Tam in Hospital Part 2, the Colectomy

Last night around 9:30PM Tam complained of generalized, severe, achy abdominal pain after taking Tess to the Gymboree, rehearsing the kids at Riverside, teaching and rehearsing at the Ballet, and finally holding Tess long enough for me to add tea to the Coffee Shop’s site. She went to the ER and I went home with the baby.
After an upper GI sometime in the wee hours and a sleepless night I got a call at 7:00AM telling me Tam was about to wheeled off to surgery. No one really told us what if she had an appendicitis, or what. I didn’t even have time to collect the baby and get over there to see her off. It really sucked. I called everybody and Tam’s folks rushed up here to help out. My Mom and Dad are on the way and should be here any minute.
I guess the thing that was most disturbing was the lack of information from the folks at the hospital. My patience was definitely being tested. I even called my Uncle Johnny (head of emergency services at a major hosipital in Gulf Breeze). He offered the nuclear option of giving the good folks at Northeast Georgia Regional Medical Center his phone number. Finally, it was around 2:00 or 3:00PM that we were finally visited by the Physician’s Assistant. Here’s the latest:
Tam had a ruptered diverticulum. They removed the offending area and have sent the specimen to pathology. The results should be back in about three days, but the Docs are convinced it was simply a ruptured diverticulum. Tam will be in the hospital for at least four days, long enough for her ‘bowels to wake up’. How pleasant. BTW, she doesn’t have a ‘bag’ and is only catheterized (only). She’s on enough morphine and Phenergan to get a spot on Wild Kingdom. In other words, she’s pretty miserable.
Miss Kim and Vincas were very sweet during their quick visit, but I think we might want to give her at least another day to recuperate. There’s plenty of activity in the room with the baby and family. I will keep everyone posted here and try to return calls as soon as I can. For now, let me tell you that Tammy appreciates your kinds thoughts and prayers. It looks like she’s going to be A-OK and we’ll just have to keep a close eye on her diet and try not to stress her out. (The stress part applies especially to me)!

One thought on “Tam in Hospital Part 2, the Colectomy

  1. Benjie Westafer

    More details….
    The area removed from Tam was about one foot in length, and they did in fact take out her appendix. She’s feeling much better, has her catheter out and should start walking around soon. The funny part to this is the next milestone for her is to break wind. Isn’t that something? Once she trumpets forth a good one, it will be time for her to have food. They are trying her on little sips of liquid until then.

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