Jim saw the gastroenterologist at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Phiily on Monday- Dr. Kozuch. She put him on a two month regimine of flagyl. He starts out with a high dose and then will slowly taper off. If the c-diff comes back after that she says there's some charcoal goop that she'll prescribe that binds to the c-diff organisms and flushes them out of the body. If that doesn't work there's vancomycin. She asked Jim why he had his feeding tube removed. He said, "Because I couldn't stand it anymore." She suggested instead of living off Boost maybe he should try to make smoothies. The man actually broke out the blender that night and made some banana-yogurt concoction. She also asked us, "Who's coordinating your care here at Thomas Jefferson?" and I know she was really looking for the name of a doctor with that question, but the real answer is "I AM!"
Then yesterday he had his chest x-ray (looking for any more pneumonia) and his carotid duplex, which is really a sonogram. Remember when Dr. Lombardi had written the script for that? His words were, "Let's freak out the technician." Well, that's just what happened. Jim purposely didn't say anything to her about what he's gone through, and when she got to the right side of his neck he could see she was getting worried...kept going over the same spot...over and over and over...and visibly getting nervous. He heard her say, "I know it's supposed to be here...." That's when he came clean. I asked him, "Well, didn't the massive scars on your neck clue her in at all?" He said that the room was dark so she couldn't see his scars.
Jim continues to eat his strange diet. The only nutrient he's short on is potassium, so I keep buying him bananas, and I keep throwing them in the garbage because no one eats them. I'll buy a bunch and he'll eat one. I haven't really been able to cook the dinners I used to, which I sometimes miss, but whatever I cook he usually finds a way to get something in the meal down in some way. I made cheesesteaks last night and he can take the meat and cheese and onions doused in ketchup without the bread and as long as he cuts it up into tiny pieces he can get some of it down. Tonight, though, I had a yen for veal cutlets. I like mine swimming in lemon juice with lots of salt. He had a hard time with those because of the breading and wound up peeling all of that off. Jimmy and I are getting used to the sound of Daddy choking and gagging all through dinner. He often has to run to the garbage can and cough out what he tried to eat. Tonight was a little scarier than usual because he turned bright purple. At least he's never turned blue yet and stopped breathing.
On August 10th he goes for his manometry study. I go with him to have my bacteria breathing test done. That test has an official name, but I have no idea what it is. Jim will be done in 10 minutes. Mine will take two hours. After Jim has the manometry study he sees Dr. Spiegel on August 24th. Then we'll discuss a new diagnosis code and try to get Jim back into Vital Stim therapy. We'll also talk about having his throat stretched. There's no point in trying to coordinate that with the teeth being pulled. He needs it now and can't wait anymore.
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