Better Each Day...

Dad's strength is steadily improving each day and this is just the news we were hoping for. He and Mom are hoping to fly home on Saturday. There are a number of arrangements that have to be made in regards to travel accommodations, like oxygen on the plane and just getting Dad to and from the car and the gate. The surgeon should release him when they visit his office later in the week and he will finish his anti-biotic infusions as well. Finally, this all feels like real progress!!!

I've heard from many of you that you appreciate the blog and even find it a bit humorous. I just wanted to say that I'm glad! I'm trying to keep it light since it's such a heavy topic. But, sometimes I can't live up to the pressure to think of anything funny. So, tonight's humorous line at Dad's expense comes from Sue...I spoke to her this weekend and asked how Dad was doing. Sue said, "Well, Mom gave him a haircut and he got a shower. Which is a good thing, because he cleaned up nicely and looks less like a Scary Old Man." Nice!!! I believe the saying goes, 'With friends (family) like this, who needs enemies?'

The Answer to the Ultimate Question...

Dad is progressing well. He has managed to stay on his feet for 3 straight days...at least when he's not napping! He visited the surgeon today and the drain for his stomach, which has been capped for a week, but was left in 'just in case', was removed. He's visiting an infusion center each day to finish up antibiotics to clear all of the infections from his bizarre night of internal poisoning. He has about a week left of the infusions. He will visit the surgeon again next Thursday and may get released at that point. Which means, Mom and Dad may come home as early as Labor Day weekend. The surgeon also encouraged Dad to increase his food and eat whatever he wanted!!

The Ultimate Question, which Dad posed to the surgeon today, went something like this...

Dad: "I have a question."

Surgeon: "When can you start chemo?"

Dad: "No. When can I have a beer?"

Nice! The Answer...Now. The surgeon even said he could have a couple. Dad expressed some reservations about his tolerance level. So the surgeon's orders were to drink it sitting down. Another head split+blood thinners+alcohol= Bad News!! So, I believe he enjoyed a part of a beer this evening, while chilling on the couch. I'm sure he enjoyed the beer even more when someone else was waiting on him and he got to use the excuse of 'Dr.'s orders.' Life is slowing getting back to normal...

He's fine today...

In typical fashion, after a bad day Dad is doing fine today. In fact, he said he didn't even have a headache. He must have left his little bit of brains on the sidewalk! If he follows the same pattern he used in the hospital, tomorrow will be a great day and then Thursday he'll probably try to perfect a triple lutz. I promise to post something so that you all will come read the blog and he won't have to try and pull another attention getting stunt.

Thanks to Ted, Nick, & Todd - 3 of Dad's 'sons' who made the trek to Denver today from STL to visit him. Apparently they thought the daughters weren't doing a very good job, so they stepped in to do their part. Their visit was definitely a spirit booster for Dad! Thanks bros.

New theory...

As I noted in my previous post, my Uncle George is in Denver to visit Dad. He is Dad's only brother and wanted to see him after his whirlwind cruise this summer. So, after seeing him for a few short hours and then watching him take the header on the sidewalk, Uncle George has a new theory to add to the mix...

Dad is actually fine and has been smokescreening all of us! Now that he's at Sue's house we were on to him and about to figure out that he was just trying to get some attention, so he took the header to distract us for a while.

I love it! We will add this as Theory #5, to the 4 listed in the previous posting. #6 theory is offered up by my brother-in-law Jeff. His theory is Dad is trying to keep the over-under interesting on if he'll actually make the Tontine Lunch at the Beer Canvention.

Got a theory? We'd love to hear them. Post a comment with your theory on why Stubborn Ol' Dad did a swan dive on the sidewalk today. We'll vote on our favorite and the winner gets a special prize. Be careful what you wish for. You may want to trade in the prize for the box on the floor. Which we'll have to step over to get to Dad and pick him up again...

Unbelievable...

There are a number of theories floating around about the latest Dad development. First, the news...while trying to walk up the step tonight into Sue's house Dad fell backwards and split his head open. He just left the ER at his favorite hospital with 30 stitches in a z-shaped pattern.

Now the theories...

1. He was so afraid everyone would quit reading this blog, that he did the Nestea plunge on the sidewalk so there would be more news to report. Since his blood thinners have been increased to try and get rid of the blood clot in his arm, you know this looked pretty!
2. He figured the ladies at the hospital missed him. As Dad would say, 'What's not to love?' So, he decided to go pay them a visit.
3. Since his brother George just arrived in town, he didn't want him to miss out on the excitement they've all been living the past 7 weeks, so he thought he'd give him a first hand experience.
4. He wanted a scar from all of his troubles that was visible without taking off his shirt. As my nephew Zach would say, "This will be a great story next time you're in a bar."

