'Oh, Shit!'

Just when I thought that things were getting dull and that I didn't have anything to write about nd exactly 24 hours after Abby joked with me whether I wanted the Bertucci's coupons from the Sunday Globe, those were the words that I heard from Ellie’s room this morning as Abby and our visiting nurse did their twice weekly check up on Ellie’s plumbing.

Oh, shit isn’t the best thing to hear as they do sterile procedures and when Abby yelled down the stairs to get the ‘go bag’ ready. I knew as I bounded up the stairs that one of two things had happened: either her line was broken or her ostomy had prolapsed again. Both earn us a complimentary trip to 300 Longwood Avenue.

The first had happened. Sort of. While doing another procedure, Ellie had grabbed hold of her central line and pulled on it. Hard. This separated the thin interior tube from the beefier exterior tube and the whole thing had slipped about 2 inches out. Since the other end of the line is in a major blood vessel near her heart, we knew that the placement of the business end was important. Since the meds and TPN that go in are very concentrated it needs to be placed correctly.

Abby and the nurse finished up and got Ellie ready to go while I packed three bags of essentials, called the hospital, and called in sick. At just after 10 this morning we were rolling towards Boston.

One of the funny things about Abby and I and our limited experience is that instead of worrying or having any anxiety about the issue, we were wagering about which floors we would visit, in what order and ultimately whether we would be spending the night. The current odds at 1:23 PM is 70/30 in favor of a surgical replacement of her line and a night here in Boston. We have been told that repairs can be made to the line but it is well out of place and probably needs to be replaced. I am not a radiologist, however, so my opinion means jack squat.

Other than that, we have been spot on the mark about where and who we would go and thanks to a call from Dr. Jennings, we managed to skip 3-4 steps in the ER and come directly to his office, which is great.

Gus is manning the homefront for us while we are here. I hope that the house makes it through the day. If I know my dog he hasn’t left the couch.

More to come as we figure it out.