Thursday March 22, 2007 8:55 PM

They didn't come to get Jim for his PEG tube (I think that's what they call it) until 1:30 today, and he didn't get back to his room until 4 o'clock. He was all dopey on "loopy juice" so I knew he'd never be discharged today. I was planning on seeing him tonight after he slept it off but he called me at 6:30 asking "Where are you?" so I headed out. He's in some pain because- hell- they punctured a hole in his stomach...I guess anybody would be in some pain. They also put some kind of sutchers into it that have to stay in for two weeks so it felt like his whole stomach was stapled. I asked the technician about what to do in case the thing falls out. He says, "Call your Primary Care Physician." I told him, come on...a primary care physician can't put this thing back in. Should I call Jim's vascular surgeon back home? Or should I take him to an emergency room? The guy still says to take him to his primary care physician. Boy, these guys at Lahey sure have a hard on for primary care physicians. I'll just ask the vascular surgeon what to do when we get back home. Hell, how's the primary care physician going to help? By sticking a tongue depressor on it? Duh.

So Dr. Tannas stopped by tonight. They're going to start feedings with it at 10:30 pm and see how he does. If all goes well he can be discharged tomorrow. I said to him, "Boy, you're sure going to be glad to get rid of that bitch Mrs. Primiani, aren't you?" And he just smiles. I said, "See...he's not even arguing with me!" And Dr. Tannas looks nervous and says, "Oh, I'd NEVER argue with YOU Mrs. Primiani." Jim told me they're all scared of me here. And I really don't understand that because I've never gotten nasty with these guys or raised my voice or pitched a fit....I just stay on them all the time to make sure they keep me informed. What's wrong with that? If it were THEIR wives laying in that bed you know they'd do the exact same thing. So Dr. Tannas told Jim he should get up and walk around so he doesn't develop a blood clot. I took him for a walk all around the ward.

There's a crazy screamer on the other side of the hallway. She kept yelling, "Nurse, nurse, help me!" REALLY loud, over and over again. Jim tells me she does that EVERY night, all night long. He goes by the nurses desk and says, "One flew over the cookoo's nest I guess," and the nurse laughed. I asked the nurse, "Hasn't she been here for a long time?" and the nurse said, no- that was ANOTHER one that got discharged. This one is inconsolable. Jim said, "Want me to go help her? I'll tell her to shut the f--- up." I asked the nurse how the patients around her can STAND that and she said luckily the two in adjacent rooms are both hard of hearing. The nurse says to Jim, "Now, you know what REAL suffering is, and you don't scream like that." Boy, you got THAT right.

So I told the nurses to give me plenty of notice when they plan on discharging Jim because I don't want them to put his ass out on the street before I can get over there. Hopefully it will be tomorrow. If not, it should be sometime over the weekend. We'll have to come back in two weeks for a bunch of follow-up appointments.

My father-in-law is not very accepting of the fact that Jim has to go home with a feeding tube. I told him I might need him again to stay at the house when we come back for Jim's follow-ups. He says that maybe Jim will be eating by then. I told him I don't know...no one can predict that. He keeps asking me what the doctors say. Finally tonight I told him, "Look, that's like asking the doctor when I'm going to die. They can make a prediction, but they don't KNOW, do they? No one can give us any guarantees." I think the point finally sunk in when I put it that way.