Eight Days: Day Three and Four

I had every intention of getting up early on that Wednesday but I ended up sleeping until 8:30. I had my alarm set but I think I shut it off in a sleepy daze and went back to sleep for another hour. My mom and Barb both convinced me that I needed the sleep but I was a little mad at myself for oversleeping. We got to the hospital around 9:30 and saw that Andy had already swallowed the pill camera and it was snapping pictures inside him like the paparazzi trailing the celeb du jour. He was still in the CCU but they were going to move him to a regular room at some point during the day. We decided to sit and chat for a bit but by 11:30 he seemed to need a nap so we opted to head out for lunch.

We headed to the Cracker Barrel, which had sounded good to everyone. On the drive there my mom had decided that since Andy was looking so much better and being moved out of the CCU she could probably go home. I didn't want her to go but I knew she needed to get back to work. Barb had also mulled over the idea of leaving, since it seemed Andy was on the mend and there wasn't a lot to do besides wait. We all had a delicious lunch then headed back to the house to check on the dogs and I also wanted to do some cleaning. Around 1:30 I got a text from Andy saying he was being moved and letting me know his new room number. I was pretty excited so we decided to head back to the hospital pretty quickly. We all decided to drive separately this time because the moms had both decided to head home and I was going to stay at the hospital for a while.

When we got there we checked Andy's new room but he wasn't there. I asked a nurse at the station where he was and after some phone calls we found out they had decided to take him down to the nuclear lab to do another test. We were told it was going to be about thirty minutes, my mom was anxious to get going so she decided to head out. Barb and I waited in the family waiting area until Andy texted to say he was back in his room.

It was amazing how different he looked that afternoon, he was brighter and his complexion wasn't so pale, I could just tell he was feeling better. I think the fact that he was going to be allowed to eat that night was also a big help as he hadn't eaten since Monday morning. Barb and I visited for a while and found out that the nuclear test they were doing was to see if Andy had a rare birth defect called Meckle's Diverticulum. Andy was fairly certain that wasn't it because it was so rare and most symptoms appear before the age of two, but the doctor hadn't found anything yet so it was worth a shot. We wouldn't have the results of that test until later in the day or the next morning. Barb left after a short visit so she could get home before it got dark, which left just Andy and I for the rest of the afternoon. I didn't actually stay much longer because I wanted to take a nap and decompress a bit. I told Andy I would come back after dinner .

To be honest, Wednesday evening is a bit fuzzy in my mind. I know I went home and tried to nap, I got some food at some point and I went back to the hospital. I'll blame the total lack of sleep for this and skip ahead to Thursday

The biggest news came on Thursday, which was good because I got up super early and got to the hospital before the doctor came in to talk to Andy.The tests results from the day before concluded that Andy had a congenital defect called Meckel's Diverticulum.  Basically, somewhere in his small intestine was a small area where there were stomach and pancreatic cells, these cells act like the stomach, producing stomach acid which had eroded Andy's small intestine and caused the bleeding. Why it waited 32 years to become symptomatic they didn't know but they did know that this meant that he would have to have surgery. The doctor said the surgeon would be in at some point during the day to talk to him.Unfortunately the surgeon didn't stop by until after 11:00PM Thursday night because there was some miscommunication and I had gone home and to bed at that point. With a fairly definitive diagnosis I felt comfortable going into work that night, but spent the majority of the day at the hospital with Andy and came back before I went home for the night.