Update on Bill

Hi Deb here again to update on Bill's progress. It is now 2 weeks that he has been in the ICU. He is still on the ventilator and very slowly progressing in a good way every day. They operated again on him yesterday in the OR. His vent settings are down to 40% and a peep of 8 (down from 100%, 20 Peep)So they felt he was stable enough to go to the OR. So after being given a time line of about 2 hours for the surgery(which was to close up his open stomach wound) it actually took about 5 hours, the last 2 of which I do not know how I survived let only Bill. He had an abcess that was carefully removed from his colon, and a mesh screen was put in for support. They closed him up inside but left the outside skin to heal on its own. They are still saying his colon and intestines is paper thin. Does anyone know what that means and if that gets better over time? How will he be able to eat? I wish I could talk directly to the Dr. but by the time I get there after work there is no one around but nurses. And somehow info gets distorted when I get it from his Mom. Just spoke with his Mom who is at the ICU with him. He is alert this morning and they have turned off the vent for awhile to see how he does. They will turn it back on if he gets tired and will be doing this for the next couple of days. I can't wait to go see him and have him know I am there and respond to me. IT has been 2 weeks from hell. As I watched him go from totally swollen with fluids to sunken in cheeks and still swollen hands and feet. He was very thin to begin with I can't imagine what he weighs now.
Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes. I do not think he is out of the woods yet and has a very long road ahead. He has another colostomy on the other side now, and the Dr won't even condider reversing it for at least a year. He hated having a bag and couldn't wait until the reversal. I wonder how he will deal with this news. Hopefully he will realize how ill he was from the blockage that came from doing the reversal and the subsequent rupturing of his colon. Only time will tell. Keep the prayers coming as I will keep all of you in my prayers as well.
Deb