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He is off all IVs. The cath they had put in when under they took out yesterday. Out is less painful than in. But not totally painless. So... Um... The pond was not draining. They did an ultra sound of the bladder. And ah... Yeah... That cath had to go back in! He put out 1000ml within minutes. They take it out again tonight at midnight. IF he can empty the flood zone he gets to go home sunday with out the cath. If the pond cant empty, he gets to go home WITH the cath bag ON. Oh happy happy joy joy! Yeah... This one is boarder line TMI (Too much information) but he is apparently going home (to haverhill) SUNDAY.

hi!

Today was a bit quieter. When I arrived he was walking, then a bout of pain, then he found that some positions work better than others. I gave out his phone number in the blog while he was sleeping.. so of course I didn't have the phone in a convenient place for him to answer it!!! He made a sudden move to get it and ended up in pain. Ah well. The phone is near him for all other calls. I went to dinner with his family (E, C, B, A) and his aunt and uncle (E&S). They are going to have Dave try toast tomorrow. He is consuming fluids at a mild to moderate rate. Liam is arriving on Saturday for his visit with my folks. If the hospital is going to have him going home on Sunday they will need to have him onto only pill form pain meds by then. I don't feel tired but my typing is kind of goofy. So, I will hit the hay. Good night!

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Dave has his ups and downs but there have been improvements. Im even going to so far as to say that he can handle phone calls or visitors. So if you want to do that you can. His phone number is 617-726-4839. And if visiting he is in the building named White. 7th floor. Room 22 near the nurses station. Liam is arriving with my folks on saturday afternoon. He might be discharged on sunday or monday. Then he heads to either haverhill or salisbury for a week. Then back to CT for the rest of his recovery.

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Kerri slept 10 hours last night. Got to his room at 930. He was not there. He was out walking turtle speed. He says his walk started out fine. He was in acute pain when i met upwith him. He said i was the stoma site the was where the pain was. At almost the same time someone from the pain mgt team was here. Since Dave was up she checked the epidural. It was not into him at all. Nobody knows when it fell out but we think it was early on since he had so much pain after surgery. While walking the bag was falling off. The nurse goes to put a new bag on. I found a flash light to hold since she was not able to see all that well. While all this is going on we got a wonderful phone call. Dave was selected for promotion! !

Time settings

I had a moment at the hotel to go through this blogger site yet again. I stumbled upon (FINALLY) the place to set your time zone. I hope that when this posts, the computer will now automatically put in the time that it says on my wrist watch! Sorry for any confusion that this time setting problem has caused. I re-read all of my blogs for today. Funny how they all sort of sound the same. I am looking forward to seeing him tomorrow (Friday) to see what he can do now that he seems to be over the largest of the humps (so to speak). Thanks for reading the blog. Even when it is boring and repetative!

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Someone was asking what the injected shot was. Its Tolodol. Good stuff!

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While the fam was visiting there has been a huge improvement in Dave. He is quoting from Monty Python and arguing about the date that Dr. Who first aired on tv. He's back! The drug cocktail is WORKING. He has to do breathing exercises. It was tough slow work this morning. Now its a small annoying cake walk. I am going to stay until he gets the next injection between 730 and 800. Then hit the hay.

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• (3:06) at 230 the nurse got his shot in him. The injection lasts 6 hours. He is finally in a state of relaxation enough that he can rest. It was a long process to get his pain assessed, new med plan made up, get it approved, and finally get the meds into him. At 330 they are going to get him into a chair for a few hours. Then his folks (C, E, B, A) will be arriving. And at some point i have to pay the ransom to the parking garage and go find that pillow!

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The pain mgt folks came. They upped how much drugs he can get each 10 min when he hits the button. They will get approval for an additional medication for the IV. After they upped the Meds i left to get hotel info. Now that i am back he looks peacefully drugged. Resting finally. Last night and this morning he was unsettled. So the pain Meds are working maybe. Oh, uncle ed- Carolyn said you asked about where i will be staying. I will be 2 miles away at the La Quinta. It is at 23 Cummings St in Somerville. Last night was in stone ham but that was just for last night.

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945am. It seems the epidural just isnt cutting the mustard! They had him sit up at the edge of the bed. He was going to move to a recliner chair. The pain got bad. He laid back down until the pain management people can do their bit. 945am

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8:35 am Its hard to explain his condition. He is fine and not going through anything unexpected. He is in some pain. The nurse has called the pain management staff which are not here yet. But he does have moments where he rests calmly and may be sleeping. He is not SO out of it. He still cared about the Red Sox scores! 8:35am

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He looks great. He is in and out. Complains of pain but then falls asleep mid sentence. If he was in more pain he would not sleep. Not sure what time i will leave. The others left after they saw that he was okay and settled. No more blogging from of tonight. 9:40pm

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Laughing! We are upstairs but we beat him up here... So we are sitting in another waiting room. At least this one has a TV. Sigh... The wait continues. 8:53

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Finally going up! 8:40

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So the nurse came by and said Dave is still asleep in the recovery room. They wont even move him upstairs until he wakes up. The time is now 7:54pm

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I am staying tonight at a hotel that a friend provided. She travels a huge amount so she has a lot of frequent points. It was a relief to in through today with all that not on my mind. For all the other nights i have a room i found through the hospitals system. That one is 2 miles away with a shuttle to the hospital. And it is only $59 for the night. .... I hope he gets to a room soon. Boredom setting in.

