Not such a good week

This week was supposed to be a relaxing, get-things-done kind of week. Justin was on vacation starting last Friday and last Thursday was my last day of class for the summer. However, it has not turned out anything like we had planned.

The first 2 weeks after Justin got out of the hospital last month, he was doing pretty great. Feeling way better than he had felt for months. However, just over two weeks ago things changed and he started relapsing again. And as in the past, each relapse seems to be worse than before. He has been running fevers - sometimes as high as 102. His joints (knees especially) have been aching and all around he has just been feeling sick. This time he had a new symptom - nausea and vomiting.

We had thought that just by him taking time off work and being able to rest more without as much stress would help him feel better. Maybe it is better than what it would have been if he were working this week, however he has been steadily getting worse all week.

On Monday we went to see his gastroenterologist and learned that surgery may be the only thing to help him with this disease. He is already on such strong medications and not responding to them. So on Wednesday, we met with a surgeon for a consultation who also said that there weren't really any other medications for him, and for us to consider the surgery option. In fact, one of the drugs Justin has been on is typically used for people after receiving an organ transplant. Apparently, Justin's colon is so sick that they needed to put him on this drug to tell his body not to reject his own colon. The surgeon ordered some tests for Justin for this week to make sure it is just ulcerative colitis and nothing else (like Crohn's disease). In the meantime, if Justin was feeling too sick, he could admitted to the hospital again.

Once we got home from our consultation yesterday, Justin started feeling tons worse and practically slept the rest of the day. Today (after not being able to keep down breakfast), he called the surgeon and asked to be admitted. Since they admitted him today and they are not allowing him to eat in order to rest his system again, he may be staying there for a while to have surgery. And sadly, the hospital where he is now is a bit farther away than where he was last month - this time he is staying where his surgeon can check on him daily.

Things are really up in the air and we are now going day-to-day, not quite sure what the next day will bring. We do know that tomorrow Justin will have one of the tests done that the surgeon ordered to check for Crohn's disease and that after that he will be getting a central line so that he can get full nourishment through IV, which he needs for before and after surgery (assuming that he will be having surgery during this stay).

Beyond that, we don't have all the answers right now. A lot depends on the outcome of the tests that he had yesterday and will have tomorrow. We have no idea how long this hospital stay will be or even if he will be coming home with a colon or not.

What a terrible 31st birthday for Justin this coming Tuesday!

Please keep Justin in your thoughts and prayers as the doctors try to decide what is best for him.