As we all know is the case with Dad, this one boils down to his stubbornness, he wouldn't wait for help and tried to do the step by himself. Mom was getting his stuff out of the car and Sue was making him a snack (see there is good news laced in here - he's eating!), but he is still very weak from being in the hospital so long. Crazy dude thinks he's Superman and you know he's frustrated with the inability to just pop up and do it all. Sometimes, no matter how old we are, we insist on learning lessons the hard way.

And He's Outta There!

After 49 days in the hospital, Dad was released last night!!!!!!!! He and Mom are staying at Sue's house for a couple of weeks. YEAH!!!

Food Glorious Food!!!

I am so happy to report that Dad is continuing his steady stream of good days! He even had real food yesterday...scrambled eggs and fruit. He said it didn't sit too great at first, but the good news is he digested it just fine. The stomach has finally remembered! So, the feeding tube and stomach drain have been off for days and everything is working great.

In an effort to win the "Favorite Daughter" title, Sue brought him a vanilla malt last night. He was in heaven. Although I think that with Amy on vacation in Alaska and me in Missouri, providing a frozen meal when you're the only one in town is cheating! I'm a little disappointed that Dad's love was for sale so cheap. Anyway, Mom always said she loved me best. :)

It looks like he might be released to Sue's on Friday. There are a few small issues that he is still dealing with, like a drain from the incision that is pumping out a lot of goo (yes, that's the medical term), but all things considered he's plugging along. Keep your prayers coming that he's down to 48 hours left in the hospital. That doesn't seem like very long when we consider he's been in there for 47 days. If he goes home on Friday, he'll likely have to stay in Denver for 2 more weeks.

All you beer enthusiasts realize this will put him home in enough time to make the Beer Canvention in Springfield, IL the weekend after Labor Day. He will retain his tontine status. A bit of family history...the BCCA Canvention is always the same week as Sue's birthday. Dad has been going to this canvention since it started 39 years ago. This year is Sue's 39th birthday. So, it looks like Dad will get out of Denver just in the nick of time to avoid yet another of her birthdays :) If she went to a therapist, I'm sure this would be at the top of the discussion list.

Dad has set his goals...the first being the Tontine luncheon at the BCCA...the second being the Hop in the City event at Schlafly later in September. The good people at Schlafly named Dad the Honorary Chair of this event. If he wasn't motivated before, that is truly giving him something to strive for. When he can drink a beer again, you can all guarantee that I will be the one tipping the pint with him and will immediately revert to the Favorite Daughter!!

Special thanks from our family to Bob Gau, Dad's boss for all his years at John Henry Foster, who made the trip to Denver today from STL to visit Dad. You know you are a lucky soul when you can count your boss (or ex-boss) as such a good friend.

Off the Roller Coaster and On a Roll!

(I stole that title from Ann Sommer - it was too great to pass up. Thanks Ann!)

Yes, this marks Day 4 of good days, but who's counting? Not only is it a good day, it may just be considered a great day as Dad achieved a huge milestone today that he hasn't reached since the Whipple was done on July 10th...the pump on the stomach drain was shut off this morning. This is huge!!!! It means his stomach has remembered its job and kicked in. At least all signs are pointing at this accomplishment.

He has celebrated with coffee, root beer, jello, tea, etc.!!! He is quite literally eating it up. Well maybe just drinking it up. The true test will come through the night. As long as Dad's stomach doesn't throw it in reverse tomorrow will hold even bigger and better things. There's a rumor about thicker liquids and maybe even food.

They hope to release him from the hospital on Thursday. If all goes well he may be released without the feeding tube and stomach drain. This is even better than we have imagined over the last few weeks. Gotta say, Mom and Sue will be thankful for this!! This also means he can come home to St. Louis sooner. We'll keep you posted. Here's to hoping for 5 good days in a row....

3 in a Row!!!!

Dad has finally broken the streak! Today makes the third good day in a row. Although there are 5 hours and 10 minutes left in the day, so I hope I'm not jinxing it! There are still some small hurdles to clear, such as the feeding tube has still not been turned back on. But, they let him have some jello (still not beer flavored) and he's drinking things today. Sue said he's powering through it while they're letting him start drinks...cranberry juice, tea, grape juice, and even a Coke!! Not quite a beer, but he's making progress. After 1 month and 5 days of basically no food or drink, he is enjoying every flavor.

They are hoping to release him later this week. Keep your fingers crossed that the upward progress continues and that he actually gets out of the hospital. Today makes 1 month and 14 days since he went to the ER.

