Ron is doing much better yesterday and today.  I wrote last night, but when I hit "send," the hospital internet had disconnected, and I lost the whole thing!  His stomach is finally moving, as of 4 a.m. Friday morning...Hurray!! :) They started the tube food back up yesterday at about 3 p.m., plus they brought him supper last night.  He ate some Mac and cheese, milk, and apple juice... the first solid food he's had for over a month!  When he was allowed to eat Monday, he couldn't because his stomach was so full and pushed over by the air pocket. 
 
His pulmonologist, Dr. Mohajen (sp?), said last night that the stomach issue was most certainly caused by the huge pneumo-thorax (air pocket in his chest.)  It was so big, his diaphragm, liver, pancreas, etc. were pushed completely over to the left side and down, blocking his intestines.  He said he is pretty sure his lung collapsed last Saturday when he coughed and thought he had pulled a muscle in the right chest and shoulder area.  The vent then pumped air through the hole in his lung into his chest until Thursday when they put in the chest tube and his right lung reinflated.  His terrible back pain was also a result of the air pocket rearranging everything, and it is gone now, too.
 
At Regency, they did CT scans of his belly and lungs to try to find out why he was in so much pain.  When they saw the size of the air pocket, and how his organs were all displaced, they called St. V's and the transport before they even had him back in the room. They gave him a unit of blood at 2:00, and he was taken at about 3:00 to St. V's ER where they immediately did a chest x-ray.  The chest tube procedure was done in the ER under local anesthetic at about 4:00.  I got to stay in the room and watch.  Laura got there just when they were getting the air and liquids out and stitching him up.  Ron was awake and staring at the ceiling.  It relieved her fear when she saw that he was awake and OK.  Andrew and Jenny got there a few minutes later, so we had a family support group going right there in his ER room. 
 
His lung reinflated just fine, and they did another chest x-ray to check the position of the tube.  It was not quite right, so they had to reposition it and restitch, and do another x-ray.  They watched him for a while, did blood work, and found that his potassium level was way high, and blood sugars were out of whack due to the distress of his liver and pancreas.  They had to give him dextrose and insulin and K-extrate (or something like that) to get rid of the potassium.  They did an EKG because they were worried about the effect of the potassium on his heart.  That was OK.  They were still worried about his intestines, so had him NPO for the rest of the night.  He was taken up to room 108 at about 8:30 p.m. He was in so much pain from his back, he did not even feel the chest tube. I was here until 11:00 p.m. helping his nurse get his medications straightened out.  She had a list of his home medicines, his meds from when he was here at St. V's a week and 2 days ago, and his meds from Regency all mixed together!  Some were from when he was NPO, and had to have IV meds, and some were from when he could have stomach-tube meds. Once he had his Fentanyl pain medicine, and she was going to get his Atavan, I went home. 
 
He is in the ICU step-down unit in the same general area that he was in when he was in 127.  You go through the same double door, but turn left instead of right.  He will be here until Monday, at least.  His chest tube is still bringing out some air bubbles, so Dr. said the lung still has a small hole in it.  It is bringing out much less air than it was Thursday evening, so it is healing, but not completely gone, yet.  They do a chest x-ray every morning, here, to keep a close watch on things.  They gave him 2 more units of blood last night, as his hemoglobin level was low -- 7.5. 
 
He had a low-grade fever yesterday and today - due to the chest tube surgery.  He has some discomfort from the tube site, but not anything like the pain he was in before the procedure.  Hopefully we'll have a few forward steps now...
 
Thanks to all the guys who helped get his shop moved today!  You are the best!!!
 
Thanks for the continued prayers!
 
Love,
EJ