Ab pain, J-tube clog, No headaches, Night help, Monkey

Late last night Denise was in a fair amount of discomfort and even some nausea (which has been rare lately; they gave her a Zofran meltaway on her tongue and that helped immediately). We hired an overnight caregiver for her, and will do that again tonight and tomorrow night if she feels she needs the extra help. Denise didn't get much sleep and was always asking for pillows to be shifted, heating pads, ice, etc. She's been having increasing ab pain after the Reglan was stopped on Friday. While we're crossing our fingers, toes, and eyes in hopes that the Reglan is the culprit in abnormal liver labs, it has helped with peristalsis and kept food moving through her, as well as reducing food coming back up. By the way, four days after the Reglan has stopped, she had no headaches, seemed way less hyper, and was happy to take a nap any time she could. She did want to go shopping very badly. But after close to eight months in a hospital, I guess anyone would want to go shopping, if only to get out of the hospital.
This morning started with a call that her feeding tube had clogged again. So once again, I seemed to be the lucky one that got it unclogged. Pretty soon they're going to have to put me on the payroll. I'd rather go over there and work the Coca-Cola through the tube than put her through a day without feeding while waiting for an appointment with the radiologist to unclog the tube. The pain has lessened during the day, thanks to some laxative meds and Fleet. But she also threw up twice today. In the big picture of what she's been through, this isn't much. But it's still frustrating to her.
Tonight when we visited she was just about asleep. The kids were a little disappointed that mommy was so sleepy. Until, that is, they caught sight of a monkey stuffed animal that was hanging around on the IV pole. It's a party decoration for Jake's jungle-themed birthday party, sent by a new friend in Washington that was a stranger up until a coulple months ago (thanks!).

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