Progress

Terri was very glad they took out the NG tube this morning. By the way, NG stands for Nasal-Gastric (if you need to know more, look it up... I'm not going to get TOO graphic here... suffice it to say that the tube REALLY irritates your throat).

So NOW her main complaint is GAS pain. The problem is, the gas is not just in the digestive tract (which can be expelled relatively easily in one of two directions ;) The air is trapped in her BODY CAVITY and the only way for it to GO AWAY is for her to get out of bed and WALK... and/or to do other movements (shoulder rolls, deep breathing, etc.) to help break up the air, and eventually it will exit through her body tissues.

You might wonder WHY there is air in her body cavity... well, (according to Wikipedia) when surgery is done laparoscopically, "The abdomen is usually insufflated, or essentially blown up like a balloon, with carbon dioxide gas. This elevates the abdominal wall above the internal organs like a dome to create a working and viewing space. CO₂ is used because it is common to the human body and can be absorbed by tissue and removed by the respiratory system. "

Even when you have traditional surgery to remove your stomach (with one large incision, like I had), air gets trapped in your abdomen after the incision is closed. And the pain can be horrible. It wasn't easy, but I forced myself to walk and move around as much as I could after my surgery to help break up that air/gas so that it would "go away" sooner.

Tomorrow, Terri is scheduled to have the Barium swallow test, which will (hopefully) verify that there are no leaks in her new plumbing... if that goes well, then she can start drinking/eating. Fingers crossed!