Day Four after the Surgery - Sun January 10, 1999

This morning started much the same way as the last two days - the bowels! The doctor ordered an enema which was affective in cleaning the lower portion of the large intestine. The dressing was changed first and a steri-drap was taped to her lower back to help protect the dressing from chance of getting soiled. An x-ray later showed stools on the right side which was causing problems. A second enema was administered with no results. Katie was then put in the upright sitting position and Lytren started at 25cc per hour hoping to encourage the bowels to start moving the stools along. Another long day. Katie had episodes of upset and moments of peaceful sleep. Her back didn’t seem to bother her and the morphine was lowered to 1.00ml per hour. Like yesterday she had no difficulty sitting upright for hours at a time resting against her back.

This evening Katie had a surprise for us. She was comfortable and started to communicate to us using her soft beautiful voice. It was music to our ears. She still hasn’t cleared her bowels but obviously feeling a lot more comfortable. Tomorrow we expect will see the end of the bowel problem and we should ween her off morphine.