Rich is back home now. He does have a few more follow up appointments but hopefully they will remove the drain and the bag in 11 days. His CTScan is in 10 days so once they have seen the results from that they will decide on removing the tube from his abdomin. Just when he thought that he was going to come home with one less tube… they added another one. Hopefully one day soon this will all be just a brutal memory.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
Rich is still at MSA. He is now off of all the pain meds and is very depressed, now that he has time to reflect on how brutal this is for him. If you have some time and want to go visit he is on the 2nd floor at MSA hospital.
Thanks so much for thinking of us!
HE DID IT!!! He was strong enough and in control of his body today so his Dr. let him out on a Day Pass from the hospital so that he could be in Tim’s pictures. The beginning of the day (Pics at 1pm) were a bit rough. He sat out the ceremony and then had the strength to join the wedding party at the head table for the reception. He even asked me to dance for 1/2 a song before he had to go back. I am so happy that we had a great day together outside of the hospital and able to celebrate with his closest buds. Thanks for all the support and help today to everyone that was there with us. Congrats to TIM AND DANIELLE FUNK!!!
Well…HE MADE IT!!!!! The surgery is over and he is still uncomfortable but stable (as they say). He has another tube coming out from his abdomin which is draining into his bag. They extracted 4 huge syringes of fluid from his stomach and it is still draining into the new bag. He is still in quite a bit of pain but they did the surgery under local anesthetic. Which means he was awake for the whole thing. They are trying to find a way to decrease his morphine but keep a handle on his pain, so they have switched him to subque morphine, which means that there is a little plastic needle into his arm that stays there and when he needs some they just insert it under his skin. They are hoping that this will work, they started it around 12:30pm so by tonight we should know if it is helping.
He is going to be at MSA for another week just so they can monitor then fluid some more. Depending on how he feels tomorrow they will give him a day pass for the wedding.
Rich is going in for his surgery this morning. They are putting in a drain tube for four days to drain the puss that has collected in his abdomin. So far they say that Friday is a no go for the wedding.
So, after along 4 days of waiting to be moved to VGH we found out that he is going to stay here. The surgeon here is communicating with the people in radiology who are going to look at his CT Scan and his chest x-ray. They think that they can withdraw the fluid and release the pressure in his abdomin by extracting it with a large syringe. Which they think will make him feel a lot better and take away his pain. They did resolve that this isn’t to do with him going back to work. It would’ve happened even if he would’ve stayed on bed rest. So tomorrow they are going to start the process at MSA were he will be for most of the week, but the surgeon is hoping to let him out on a day pass for Friday so that he can be in Tim’s wedding.
Rich is now in a regular medical ward, he did get moved today. The visiting hours are 11am-8pm. If you want to go and visit let me know and I will tell you what room he’s in.
I just came home from another visit, he is still in Abbotsford (MSA) in the Intensive Care Unit. I called his favorite nurse (Rebecca) at VGH and she said that the Abbotsford doctors/surgeons are trying to get him a bed in the Vancouver General Hospital ICU. Once they figure out what is going on with his bowels and do whatever they think is nessesary, he is going to be up on the 15th floor again, the Leukemia/BMT ward at VGHin the Jim Pattison Pavillion. We don’t know how long he will be in Abbotsford, we could get a call at anytime that a bed has opened up and then he will be moved, his name is on the next bed that opens up. They are giving him almost 8 cc’s of morphene an hour to settle the pain, and that doesn’t even take it away. He is really doppy and out of it but still in a lot of pain and is having a lot of trouble shifting and moving around. They don’t promote family sleeping overnight, so I came home to sleep but they are going to call as soon as a bed opens up so that I can go to Vancouver with him in the Ambulance. He really doesn’t want to be left alone at all this time, so I am going to try and set up some kind of schedule for people to visit so that the same people don’t always go and visit and get so tired and cranky (that’s what he says happens to me). Thanks so much for all of your thoughts and prayers, our lives are kind of on hold again so please forgive us if we don’t stay in direct contact for awhile. I will try and update this blog as much as I can. Thanks so much for your patience, you all mean so much to us.
Late last night around 9ish, I took Rich back to emergency for his brutal stomach pains, AGAIN. He was taken in right away and they also started doing tests on him. They have a feeling that his lymphoma maybe coming back or that it is an absess in his bowels. His bowels are swollen so it has something to do with his digestive system. We are just waiting for a bed to open up at VGH and then they will be sending him by ambulance to VGH.
He is in one of his closest friends wedding THIS FRIDAY. He is very concerned that he has let everyone down and that he won’t be there for Tim’s wedding. Please pray constantly this week for his recovery. He is very unsure of what is going on and he said that he feels like it is starting all over again.
Hey Everyone,
We finally have tickets on sale for the Gala we are having on behalf of Richard on Feb.22.08. If you are wanting tickets let me know. Contact me…(Katrina) at
(604)807-9602 or by email at richandkatrina@gmail.com.
We can take cash or cheque for the tickets, please make your cheques out to Richard Smid.
If you are wanting to donate to the foundation please make your cheques payable to VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation (and on the bottom write Gala Under the Stars.)
We also need you full name and address when you are donating so that you will get a tax reciept back for every dollar over $25.
***If you have silent auction items or door prizes that you are wanting to donate NOW IS THE TIME!!! Give me a call and I will come and pcik up what you have for the event***
 | Heather on Rich’s process. |
 | Grandma Carol & … on Rich’s process. |
| Grandma Carol & … on CT Scan Results |
| Grandma Carol & … on Rich’s CT Scan |
 | Jackie Sweeney on A Gala Under the Stars… |
