Update from Tom - TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2009 09:08 AM, CST

[Guest guest]

I can't buy a break.The good news is that I'm nearly ready to go home. The BP is back to normal, I'm still fully hydrated, and I'm even starting to eat a little more. Plus, they pulled one of the two JP drains the other day, which is a huge relief, and they want to pull the second one now and put me on diuretics to relieve the bloating and excess fluid that has caused me to gain 20 lb in the last five days.

Sounds great, right? Here's the bad news.They went to pull the second JP drain yesterday afternoon. I was prepared for the pain...on a 1-10 scale, this is about a 16. With me screaming in agony, they got about four inches of tubing out, and then it stopped. The thing is stuck somewhere inside me. They yanked and tugged, pushed and pulled, with me crying out the whole time, and the tube would not budge. They tried irrigating it with saline, thinking it may have adhered to something. No luck.

What should have been a relatively quick procedure has now turned into the latest puzzle. With all of the activity in that area, I'm back to constant pain that is only helped somewhat by pain meds.They sent me down for a CT scan to see if that would offer any insight. The liver is doing great...it's full sized and remaining stable. The drain tube isn't wrapped around anything, which is good news, too. But, that still doesn't answer the question as to why it is stuck.

They're consulting with all of the in-house experts today to come up with a solution. The most likely scenario would have them anesthetizing me--knocking me out--so that they can work the tubing out without pain. Worst case scenario is some minor surgery to pull it, but that doesn't appear likely.

This kind of thing is REALLY getting old. All I want is to be a routine, boring patient. Guess that isn't in the plan.Tom

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http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/thomasbutler