots of coaxing as he just wanted to sleep. he also has a breathing apparatus that you use to increase breaths. depths of them that is. He was on oxygen , that came off today too. sating at 95% on his own. we found out that most surgeries of this type the lower lungs collapse so we have to get him moving so he wont get pneumonia. hopefully the pics i took today will come thru. i hope i can get them on here. We also got a scare about kathleen an tech misread the scan and told her she had a cyst. scared her and had her depressed. HE was WRONG! guess it pays to check with a DOC first! she seems to be doing much better!

i took several pics but only this one came out.

here are some pics of jerry , one of him laying in bed night of surgery, then sitting up next morning! gee, guess who the redhead is?

i think i posted about surgery, well today i went to see jerry, he was still out of ita bit, nurse was great, she said be prepared today hes going to be hating her, she was getting him up. she suggested i go do something , i explained to her about my fears with that dilauded they are giving him again, and she was good about it.. she said he was using a huge amount of insulin, but later today, he was way down on use and blood sugar was doing good, those islets i hope are waking up. hes still in pain of course, while there sheupped both his basal line and thbe pumpline, she said our only goal today was to get up out of bed... well my shoes fell apart, buttons on coat came off, so inlaws took me to go get stuff.,i came back and sewed on buttons and we went over to see jerry, GOD I FELT sooo guilty leaving him. the nurse was thrilled to tell me not only did jerry ge tup but he sat in chair for an HOUR! before we left, she had me step out a bit, because she was getting him up again, another nurse helped he walked to room door and back to chair and was sitting up wehn i came back in, ohhh typos here..not used to small keyboard, anyhow, hes miserable, but doing good. man in the bed next to him , jerry is farther from door so his walk was a nice one, anyhow this morn the man said to me, he was praying for him all night last night that jerry would be out of pain soon. his wife didnt look approachable and i regret that i didnt go over and just introduce myself. well jerry wanted quiet todeal with his pain and said we all needed to go home, so i took that cue and left so i can get some sleep. well we are bottom floor and son says, why not eat here? im like good idea.. we didnt eat breakfast nor lunch, so we got early dinner and while in line for food, someone taps meon shoulder, its the mans wife. she said jerry is doing phenominal, her hub has had 4 transplants of some kind here, and had viral menningitis, and was here too on 6th floor. she said they are awesome here, and that i shouldnt worry at all, that jerry is doing better than her hub did in any of his transplants!!! sothat was nice to hear. she also said first 24-48hrs are the worst and jerrys doing so good. I hope it continues!! kathleens sister came and checked on us in surgical waiting room, she caught me slumped forward napping, you kow when you are asleep but yet hear all thats going on around you? i was afraid to miss an OR call. well i feel guilty not seeing kathleen for 2 days now, but will see her tomorrow sometime between jerrys progress. well thats it for now. updates to follow> LOL i took pics but having prob getting them online. ill just keep trying.

got up at 3am, was in hosp at 530am, theygtook him back at 6am put socks and long pressure tubes that inflated intermittantly on him, they took him to surgery we went to waiting lounge. after 3 hrs i got a phone call there, it wasnurse in the OR< she was calling to let me know what was goingon, (could hear doc in background) panc was not out yet, but soon, and all was well jerryw as doing good all vitals great. well at 4 hour mark, called again, panc out,spleen outtoo, all well. then doc came out maybe hour later, told us that he took out panc, spleen, duodenum, lower stomach, appendix, they thought they might have to take portion of colon but didnt have to!! no blood needed and he lost very little!! pancreas was small and atrophied. they got 248,000 islets and we are just waiting for them now he said. he told us that at that #, jerry would need maybe one shot of insulin a day. HEY the trade off is good so far! he also did reconstructive surgery while waiting for islets. around 545 i got call again, nurse leaving and she said all was well, he was going to recovery and would be there several hours. well they moved him to his room at 859pm. we went up and stayed with h im for a whilE, then came back and crashed around 130am rough day. the nurse there told me that case worker who dropped bomb on me and said hed be here a month was way off.. shes having a talk with her. well theres a PT room on the floor. so maybe they wont be shipping him across river to a rehab center. aka nursing home. freaked me out. well, she warned me that wew will have a hell of a year ahead that he is really going to have to work on him. well hewont get by with anything w/me hes going to get his life back as much as possible! well im off . try to post tomorrow

forgot to tell.. lol, yesterday on road back from Mall of America, jerry saw a huge truck, trash one, has a sign on back, says:: Happiness is A biG dump!! oh man, if only that were in a parking lot, how appropriate ~~