2022.05.28 - Post Op D2

 11:30 AM

It was an interesting night. Night shift came on and mentioned that the Foley cath had come out at 1:30 PM, and that if he hadn't peed in 6 hours they'd have to do a straight cath.  While Cannon's vitals have all remained good, the poor kid couldn't pee.  He felt he needed to, but could only get a little out.  Mama and I were doing EVERYTHING we could to help Cannon resolve the situation.  We had everyone leave the room so he could have privacy, then we had the staff walk him and all his medical appurtenances to the bathroom.  The tubes barely stretched to let him stand at the toilet (with the door open)... once again we all left the room and gave him 20 minutes to work at relaxing (love that oxymoron).  Tori had previously been able to coax that 400 mL out using some warm water splashed on his hand.  Being my turn, I stood in the shower and held a large container of warm water around the wall so Cannon could hold his hand in the warm water.  FAIL.  I don't have Mama's magic touch... she blames my inability to splash the water on his hand.  We'll never know, he failed to bring forth the golden liquid of salvation from a straight cath.

They did an ultrasound and saw his bladder was full of about a liter of fluid.  He was then able to get about 400 mL out, but couldn't empty.  Then it refilled to 600 mL.  During rounds last night (which Tori and I always get to join), they were discussing his bladder.  One doc wanted to do a straight cath immediately.  Me and the other doc cringed... a straight cath is no laughing matter.  We successfully petitioned to have them wait on the straight cath until Cannon was in too much pain, or the next morning, whichever came first.

I'm happy to say, Cannon had a VERY successful night.  He's been able to empty his bladder... it's an impressive amount of liquid... and as an aging man, I find myself quite jealous.  I'll dispatch with the TMI and close this issue with the note that we (and especially Cannon) are praising God that we don't have to have a straight cath done.  And I did say "WE" don't have to have it done, because that's a pain all men feel in unison just at the thought of it.

During rounds this morning, they decided that his chest tubes are outputting enough fluid that they need to be left in another day.  This isn't terrible, but a bit of downer for Cannon.  The chest tubes cause him to take short (painful) breaths, which keeps his sat level down in the low 90's.  It also makes his lung exercises very painful and difficult to achieve his goals.  So today won't be too busy... we spent an hour reconfiguring his tubings so he could get up and sit in a chair.  We've had rounds, and frequent nurses visits.  Later we'll have OT and PT come by to do some more "exercise" and walking.  That's all that's on the schedule.

We're so glad to have Papa up here this morning, and looking forward to everyone else getting to come say hi.  I ask for prayers that we have no issues getting the rest of the family up here to see their star.