Flanagan Clan

I need to update you on my endoscopy that I had on Monday. I was so nervous the whole day. Check in was at 2 PM, so we had to leave around 12:30 to get up to Seattle. I had been NPO that morning and having a bit of bad pain from Liam head butting me right in the feeding tube the day before, so I took some oxycodine before the time limit where I wasn’t suppose to drink anymore. I only took 1/4 the recommended dose, but it made me dizzy and very loopy. So I wasn’t feeling the best as we made our trek up to Seattle, but at least I was not in pain. They got me situated pretty quickly into a chair to ask questions about medical history, put in an IV, etc. the nurse who did the IV was in training and I know that the only way they learn is to practice on people, but oh my gosh she was really slow about putting it in and it hurt. I was worried that she would do it wrong and have to redo it, but it worked. At least she didn’t miss, which has happened to me a number of times. When it was finally my turn they administered all my medications through the IV and it stung quite a bit. Thankfully once they started doing that the first thing they gave was benedryll which made me very sleepy and not care as much. When I was wheeled into the procedure room they went over a few last things and then the doctor came in. He had done the first unsuccessful endoscopy I had to place a stent in my esophagus (not the one where it tore, but the first thing they tried to do to fix it). He immediately mentioned that I looked a lot better than I had the last time he saw me (which I had a hard time believing because I was really out of it thanks to benedryll). Hr also mentioned that I looked like I lost weight, which was very true since I’m down 10 lbs since this all happened. He explained the procedure one last time and the last thing I remember him saying was that if the esophagus was still damaged he’d be legally obligated to put in another stent. I was not happy about that at all! They moved me onto an x-ray table, which is where they were going to perform the procedure, and the nurse gave me this absolutely disgusting clear gel to gargle and swallow, which was suppose to help numb my throat. I could only get a little down before my gag reflex kicked in, but she said that was good enough. Seriously, in the past 3 weeks I have been asked to swallow some of the yuckiest things I’ve ever tasted!!! After I swallowed the stuff I laid back down and after that my mind is blank… until I woke up in recovery. The nurse had me drink water and it felt weird, but now that I look back on it I’m not sure why. Probably because my throat still felt funny from the stuff they made me swallow to numb everything. After a while she had me sit up and eventually stand, and once I was stabile I got dressed and walked to a different room to wait for Andrew and the doctor. I don’t remember much about this other than the doctor took a while to come and when he did he told us that the stent had been removed and the esophagus was healing well. The best part was that he told me I was able to start a soft food diet, which is still very restrictive and I can’t eat breads or most meat or anything, but it is so much better than the purée diet that I was on for 2 1/2 weeks.

So, currently I’m on soft foods for the next 2-4 weeks, until I can start tolerating normal food (although I’m not sure how to tell if I am tolerating it or not…). I still have my feeding tube and my G tube, both of which I am hoping will come out in a week with my next appointment with my surgeon. Until then I am still on light activity, no lifting, and I’m still supplementing with tube feedings for 4-5 hours every day. In some ways I feel so ready to regain normal activity, but yesterday I can definitely tell that I overdid it because my abdominal muscles are so very achy today. It hurts a lot to bend over because of the tubes. My actual incision site has healed up well (as far as I can tell) and gives me very little pain. For the most part I’ve been able to just take children’s tylonal for the pain, although the head butt incident I mentioned did require something stronger. My sleep schedule is still messed up and my house is very disorganized at the moment, but I can tell that things are getting better and I am so anxious to get these tubes out!!! I feel like the nightmare is almost over and I’m so thankful for all the prayers and help we’ve received during this terrible trial in our lives.

Lizzie is becoming quite the little lady around here. She is starting to grab at everything and is really starting to be aware of her environment. I cannot believe that she is now 5 months old already. Where has the time gone???

Also, I didn’t realize it when I last posted, but that last post was our blog’s 500th post. It only took us 6 1/2 years to get to 500!

Yesterday’s doctor appointment brought some disheartening news. The stent, which had been sewn into place using 6 week dissoluble sutures had traveled into my stomach after only two weeks of being in place. The good news was that since I have been having no pain, it appears that my esophagus has  healed to the point where it is alright that it is no longer in place. The downside is that there is a small risk that the stent might try to pass into my small intestines, which could be quite bad. They said it was unlikely, but with my luck I’m worried it will happen to me! So, I’m watching for signs of extreme nausea, in which case I’ll need to uncap my G tube to relieve pressure on my stomach and then I’d have to contact the doctor right away. We have scheduled yet another endoscopy to remove the stent and assess healing on the morning of December 12th. Until that time I still have two tubes in my abdomen, I’m still doing tube feedings and I’m still on purée diet. I will see the doctor on the 21st to hopefully have the tubes removed, and once I get the green light I’ll be placed on a soft foods diet, which allows for a greater variety of options, but still restricts items like bread, tough meats, etc. At this point I am fine with being on tube feeding (which I’m starting to tolerate a lot better), a purée or soft foods diet for as long as it takes if it means that I will continue to heal and will not be required to spend any more time in the hospital. After the first couple days in the hospital I grew to hate it with a passion and will do whatever it takes to avoid any further stays there! I am busy, active mom of 5 kids and the hospital made time go so slowly and had me so anxious to leave. I thought I was going to go crazy the last few days I was there because it was just so frustrating to be stuck there. I got to the point where I could not sleep at all and would beg the nurses to give me benedryl just to knock me out for a few hours. It was just really bad. The nurses were great and the doctors were very kind, but 30 year old moms should not be in hospitals, they should be with their family- I definitely felt quite trapped to be stuck there.

