2:45 pm - He's Back!

He's back and the doctor just came in. His colon looks good, but his small intestine is very inflamed and swollen to the point that nothing can get through. They won't have the biopsy results for another 2-3 days. He will be here again definitely overnight tonight and will be on a liquid only diet. They are going to start him on medication to reduce the inflammation and are going to do more tests to rule out other possibilities. They are still pretty sure it's Crohn's. They just came up to get him to take him down for a chest x-ray and a barium test. The barium test will hopefully show the inside of his small intestine better - they could not get the scope through in the colonoscopy b/c of the swelling. The chest x-ray is just a precaution to make sure he doesn't have pneumonia or some other infection. Once he gets back from there, they will do blood work. If the antibiotic does not reduce the swelling and relieve his pain, then they will try a steroid to see if that helps. He will be in the hospital until he is able to keep down food and his pain is under control. The doctor will be back in the morning to talk about the results of these other tests. I guess at this point it's still a waiting game. They kind of threw a lot of information at us all at once, so I'm sure I'm leaving something out. I will update as I remember things, and feel free to ask questions - I will answer them the best I can.

Update 1:45pm

They just came and got him and said he should be back in 30-45 minutes. I'm going to eat while he's gone - the poor guy is hungry and wants a cheeseburger/chicken fingers (although I'm sure that's the last thing they would advise him to eat at this point) so I don't want to eat in front of him. Will update with fun stories of the crazy things he says while drugged up!

Update 12:30pm

The nurse just gave him another dose of pain meds and said that it will probaly be another 1/2 hour before they come get him. So I guess now we're looking at him being out sometime around 2:00 and will hopefully see the doctor shortly after that with the results.

Rubin

Most of you already know, and some don't, that Rubin is in the hospital. I have been trying to follow up with everyone's emails and phone calls but I don't remember who I have told what to. I will try to update here anytime we hear something new so you can all look to one place for the latest. First, I will start this one from the beginning so everyone can be caught up:

Monday: Rubin woke up that morning and was sick and throwing up. We thought it was just a stomach bug and went on about our day - I went to work and he actually even went to a meeting. I had a meeting scheduled for Mon night but stopped by on my way home to check on him. He was still throwing up, had a fever and chills, and had a very sharp pain in his stomach. It was mostly on the right side so I was concerned about his appendix and we decided to come to the ER. We came to Rush Copley and they did an ultrasound to check his gall bladder and it came back fine, so they did a cat scan to check his kidney and appendix, and both of them were also fine, but they noticed some inflammation in his small intestine and wanted to do more testing. He said that they could send him home and do outpatient tests, but since he was in so much pain they wanted to keep him overnight so he could stay comfortable. I think we finally got this news sometime after midnight. I finally went home to sleep for a few hours (we live across the street from the hospital).

Tuesday: A GI specialist came to see him early in the morning, and I missed him b/c I was home showering and getting ready to come back over for the day. They scheduled a colonoscopy for Wed. He said it could just be an infection that can be treated with antibiotics, but they have to rule out anything more serious. He mentioned Crohn's disease as a possibility. Later Tues afternoon the general hospital doctor came in to see him. She said that from looking at the cat scan, it looks like Crohn's to her. She said there is a partial blockage of his small intestine, and that is most likely what is causing him so much pain. The other problems she said look like they have been there for a long time and he has just never recognized that he has had symptoms. Most of the day Tues was just spent sitting and waiting. He is on pain and nausea medication and an IV. He hasn't had anything to eat since Sunday and tried to eat a little italian ice yesterday (one of the approved "clear liquid diet" items) and he felt sick after just a couple of bites, so he hasn't tried anything else. He had to drink a gallon of the fun colon cleansing stuff last night as prep for the colonoscopy today.

Wednesday: So far this morning we are just waiting for the procedure. He is scheduled to go in at 12:30 for the prep and they said it shouldn't take more than an hour. They will do a colonoscopy and several biopsies, and this should tell them anything they need to know. They have said that he could possibly go home today, but it doesn't sound like he will be able to. Since he hasn't had anything to eat in 3 days, they are going to have to start him off with a clear liquid diet and gradually progress to solid foods, and he can't go home until he is able to keep them down. He is also still in severe pain so that is still a concern.

I will update more after we hear the results of the procedure - probably sometime this afternoon. If you are like everyone else I have talked to and are saying "What is Crohn's disease? I've heard of it but don't know what it is", check out this website. http://mayoclinic.com/health/crohns-disease/DS00104
I have obviously been reading a lot about it the past few days and I think this is the best website to give the basic info and isn't so scientific that you can't understand it.

I have my laptop and they have free wi-fi, so feel free to email etc. I'll be here all day. We appreciate all of your prayers and are just very anxious to find an answer and know what the next step will be.

Layouts

Why do I lose my thingy on the side every time I change my layout/background? I save the blogs I read there for a reason - because I don't know the websites individually. I changed my background today, going for a more "fall" look, and had to go find everyone's blogs again and set up the list. I am going to want to change it again in a couple of weeks for Christmas - how do I keep this from happening next time?

Survey Results

It was super close, and over 75 people voted, which is crazy! Thank you to everyone who voted and we are really excited with the winning name! We have both always really liked the name Tyler, and it has been one of our top choices as a first name with both kids. Since Rubin says we aren't having any more kids, I'm glad we are going to use it now.

1. Which name do you like best? Think of all 3 names together, and please vote only once!! :)

Cameron Tyler Chrisman 27.6% 21
Cameron Carter Chrisman 17.1% 13 (We still really think this one is cute)
Cameron Evan Chrisman 5.3% 4
Cameron Jordan Chrisman 7.9% 6
Cameron Ryan Chrisman 26.3% 20 (Soooo close!)
Cameron Richard Chrisman 18.4% 14 (Sorry Daddy, but you got a lot of votes!!)

answered question 76

Big Boy Party

Today we had a "Big Boy Party" for Brayden. Yes, our 3 and 1/2 year old has still been sleeping (note, sleeping only) with a pacifier. He was really having a hard time giving it up, so we decided to make it a big production. Anytime he gets a balloon, he wants to let it go and watch it fly, so we decided to tie the paci to a balloon and send it flying. We have been talking about it for a couple of weeks to get him ready for it and he was really excited. We decided that today would be the day so we have all weekend to deal with the crankiness before he has to go back to daycare and we have to go to work. We made a big deal out of him being a big boy and had a little party to celebrate. He got a cake and a new toy. Now we're praying that it goes over well. I know that he will still ask for it when he goes to bed, but we're hoping that instead of telling him "No, you can't have it anymore" or "We threw it away", the explanation that it flew away with the balloons and is up in the clouds now will go over a little better, especially since he watched it disappear. Pray that I get some sleep these next few nights - I'm already having a hard enough time sleeping as it is...