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Oops. That last blog was actually at 4:20pm. That is actually when i spoke to the dr. . I thought i had heard he would be in recovery for an hour or two. Humm... Selective hearing. It is now 7pm. He is still supposedly in recovery... Not in a room. We cant go up till we get the go ahead. We are just mindless waiting.

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Ok! We have heard from the doctor. Daves surgery is done. All went according to plan. He is in recovery. We dont get to see him until he is moved into a room upstairs.

Early

Spirits are good. Dave was calm and joking around with the nurses. Ed (his Dad), Carolyn (his mom), Beth and Allison (his sisters) are here. Liam is with May&Charlie (Kerri's Folks). Liam was so good going with them. He understood that he was going there for a week while Daddy's Doctors did the surgery. They took Dave into the operating room a bit early. He may be out as soon as 3:00. The operating room is reserved for 4.5 hours but the procedure does not always take that long. Every time we have told a nurse that Dr. Shellito is doing the procedure, they say that he is fantastic and he is the one they would choose for themselves. I will blog more later.

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It took us two hours to get here but we are here on time. (10am)

The Sign Said:

I was driving today and saw a sign in front of a Church. You know the kind I mean. They change, but always say something that gets you either smiling or thinking. Now, before I say what the sign said, I first have to preface this. Dave and I are very fortunate to have friends from all walks of life. They are in different places on their spiritual journey, some are on a totally different path entirely! So I will express this idea as encompassing as possible so as to be able to really connect with as many of our friends as possible with this idea. So stick with me as I try to explain. The sign read this, "Web of Blessing." Many friends have gotten in touch over the last few days to let us know that we will be in their thoughts and prayers. I am going to stick my neck out actually ask for a bit from everyone. Blame it on that church sign. But using this web space - creating a network of Blessing - A deliberate co-ordination. Starting when you read this, until Monday morning when we expect Dave to be released from the hospital, please think of Dave. Picture him in your mind, - Healthy, happy, peaceful, smiling, and then either pray for him, or send him a wave of love over the distance. Here are some ideas: Put a string around a finger. If you are at home, maybe you can set an alarm to go off at some odd time once or twice a day. Or a photo of us moved to a place you will see it. I think of my friend T.G-F that just had a baby, maybe put something where you sit to nurse. I think of friends in offices, maybe you could put a post-it note on your phone or computer with the letter "D" on it or something. In the mean time, Please check back over the next few days regularly. I can type blogs on my cell phone while sitting in a waiting room. (gotta love technology). Also, please note that the time the "blog" says I blogged is for some dumb reason always wrong. I guess the folks that created it must live in California. I will try to put a time in when I type. (currently about 8pm here on Tuesday night). Thanks for all our friends that have been praying for us. Thanks for all those who have said they would have us in their thoughts and prayers over the next few days. And thanks also to those who, after reading this, do something to bring us to mind and allow us to interrupt their thoughts with this idea of creating a "web of blessing" to bring a speedy recovery to Dave. On a very sweet and pure happy note I will end this. Liam talks about his Angel. He said that his Angel is going to stay with him, but he is asking his Angel to send the other Angels to Boston to take care of Daddy.

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We are up at Daves folks beach house. Been there almost a week now. Currently i am at the laundry matt. We have been able to spend time with susanne and the knights. Both fantastic visits. The wx has been wonderful. Family reunion party sunday. Tuesday Dave has to drink a gallon of stuff to clean the pipes. That joy begins at 2pm. We spoke to someone that just had this procedure. From that --- I am going to suggest that phone calls and visitors to the hospital be minimum if at all. The pain Meds we have him really out of it. With all the tubes running in and out of his body its tough to handle a phone cord. He will be in Haverhill for one week after he gets out of the hospital. Then he is back to CT for the remainder of his recovery. This is a three phase process. A week from now we can say "two down, one to go! " which i am looking forward to!

Beach House

We are heading out to his folk's beach house on Sunday until the surgery. We will have limited internet access and only some cell phone reception. He will have surgery Sept 5th then be in the hospital for 4 days. I don't know if he gets discharged Sunday the 9th or Monday the 10th. It might be a good thing to keep phone calls and visitors to a minium when he is in the hospital. Then we stay at his folks house for a week, then return to CT. Very few Cadets have known what is going on. One of the guys in the office was asked during class what was up with Mr. G, so this co-worker went ahead and told the entire classroom of students. By now, the entire corp of cadets (translation:every student) probably knows... which is not how we had planned on handling this. Dave is not upset per say, but... it still feels awkward for me. I just hope they are on to worrying about something else before we get back.