So, all that to say- I’m healing. Things aren’t going exactly as planned, but as the doctor said, I am definitely healthy. His goal is to get me back to a more normal-ish diet by Christmas, which I appreciate. Until then I am going to rely mainly on my tube feeding, supplement with some puréed food, and pray that my stent will remain in my stomach and my esophagus will continue to heal without the help of the stent. I would appreciate your prayers that everything will resolve quickly and that I’ll find myself soon back to a normal diet and a normal life with my family. Thank you so much!!!!

As some of you may already know, I had an accident occur on Thursday, November 17th. I went in to see a gastroenterologist about a problem I was having with getting food stuck in my esophagus. They were planning to do an endoscopy to see what they could find and during the course of that routine procedure my esophagus tore. I was immediately sent to Good Samaritan Hospital to their ER, from where they decided to transfer me to the ER of Virginia Mason in Seattle. That night I went through a second endoscopy to attempt to place a stent in my esophagus to allow it to heal, however the next morning it was revealed that the stent had traveled to my stomach at some point during that night. So… I ended up having surgery on Friday afternoon to have the stent sewn into place (temporarily- it will come out Jan 5th in yet another endoscopy). I also had a feeding tube and a “G” tube placed in my abdomen- the feeding tube to allow me to have nutrients while my esophagus healed, and a G tube to help relieve pressure in my stomach and hopefully prevent me from throwing up too much. I spent a week in the hospital and was finally released on Thanksgiving. I am on a strict liquid and puree diet until further notice from the doctor, and most of my meals are coming from tube feedings at this time. I will be going back to see the doctor tomorrow for a chest x-ray to make sure the stent is still in place and hopefully to remove the G tube, since I am not having issues with nausea anymore. Unfortunately I had to wean Lizzie onto formula, due to the toxic nature of the drugs I was taking to my breast milk, and so in addition to healing from surgery I’m also dealing with the shock of quitting breastfeeding. I am thankful that the surgeon who has been caring for me is considered one of the top doctors in the nation for his work with esophageal issues, and I hope that I will be back to normal very soon. Once the stent is removed I will be placed on a liquid narcotic for my esophagus, as I have been diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis, which is what caused the tear to occur in the first place. Right now I am still weak and cannot lift more than 10 lbs, so we have had to rely on the help of others, and I am very thankful to all our friends who have helped us in this difficult time of need. If anyone has any questions about what happened, I’d be happy to answer them to the best of my ability!

This week Sammy and Ethan went back to school. Patrick started 1st grade on the 1st, but the preschool we attend always starts back a week after the Puyallup school system. So, Sammy (who will be attending MTueThr) started on Monday, and Ethan (who is only TueThr) started on Tuesday. They each brought an apple along with them for their first day- a fun little thing they do every year at this preschool (at least for the four years now that we’ve had children attending here!). Here’s a few pictures I took:

Sammy’s first day

Ethan’s first day

Lizzie enjoying not going to school and basking in the warm outdoor weather we’re FINALLY having!

I don’t have any pictures of Patrick’s first day on my computer- they’re on my other camera, which is currently sort of missing. I’ll post those when I find my point and shoot!

Along with beginning of school, we’ve also begun doing MOPS again, which I love. I’m so glad to be going back again this year. Also, we signed all four boys up for Awana this year, at the same church where I do MOPS. So far it’s going really well and the boys are learning lots of wonderful new things. Not only are the boys enjoying Awana, but Andrew and I are too! We now have 1 1/2 hours to ourselves each week (well, with Lizzie, but she’s pretty easy on her own!). So, we’re happy about that.

It’s been a busy fall so far, and soon we have birthdays and holidays coming up. I always love this time of year, but sometimes it seems like we barely have time to breathe with all the activities we have planned. Yesterday we did our annual trip to the fair (and did not take ANY pictures this year). We ended up doing things a little differently- we didn’t see all the normal things we usually see, we avoided some of the more sugary fair foods (i.e. cotton candy), and after a few hours of walking around and seeing things,  Andrew and Patrick went to a Weird Al concert and I took the other kids home. Patrick LOVED it!

It’s hard to believe that September is already halfway over! I am in the middle of trying to plan a very small but cute Angry Birds birthday party for Patrick and Ethan. It’s hard to do too much when there’s a new baby in the house, but I don’t want to use that as an excuse to not make their birthdays special. So, I’ve been working on that! I’ve also almost finished all my Christmas shopping. I have a list of everything I need to buy, I just need to spread out the purchases now so I don’t spend a whole ton of money at one time. I’m sure that December will be here before we even know it…

Well, that’s all for now!