Home Safe - Procedure Details

We are home.  Things went well this morning.  Borgess got us right in and back to a prep room.  Then there was a lot of waiting, which made Ron a little inpatient.  And who can blame him?  Nothing by mouth since midnight, except meds.  And, he didn’t sleep well because his back was hurting him and he puked first thing this morning.  But, anyway, all of that aside . . .   

They took him back and first attempted to drain fluid through paracentesis, since he was about 10 pounds heavier than he was a few days ago.  However, most of the fluid is now “pocketed” into these bubbles throughout his body.  Basically, the body has walled off these pockets so they are separated from one another and cannot be drained from a single location.  The fluid that came from them was even a different color than the fluid that comes from the place where Ron drained through the Pleurx.  The staff penetrated a few of the pockets, but there are so many that it is like a sponge and they didn’t want to poke his belly 15 times today.  Poor Ron, the human pincushion.  He was somewhat discouraged by the idea that there is fluid in his abdomen, taking up space and making it harder for him to breathe and eat, with no easy way to get it out.  Apparently, this is just something that happens to people with ascites.  We can ask the doctor about it more next week, and he is scheduled for another paracentesis on 1/25/12, so maybe then they can burst a few more fluid bubbles.

After attempting to drain the fluid pockets and only removing 300mL, they moved on to the business of removing the Pleurx catheter.  This really was pretty much as simple as Ron said.  All they did was injected a lot of lidocaine into his belly to numb it and then they just pulled out the 18 inches or so of tube that was buried into his body.  He says there was “a little scalpeling” to get some tissues to let go and then he was free of the device.  He did not even need any sedation.  Ron says the most awesome part was watching them pull out the tube, which was followed by what he describes as a steady flow of fluid that came out so fast it went off the hospital bed and onto the doctor’s shoes.  The doctor kind of “milked” as much fluid as he could get out of the wound and then they put a whole bunch of dressing over it and covered it with Tegaderm and tape.  Ron calls it a belly diaper.  All of this occurred to the sounds of Modest Mouse; how random is that?!

Ron is starting to experience a little pain now, but it seems manageable.  He is on the couch, watching some MST3K and consuming his favorite comfort food: KFC mashed potatoes and gravy.  At some point, I imagine we will both take a nap, but for now, I am going to go join him and find something to munch on myself, since my tummy has finally stopped flip-flopping from nervousness. 

Many thanks to all who have been rooting for us this morning.  Prayers, good vibes, and well wishes for a simple procedure were answered.  Keep them coming for low pain and easy, fast healing of the hole in his belly that was left behind.