Monday, June 29, 2009

Conversation with Kouretas, 07:00.

K: "Wow he's satting at 90, that's pretty good."

L: "Well, he's on a half litre of oxygen and sleeping- and holding still."

K: "But still, 90, that tells me that he's improving."

L: "So you think this can fix itself? You've seen it happen?"

K: "Yeah, certainly. So, how do you feel his breathing has been?"

L: "Well he can't really get a deep enough breath to even cough, it's pretty short."

K: "Don't forget, he has an incision in his ribs that is very uncomfortable and it's probably quite painful to take a deep breath, so it'll take some time before he is able to do that."

L: "So you think we should just go home? Cause I'm not sure what I will feel like, not knowing what is going on inside of him and I won't know what to look for if he is in distress due to this.."

K: "Well obviously I don't want you to go home and feel crazy...and worry too much. So we could just do it, and be done with it."

L: (so, we ARE doing the surgery..)

K: "Then again, if he's satting in the 90's and seems pretty comfortable then that tells me this will only improve."

L: (so we AREN'T doing the surgery..)

K: "But I don't want you guys to go home and constantly worry about the future. It's really no big deal, we could just do it. And if we decided to, we would just do it today."

L: (so we ARE doing the surgery..) "You don't think we need to wait at all to see if there is more improvement?"

K: "The problem is, is if you wait too long, the diaphragm can stick, and would be harder to move if we did surgery later. How is he during the day? Pretty active, can he move around ok?"

L: "Yeah, he moves around just fine, but I can tell that he reaches a point where he used to have more energy and doesn't now."

K: "Well again, he just had a surgery and doesn't have all of his strength back."

L: (so we AREN'T doing the surgery..) "I'm just afraid of going home and not knowing what to look for in forms of 'this diaphragm thing is getting worse' and having to come back."

K: "Yeah and if you told me right now to just do the surgery I would think that was totally reasonable."

L: (so we ARE doing the surgery..)

K: "Let me go look at the x-ray again, review this a little more, and maybe we'll wait another day or something."

L: (so we AREN'T doing the surgery today..)

K: "I'll be back."

(approx. 10 minutes later.. 8 people come in the room and listen to Jack and watch him breath as he lies there sleeping.)

K: "So we're gonna do it this afternoon."

L: "ok."

END SCENE.

12 comments:

The Simmons Family said...

Oh how that made me laugh.. even though it's probably NOT supposed to be funny. I've had those conversations before. So Jack IS having the surgery?? Today?? I'll be praying for you!! :)

Andrea

Melissa said...

holy flip flop!! That is a crazy (TYPICAL) conversation. Good luck!

Aimee Hardy said...

Oh my word. I hope everything goes well if they really do decide to do it today.

It was great seeing you and Jack on Saturday.

Taylor Rose said...

Good luck, you guys!

Mindi said...

FOR THE LOVE.

Our prayers are with you today. We're hoping you'll have to tell Jack to knock it off and quit running around a few weeks from now.

And again, you are as patient as Job. Really.

Laura Lee said...

Good grief. This is the kind of stuff that drives me up the wall.

I know doctors have to let you know that you do have a say in the matter and most of the time you want to have a say in the matter, but sometimes you just need people to tell you what to do.

Allison said...

wow. What a conversation. We will be thinking about you guys all afternoon and praying always. I am so glad Koretas is back in town.

Sue S said...

oh mylanta!

Sue S said...

oh mylanta!

Sue S said...

oh mylanta!

Anonymous said...

Amazing how this journey faces you with days where one decision can so greatly change what the day is going to look like. I'm glad Dr. K is back in town as you are so comfortable with him. The whole thing reminds us what an art each one of these cases is. I've gotten to where I draw more comfort from Drs. who are thoughtfully looking at all the different variables, weighing them and talking to their peers. Oh that the conditions were black and white, but since they're not I'm glad you can see how much they are wrestling with how to best care for Jack.

Watching, waiting and praying,

Rolf

Jergs Family said...

Jack,

What a brave boy you are! We are sorry that you have to spend so much time in the hospital, but we want you to know that we are praying for you. We love your family so much and hope that you will be all better so you can come to our family party at John and Suzi's house! Take care of your mommy - she's really tired and loves you so much. Here's to hoping that this is your last surgery for a long time. Love you all!
The Jergensen Family