Mid-Week Joe Update

Since the weekend, things around the Lupton-Holland household have been up and down. Saturday was a good day, lots of basketball that I enjoyed and both of us got lots of rest.  In the early hours of Sunday morning, 4a.m. to be exact, the alarm on Joe's wound vac went off saying there was a blockage.  We tinkered with the pump, shook the tubing, turned everything off and on but nothing would stop the alarm.  So Joe called the Home Health Care company and within 15 minutes we had a call back from a nurse.  Her suggestion was to change the compartment that the drainage empties in to, so that is what we did and the alarm stopped and it seemed to be working again.  So since I was now awake, I watched a show recorded on the bedroom DVR until sleep came again.  We slept fairly late, rising by mid morning.  Joe seemed to be doing ok and we went about our day.  Our lunch was delivered around 11:15am (thank you Dede) and we set about doing normal Sunday business.  By mid afternoon however, the alarm on the wound vac was going off again.  We turned it off and back on a couple of times and the alarm stopped and it started pumping again.  By early evening however, the alarm went off again and this time it said there was a blockage.  So Joe called the Home Health Care company again and got a nurse call back within 5 minutes.  He talked with her on speaker for about 15 minutes and we checked all the equipment per her direction but when it came down to it, the final suggestion was to cut off the machine, remove the sponge & pump from his open incision and manually pack it with wet gauze and cover it all with dressing.  Well I'll give you 3 guesses who was going to have to do this and your first 2 don't count!  Although I had watched the nurses and doctors do this in the hospital, I had not done it myself so you might say I was not thrilled by this prospect but I did it.  Let me tell you, I really put the dressing on that incision.  I practically covered his entire torso with dressing.  I was going to be absolutely sure that there was no way any drainage got through!  This was all accomplished with my hobbling around too!  Speaking of hobbling, I went to the orthopaedic doctor on Tuesday but my foot is still much to swollen for a final verdict.  Hopefully by next week the swelling will have subsided enough that they can get a good picture with an MRI and figure out the extent of damage. Meanwhile, it's me and my big black boot & crutches! But enough about me.

On Monday, Joe did not feel well and didn't do much of anything but lay around the house all day. The nurse did come and remove my excellent packing and put in a new wound vac and got it working perfectly again. Tuesday was a much better day with Joe telling me right after I got up for work that he felt much better.  He went for a walk during the day on Tuesday and then spent time outside with Lucinda and Harrison who was mowing our lawn.  A HUGE thank you to them for doing that for us.  Although we have one of those "postage stamp" size lawns, with Joe hooked up to a wound vac pump and me on crutches, it simply wasn't going to get mowed anytime soon by either of us.

Today was another down day for Joe.  This morning he was complaining of nausea, so he took one of the nausea pills he has had since his chemo/radiation days.  Mike, Jeff W. and Artie came for their usual Wednesday lunch and Joe ate everything but by the time I got home from work at 5:15pm he was complaining of feeling sick to his stomach again and only wanted to lay on the sofa.  I had to beg & plead to get him to eat something for dinner, and he didn't eat much.

Since it has been so up and down, and today wasn't such a good day, I'm hoping tomorrow will be another good day for him.  Since the weather will be a little cooler, maybe he can spend a little time outside and get in a short walk. His appetite always seems better on the days he goes for walks.

His family is visiting on Friday, so I have my fingers crossed that he'll have a good day that day as well.  Regardless, I know that seeing them will have a positive effect emotionally and maybe that will translate to physically as well.

This coming Monday he has an appointment at Duke with his surgeon at 8am followed by an appointment with the oncologist at 9am.  At that time, maybe we will get a better idea of when his chemo will begin again and what that schedule is going to be like.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out to both of us to offer assistance, prayers and support.  We do feel truly blessed to have so many friends and family in our corner.