day #4

We had another good day today. This morning, a barium swallow study was completed. We went down to x-ray to complete this study. This is our second of the year (first done outpatient back in January, I think). They sit Jason up and do continuous x-ray imaging of the throat while giving him different consistencies of food. Water to apple juice to jello to pudding to crackers.....etc. Unfortunately, they mix these items with barium contrast so that they can see what happens to it when he swallows, and it does not really taste good. Jason has not enjoyed getting nutrition from meals for a while now, but does want to pleasure eat, so we needed to see what was safe. Eating is tiresome because it take a lot of muscles and body coordination to eat. Anyway....results are in. He can safely have a couple bits of pudding type consistency foods. That means he can have baked potato (well mashed potatoes!), but not steak safely. We can thicken fluids if he insists on blue powerade, for example, but he needs to be really careful. Ice cold helps Jason have control over where it goes.

The ABG was done (4th stick is a charm, apparently) He takes it all in stride. Instead of a venous blood draw, they go into the artery, which feels very different. It did take 4 tries, and for the medical people out there, this test is painful. This test is usually done when people are going down hill fast, in code situations, or patient are on a ventilator and unresponsive, NOT on a ventilator and wide awake. These were abnormal, with low pH and low CO2. All this means is that they will change the home machine settings slightly to make these numbers as pretty as possible.

We did not go outside. It has been rain/misty/cloudy all day. We did, however, leave the unit and go for a "roll" to a sky bridge (bridge over Clifton Road that the hospital is on) to look outside for a while. Our nurse, Rachel, and Jason's coworker Carlos went with us. Also, Danny and Lindsey came to visit in the hospital as well. So good to have friends here today.

The next few days should be uneventful. Tomorrow they will take out the stitches. But, really, we are here waiting on supplies to be delivered to our house and double check that all settings are what we need. All the things have been checked off the list for learning, I think, and I'll keep doing it all the next few days to make sure I'm comfortable. I have got to better at this picture taking.....I took this picture when I got done writing the blog.