The View From Wisconsin

Things... have not gone all that well as of late.

My dad was out of the hospital for a few days, but ended up going back in because he was massively dehydrated. Simply put, any time he tried to eat anything, it would end up coming back up - and without the nausea feeling that you usually get with vomiting. I actually walked in on him Wednesday morning as he was trying to eat lunch, and was greeted by the sight of him puking the turkey back up. Good thing I don't get sickened easily.

He still has an opening in his abdomen (3.5 cm x 1.5 cm x 4 cm, for anyone who cares), but so far as we can tell, that's not what's causing him issues. He goes in for an upper GI this morning - which is part of the reason why I was awake at 4:00 in the morning originally typing this. It's not made any easier knowing that I'm on dialup on his computer in Racine.

It could very well just be the case of thrush he developed when the NG tube was stuck down his throat the last time he was in the hospital is causing all this, but they're going to check anyways. It just seems like everything in the lower part of the plumbing is working - it's just the intake section that's not doing the job.

Update on the update: He came out of the test this afternoon okay but groggy. Basically the doctor didn't find anything new with the scope; he had some white spots on his esophagus (from the yeast infection from the NG tube), and some irritation and redness in his stomach. They're going to do a gastric "empty" tomorrow to see how things are going down.

Meanwhile, he's getting more and more upset, withdrawing for long periods with outburst of anger. This time of year isn't the greatest for him or me, and I'm at the end of my rope over it.

He's on a clear liquid diet right now, but I don't think he's going to be getting out of the hospital anytime soon.