Results

The CAT scan results look good. The pre-op appointment went well. He met the Stoma Nurse. Blood work all looks good. Is feeling healthy and looking healthy. Surgery is Sept 5th and I will blog on that day and frequently after that. Still settling into the house. Found 2 bats flying around in the upstairs hall way the other night. We think they came up from the open basement door... so that will be remaining CLOSED! Feel free to call. We still have the cell phone, and we have our old home number back!

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Bats... Wonderful creatures to watch at dusk as they swoop up sounds of insects. They do carry rabies. So you dont want them to even brush your skin... Even when they swoop down at you from the hall outside your bedroom door at mid night. One was caught and released outside. The other dived in the basement... We slammed the door!

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Pre op appt went okay. Also met the "stoma" nurse. That is sort of a not so fun aspect though temporary thing to learn about. Then we met w the Oncology dept. His tumor has shrunk, no signs of it having popped up anywhere else. Blood work looks good. Our next trip to boston is the day of the surgery.

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The good news is that my broken toe is healing just fine. The bad news is I badly sprained my ankle yesterday. I will be on crutches for a few days and a walking boot for a few weeks. Dave is doing great. Liam is as cute as ever.

Quirky details about the new house

Dave has a CAT scan tomorrow. We get the results next week. They are calling this "a new base line scan" but Dave is nervous anyways. He is doing well and is managing to work enough to avoid any unpacking. Yup, our moving truck arrived. Two of them. We have pathways in the box castle! Quirks to this new place have popped up. First off, the fact that we have no driveway, mailbox, and are not viewable from the road has posed some problems. Liam and I made some signs which should help folks (pizza delivery, UPS "Brown", Cable Company, ... all be able to find us). But all in all things are settling in. I think we need a dumpster. We don't really need to unpack everything, just put it in the dumpster.

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The movers left at 3. It is 4 here now. Its going to take awhile to find a place for everything... Even if it is a trash can that it needs. Dave is at a training but i had a friend help w inventory and borrowed some kids for Liam to play with. Dave is doing rather well. I think getting settled here will help us feel more ready for surgery... Less on edge. More at peace. Its hot. Im going to get my suit on and go look really silly in the kiddie pool out back. Then if i can find the shampoo and towels i will get a shower too. We are taking Liam to the CT suns basket call game tonight.

Cute stuff.

Liam thinks that dandelions (those yellow weed flowers) that have gone to seed (turned to puff balls) ... if you blow on them you can make a wish. He always wishes for a baby. And then at bed time he prays for "the baby" like its just hanging out waiting for its turn to come to our lives. Sometimes its hard to hear him want one so bad. Some days it is inspiring. Other days its just heart wrenching. And then other days I wonder how the hell I could deal with a second when I need a break from the first one so frequently. I have been over at the new crash pad getting it ready. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday scrubbing the old hard wood floors that are in the dining room and living room. Bucket after bucket of black water! Ew! My knees have bruises from kneeling so much. My wrists and shoulders hurt from scrubbing. But it needed it and I feel better. The new washer and dryer show up on Monday. The moving truck shows up on Tuesday. Liam likes the new house because he is free to use the adjacent church parking lot for bike riding, basketball (Liam can dribble while walking and running), and side walk chalk. He had lots of grass at the old place but not so much flat hard play area. Its good. Yesterday I figured out there was no mail box. Went down to the post office and signed up for a PO Box. We are now officially at an address I won't put in the blog. Its too public. Gotta protect some privacy. But email me and I will reply with it. Did I mention before that our old home phone number will be the same. I don't have a phone. The movers have those. I hope to come across it next week. Also stopped by the fire station. It went something like this: "Say, I just rented a house that has no drive way, can't be seen from the road, does not have a mail box out on the road, and does not have any house numbers on it. I want to make sure you guys can find me if I need you" "Okay, whats the address?" "142-R Old Norwich Road" "Do you access that from ____ road?" "nope" "oh, then you must have to access it from ____ road" "nope but starting to feel glad I stopped by. The only way to get to it is to go into the church parking lot and it is off the South-West corner of the lot" "no way! that has to be illegal! I didn't know there was a house back there and I have been working here 10 years!" "well, if it is illegal, I am just renting! But can you drive by just to see where it is just so someone knows?" "I'll do better than that, I will get the info written down, and call dispatch. If you call 911, it will pull up your address but also directions for access." He later took the fire truck for a drive and came up to see it for himself. (We happened to be there. Liam really liked that!) I have been working on teaching Liam how to call 911 and also when it is appropriate. He may figure out how to dial it if he needs to, but he won't be able to give directions. I take that back, he probably would try to give directions. But when he says "Baptist Church" it does not come out clear enough for him to probably be understood over the phone. That and he would probably try to do sign language and think the guy on the phone can see him so as to understand. He does that sometimes!