Home from the Hospital

After a brief, nightmarish, 16 hours at home on day five (pain, vomiting, starvation, constipation), we were readmitted to the hospital on day six. Wu Yi had lost 5 of her precious 43 pounds and could barely stand or keep her head up.  We agressively rehydrated her with an IV, switched from narcotic pain control to IV anti-inflammatory pain control, gave her anti-nausea meds, and a laxative suppository (which produced 4 tearful hours sitting on the toilet).  The second hospital was closer to home, quieter, and we had a private room. My good friend Lisa works there and visited us everyday.  We were much more comfortable there. In the first hospital we were in a "curtain cubicle".  In the second one, I had a garden view and spent my time watching a bird outside the window building a nest.

By day seven, she had perked up and I returned to trying to feed her like a baby bird ~ a couple of sips of 7up or a tiny bite of jello or ice cream every 15 minutes.  Initially she was tearful and resistant to these efforts, but she soon realized that I would quit standing in front of her Barbie cartoons faster if she would just do it! :)  Later that evening, she saw a KFC commercial and got very excited, pointing at it.  This was her first indication of hunger, and on day eight she finally figured out how to chew and swallow!!!  There was no stopping her after that, and we kept a constant supply of food on the bed next to her for the next two days.  When her stomach proved that she could handle it, we got the OK to go home!!  As we were finally leaving the hospital (and out into yet another late snowstorm!), she asked me to take one more detour to the cafeteria so she could eat just a little more.  :)