Day 64 - Thursday February 16, 2012

Today Bridgett got the peg removed!  Originally her appointment was for 3:00 in the afternoon and she wasn't supposed to eat after midnight.  That seemed challenging to me since with the TBI it might be hard for her to understand that she shouldn't eat. I asked them to let me know if there was a cancellation.  They called back later on and said she could have clear liquids until 9:00 a.m. which would help a little.  Then yesterday they called and said they had a cancellation at 11:30, which was during her appointment with the primary care physician in American Fork.  I took a chance and said we'd take it, then called and cancelled the appointment with Dr. Hafen in American Fork, explaining why.  They said they had a cancellation for 2:00 so we could come then.  So, basically we just flip flopped appointments!  Since I kept her up late, I let her sleep in until 10:15, then woke her up and got her showered and dressed.  She mostly does these things, I just assist since she can't see well and also, for safety in the shower.  Most of her clothes don't have tags, just printed info on the back.  With her low vision, she can tell which was is front or back to get dressed.  Rebecca at the U of U rehab told me that although she needs to be independent, until they get some of her vision challenges out of the way, I need to hand her clothes to her ready to put on.   Anyway, we headed to the hospital to meet Dr. Bodily to have the peg tube removed.  We got there early and did lots of paperwork (11:15), put some lidocaine ointment (topical for pain) on the peg site and waited until they called us back at 11:30.  They got her vitals and reviewed the paperwork, explained the procedure and prepped her.  They told us that she was his first appointment and he'd be in about 12:00.  He showed up at 12:10 and again explained the procedure, telling her that it would hurt badly and feel like she got kicked in the stomach by a horse.  He placed his hands around the peg tube and said do you want me to warn you or just do it.   She started to say just do it and he did it--pulled (yanked) hard and it came out.  She didn't make a noise.  She just looked at him and said that really hurt.  He said I know but it will feel a little better in 30 seconds.  He waited for a bit and asked does it feel any better.  Yes, she said, but it still hurts.  No crying, no whimper, no tears. YES!  Also, celebration because in nine weeks she didn't pull out any tubes or wires!!  Whew and woohoo!  They said it would be good if it bled, so the body knows to start repairing right away.  It did bleed and then the dressing they placed got some blood on it but not enough to change the dressing before the 24 hours.  For those of you wondering, yes the stomach will stay anchored to the abdominal wall forever.  That's one of the bad things about the peg (I think).  They still insist that there are no negative long term problems, but she's had pain for the past four weeks at the peg site, so we'll see.  They instructed her to not eat for an hour.  We went home for about 45 minutes, and then it was time to leave to American Fork to see Dr. David Hafen.  We took a yogurt and a piece of toast with us, as she didn't feel like eating.  When we got to the waiting room, she ate the yogurt and 1/2 of the toast.  We brought her medical records with us which consist of 159 pages from Provo and 57 from U of U (these are not comprehensive, just a summary).   Also, she has seven cd's of imaging (MRI, CT's and x-rays).  Dr. Hafen asked for a copy of her records which we offered and he declined.  Too much to review for sure!  He asked just for the summary pages from each hospital.  We had a good appointment there and he ordered some blood tests.  We took Bridgett downstairs to the lab.  The first gal tried both arms and couldn't get any blood.  I told them before they tried that she had been fasting and was very dehydrated.  They still tried.  She called in a second gal who tried the back of both wrists.  Then we made them stop and said we'd come back next week on the way to or from Salt Lake.  We bundled Bridgett up and brought her home to rest and relax.  Her stomach continued to hurt so she had a little soup for dinner and hit the hay early.  Hopefully by tomorrow she will be feeling better.