I talked to Dad this morning and asked if he wanted to say anything to his dedicated readers. He said to tell everyone "thanks and that I get my sense of humor from him." He's never been much of a phone talker, in fact, I can replay every phone conversation while I was away at college..."Hi Dad!...Hi Kath, how's the weather?...Here's your Mom." He is pretty weak from his extended stay and had difficulty mustering up much of a conversation. So the fact that Dad gave me 2 separate thoughts to pass on to all of you shows how much he appreciates your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes! He is truly a lucky guy.

Sorry that we are hogging one of the prayer lines for so long, but please keep them coming. Looks like he is rounding the corner and on the homestretch, at least in the first leg of this race. Here's to 4 in a row....

Following the Pattern...

As predicted, yesterday was a better day. Dad got up and moving and was feeling better again. Ileus appears to have worked itself out. Blood clot was down, if not gone all the way. Hopefully today will continue the pattern and be another good day. I'm off to continue the long-standing Herbst tradition of spending the weekend at a soccer tournament. I'll update you all again tonight or tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that tomorrow breaks the 2 up, 1 down pattern...

At a Loss...

I really just don't know what to say. I know it's hard to imagine that I am at a loss for words, but it's true. After another couple of good days, Dad has thrown it in reverse again. The old Murphy's Law 'Anything that can go wrong, will,' is now being renamed Henry's Rule. Or maybe we'll name a new scientific theory of ratios after him that has something to do with 2 good, then 1 bad. It appears he is sticking with the pattern of 2 good days and then a retreat. Someone more clever than I can come up with a good name for this.

On Monday and Tuesday he was using words like awesome and great, haven't heard those adjectives since then. Wednesday started a downhill slide. Not only is his stomach not working, but his intestines were heading in the wrong direction on Wednesday night due to a gastric ileus. The man absolutely hates to throw up and he loves to sleep...Wednesday brought a sleepless night of vomiting, so you know he was hating today! They've shut off his feeding tube for 24 hours in the hope that the ileus will go away on its own. So, now add to the list that he'll be hungry. Anyone who has seen Dad have to wait until 12:05 when lunch is supposed to be at noon, knows what a bear he is when he's hungry. Haven't we all felt a little sorry for the waitress who messes up his order? Well, transfer that sympathy to the nurses until that feeding tube gets turned back on. We don't know what the course of action is if the ileus is still present after 24 hours. Guess I'll dive into my medical dictionary and learn some new words...as long as I don't have to type 'stomach surgery and NG tube' again.

In addition to the ileus, they found a small blood clot in his left arm this afternoon. So they're changing his blood thinner meds. You know it's been a bad day when the man who has had 2 strokes is diagnosed with a blood clot and nobody is really worried!!! As he said once before, he's the luckiest unlucky bastard and that pattern is holding true.

If he sticks to his 2 up, 1 down rotation, then tomorrow is a good day. I'll be writing the blog as the friggin' bluebird of happiness. Today I'm just pissed at the unrighteousness of it all. We love you Dad!

Guess I was able to come up with a few things to say :)

A Great Day!

We're back on the roller coaster and hitting a high today! Here's to hoping it lasts. Dad is out of ICU and back in a regular room. He is in Room 217, which we decided has to have better karma than Room 223 where he's spent the last month. He is feeling the best he has felt in days. The projection is to release him from the hospital on Friday...let's hope he finally does what they tell him :)

Everyone knows Dad's love of all things beer and more than 1 recommendation has been made for hops in his feeding tube, beer in the IV, something to give him the extra push he seems to be missing so far. Since some beer could be considered 'clear liquids' we're challenging his friends in the beer making industry to create a beer flavored jello (this idea courtesy of Keith in Austrailia...yes, we've taken the global approach to his recovery). We are certain this will speed up his recovery and have him home in no time!

1 Step Forward, but too Many Back...

After making great strides toward being released from the hospital on Friday, including getting to eat some Jello, Saturday brought several huge steps backwards for Dad. It appeared the insertion of the PEG tube was a success on Friday and Dad would be released from the hospital on this upcoming Monday. But on Saturday he began running a bit of a fever. By Saturday night his fever was very high and his heart rate was speeding along at a scary clip. The hospital called Mom about 10 Saturday night to tell her they were moving him to ICU, because his heart wasn't doing what they wanted it to (whatever in the heck that means!). So, Mom, Amy, and Sue separately sped to the hospital to find the old guy not looking so great.


His fever kept increasing and his heart rate was around 155 and they couldn't get it to go down. After running a number of tests through the middle of the night to determine the problem, they called in his surgeon around 3:30 am. Even though Dad was a bit out of it, and really struggling with the heartrate, he still managed to cuss a blue streak when he heard the words 'operating room.' So, much to his dismay, back to the OR he went for a few hours this morning, while the girls had a basically sleepless night. They had to reopen almost the entire incision from the Whipple Procedure (let's all utter a collective 'ouch') and discovered that the PEG tube was leaking internally. In essence, his system was poisoning him and he had an internal infection. So, the surgeon 'washed and scrubbed his insides' and removed the PEG tube. A different type of tube was inserted from his stomach to drain it. As the surgeon said, "the new tube is stitched in so tight I could almost lift him with it." How's that for a yummy thought?

