Back to "Normal"

This will probably be my last Rubin update for a while and then my blog will be back to my stupid stories. He went to a new doctor today and he really likes him. They took him off of 2 of the medications b/c he was taking 2 steroids and 2 anti-inflammatory drugs and he said there is no reason to be on all of them. He also reduced the dosage of the steroid he is on, which will be tapered off until he isn't taking it anymore. There is one drug they want him to stay on long-term, but he has no long term diet restrictions at all - just low fiber for another week or 2 until he is healed completely.
On another note - Brayden lost a toy car yesterday and when I asked him where it went, he said "Ugh...Cameron took it". How does he know to already blame things on his brother - he's not even born yet!!

He's Home!!!

Rubin was finally released today around 12:30. We just got home after picking Brayden up from his parents and filling his EIGHT prescriptions. He is feeling great. When I got to the hospital to pick him up, he was standing in his room with everything packed up and was practically singing and dancing. I'm pretty sure that if the nurse had taken 5 minutes longer he just would have ripped the IV out of his arm and left on his own. They gave him a copy of all of his medical records so he can take them to a new doctor when he leaves. The only thing we don't have is the biopsy result that confirms that he has Crohn's. I am getting ready to sort through his medications and read the instructions to compile a spreadsheet for him. One has to be taken an hour before he eats, another has to be taken on a full stomach, one can't have any exposure to alcohol (not just drinking but like salad dressings, wine sauces and even aftershave - no exposure at all), and one of the steroids is like 4 pills a day for 2 weeks, then 3 pills for a week, etc until he weans himself off. Thank you for all of your prayers! I am so excited to have my hubby home!!!

He just texted me and said they have moved him back to clear liquids because he is experiencing pain since being on full liquids. I just called him and he is getting very frustrated and says that if they don't release him tomorrow he's breaking out. Hopefully the doctor will have better news in the morning. Please pray that he is able to come home. He is very anxious to see a different doctor - we both agree that this guy is not someone we would ever choose to see again, but right now feel that we are stuck with him until he gets out of the hospital. He is going to ask the nurses if there is anyone else there that he can see instead, but at this point we don't know if that will happen.

Things have been going pretty well today. Rubin went for over 12 hours without any pain medication, so the steroids are obviously working. He has progressed to a full liquid diet and has added cream of potato soup and ice cream to the other things he was eating. Since switching to those, he has started to have a little more pain, but the nurses say that is normal because the area is still inflamed - it's getting better but not healed yet. They are still saying that he can probably go home tomorrow. He is determined for that to happen, so I hope they don't change anything and decide he needs one more day. Thank you all so much for the prayers - they are obviously working because we weren't planning on him getting to come home until Monday or Tuesday! It looks like he might even get to have turkey on Thanksgiving now! I will update tomorrow once we know something - they don't have a time frame yet for when the doctor will be by to decide if he gets released or not but we are hoping for late morning/early afternoon.

Good News!

The GI doctor just came in to check on him. He is progressing him to a full liquid diet, and said that he is going to keep him on oral steroids for probably a month to make sure they get all of the inflammation gone. He will be on a low fiber diet for at least 2 weeks once he goes home and will have to follow up with several doctors visits to determine the other ways they will treat the Crohn's. We are not a fan of this doctor, so Rubin is planning to follow up with someone else once he leaves here...which could be TOMORROW!! We were planning on Tuesday, so if he could go home tomorrow that would be wonderful. We still have to talk to the other doctor (who will interpret what this GI doc actually said to us - he is horrible at explaining things) and she should be by anytime. If anyone knows of a good GI specialist please share! It sounds like Rubin will have to become good friends with one from now on...

Friday

So far this morning he is feeling much better. I got here around 8:30 and he was up and on the computer. He said he slept like a baby last night, so they either didn't come in as much throughout the night, or they did and he slept through it. His pain is much better, and he just scarfed down 2 popsicles and some jello. We are watching Oprah now, and when it's over he wants to go take a shower. He is really hoping for the ice cream, and I'm sure they'll let him move up to the full liquids since he is doing so much better today. Hopefully the doctor will come in sometime this morning/early afternoon and give us an update. I'm not sure how they are going to monitor if his inflammation is going down - they are taking his blood daily, so I'm sure they are using that to monitor it, but I don't know if they'll do another set of x-rays in a couple of days to be able to see everything.

Thursday recap

They have started Rubin on the steroids and so far today he has been able to eat jello, chicken broth, and a popsicle. He has actually had 2 "helpings" of each so that's good. He seems to have an appetite again and is able to eat those without feeling nauseous. Hopefully tomorrow they will progress him to a full liquid diet (he is still currently on clear liquids) and he can add pudding, yogurt, ice cream, and various other things to the mix. He is very ready for that to happen and can't wait for ice cream! I know they are treating him as Crohn's and everyone is pretty certain that's what it is, but I still would like to have the official test results so we know for sure what is going on. It hopefully won't be too much longer before we know.
I'm home tonight with Brayden and will be taking him to daycare in the morning and heading back to the hospital. I feel bad leaving him there alone with no one to talk to and nothing to do, but we need to make sure Brayden has some sort of a normal routine for at least a couple of days. I brought Brayden to see him at the hospital and he did better tonight than he did on Tuesday. He keeps saying "Daddy's too sick" and doesn't seem to really like hanging out in the hospital room, but he stayed for about an hour tonight and did okay. I'll take him back over a few times this weekend. Rubin really misses him.