So, now where are we???? After my ridiculously optimistic string of 'hopefullys' on Friday, we'll now go with 'who knows, but here's what we want'... the new stomach drain will allow him to be released from the hospital once he's able to be up and about. He will have to still get the liquid tube feeding for food and empty the stomach drain at home, but he will get to have clear liquids, like coffee (one of his favorites, although not nearly up there with a Schlafly's beer). The bad news, since this was yet another stomach operation, the clock resets on the 10-14 day waiting period for the stomach to start working. He will have to stay in Denver, under the care of his surgeon, until the stomach starts working, so it appears that will be several more weeks.

The 2 questions I'm getting the most are: How is Mom holding up? and How much weight has Dad lost? In a nut shell, the answers are 'pretty good, all things considered' and 'a lot.' I'm more thankful for my sisters than I can say. They are constantly splitting time amongst their own families and the hospital. Mom is staying with Sue and Jeff and I'm thankful she doesn't have to go home by herself at night. Plus, Sue and Jeff are plying Mom with loads of wine and seem to know when it's a 1-glass with dinner or a get-Mom-drunk-and-put-her-to-bed kind of night. In the week I was out there we went through at least 1 case of wine. My niece and nephew's college funds could be in jeopardy if this continues, or they're going to have to switch to Boone's Farm Wine!

Dad is down about 35 pounds since most of you have seen him. We have a longtime joke in our family that Dad, over the years, grew into his ears. I have a feeling his ears are making a huge
proportional comeback. If you don't believe me, check out their wedding picture that I've added to this post. Dad was 20-30 pounds less than he is now when he got married, so they probably don't look quite as huge as they do in this picture. Mom had to have the poofy veil just to compete! Hopefully, the Jello and juice will help him put back on a few pounds, while he bides his time until egg mcmuffins and beer!

Stubborn or the Picture of Patience???

I think we all have an immediate answer to this question when it's posed about Dad. Like Mom says, "he can have patience, he just wants it now." So, apparently his stomach is as stubborn as the rest of him...he is literally stubborn through and through! The stomach won't get started doing its job until its good and ready. Therefore, the surgeon is taking a new approach. They are removing the NG tube today (YEAH!!!!!) and putting in a drain in his side to empty the stomach until it starts to fully function. The surgeon says he is making progress, he's just taking his old sweet time. So, this means what?

Dad will actually get released from the hospital, hopefully next Monday. But, he'll have to stay in Denver for about 3 weeks (hopefully) until his stomach starts working. His surgeon will not release him from his care until he can eat and the drain is removed. He still won't be able to eat because it could block the drain and his stomach won't process the food. So, he'll be bottle-fed for 12 hours a night (he's going to be pissed I phrased it like that when he reads this :)) through the existing tube feed. Mom and my sister Sue get to play nurse maid for awhile (suddenly being the only one in St. Louis throughout this process isn't seeming so bad). And to share a little gross family insight, Sue has a wicked gag reflex. She is going to love emptying the bag from the drain. She barfed on her orthodontist getting her braces put on - that was nothing compared to this. Almost wish I could see it :)

I keep using 'hopefully' to describe his timeframes, because we all know he hasn't stuck with any outline they've given him yet. He keeps choosing the 'Off the Board for 50 points' option instead of following directions. Anyone surprised??

Here's looking ahead to Monday and being released from the hospital. He's getting a little frustrated (understandably so) and therefore, we can no longer say he's getting out on good behavior. But, none the less, he's getting out!

Not taking this lying down....

Well he's sort of not taking this lying down. The good news is Dad is a man on the move! He is wandering the halls of the hospital a few times a day. They have increased his exercise in hopes that it will help the digestive system and the stomach will soon 'remember' its job. So far, not working, but at least he's getting up a bit more. Just hope he remembers to close the back of his hospital gown :)

Dad's also gotten to go outside each day. The word is that the weather in Denver has been spectactular, so they've been parking him in a wheelchair outside for an hour or so each day. [If Dad was writing his own blog, that last sentence would have gone something like this...'So they wheel my sorry ass out to the curb each day.' That's one of his favorite phrases, so I thought I'd sneak it in there.] The fresh air is definitely helping his spirits. He got outside for the first time on August 2nd - a full month after he walked in the doors of the hospital.

The stomach is still not kicking in. The waiting game continues. You know the drill...NG tube and ice chips.