Stitches are Out!!

Matt had an appointment with Dr. Stoddard. She took his 50+ stitches out. He said only a few hurt taking them out. Dr. Stoddard looked at the swelling he had. It looked much better but there still was a little swelling. She told him to continue to take his antibiotics until they were gone.

She also told Matt the weight restriction was off but to use his head and not lift heavy items for a while. She also told him he could go back to work. So everyone knows Matt he went to work right away to see if there was anything he could do!!!

Matt also got his tumor marker score back. His score was 2.2. Hopefully it will stay low for

a long time!!

Thank you to everyone for your kindness to our family and all your thoughts and prayers.

Infection Still there

Matt still has an infection going on. We are not sure why this is happening. We would like to have a CT scan done but both insurance companies don't think it is necessary. We are in the process of an appeal. Matt has a yellow drainage coming out, swelling in his pelvic region with a small amount of pain. He has taken antibiotics for 7 days already. That helped to reduce the swelling but it is still swelled and draining yellow fluid.

Tomorrow Matt will be getting his stitches out. He can't wait. It is hard to wear clothing because it rubs against the stitches and irritates the incision.

Matt has been doing pretty good a slowing down and taking it easy for his body to recuperate. He so wants to feel good and get back to work and use the new truck they got for him to drive!!

Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

Still have swelling

Matt still has swelling. It is draining at the site that Dr. Stoddard looked at it. Matt has been relaxing and taking it easy. It has been taking his medication like he should. Call the doctor and said to continue to watch it and take his pills. Hopefully the infection will work its way out with the medication.

Thank you for all your continued thoughts and prayers.

Swelling

Matt developed some swelling yesterday early morning in his pelvic region. I took Matt to Dr. Stoddard, Matt's surgeon here in Wisconsin. She snipped open one of his stitch and made a little cut and went in looking for a possible infection. She thinks it is a infection and is treating him for it. She gave him a prescription for an antibiotic. He was supposed to get two pills in yesterday.

He took his first antibiotic and it seems like some of the swelling went down later that night. Matt was in pain to walk with this swelling. He took the night off and did absolutely nothing but lay on the couch!

Please help us pray that it goes away and Matt is feeling better.

Doctor Appointment

Matt went to see Dr. Stoddard yesterday. She got Matt's test results from Washington DC. Matt's red count and white count were better. He is still fighting some kind of infection but the Doctor was not worried about it. He needs to eat foods with iron in it and keep taking it easy.

He gets his stitches out one month after his surgery. He has an appointment on Feb 26 to get his stitches out.

Matt was with Casey yesterday and was very happy!!

Thank you for all your continued thoughts and prayers.

We are HOME!

We left Washington DC yesterday at 1:00 in the afternoon with the promise to see his doctor at home. We did not want to be trapped in Washington DC with all the snow that was coming again.

We stopped in Ohio when the weather started to get bad. We are very happy we stopped and slept at a hotel. This morning there were so many cars in ditches. We left our hotel this morning at 8:30. The weather wasn't the greatest but were got home tonight at 5:45. Once we got into Illinois the roads were pretty good it was more the wind.

Matt still is hurting but very happy to be home!!

Thank you for all your prayers!

Matt is Out!!!

Matt ready to go!!!!

Matt saying good bye to Rob and his nurse Christy

They are letting Matt out! They are setting Matt Free! They want him to follow up with his doctor at home!

Time to go. It will be a slow ride home due to snow all the way to Wisconsin. We plan on taking it slow. If we need to stop and stay in a hotel or two along the way we will. Matt is the important one to keep him safe!!

Thank you and keep us in your thoughts and prayer in our travel ahead!

New Blood

Matt finished getting his blood at 3 am this morning. He was running a temperature. Doctors came in this morning to check on Matt. He said it all depends on the lab if Matt's red count was up.

His temperature would also have to come down.

Then on top of all that it looks like snow is coming down from Washington DC all the way home to Wisconsin! Can't this snow go to Vancouver for the winter games and not in the USA!

Thank you for all your continued thoughts and prayer. We pray to get home safely.

Probable Cause

Matt getting his blood in his temporary room.

The employees working hard taking everything out of all the rooms to clean them!

Probable cause for Matt's bleeding this weekend is an infection in his incision. He has one spot that was bleeding and they believe that might be the cause.

Matt is resting comfortable up on third floor getting his blood transfusion. They said they should

have the second floor all disinfected and we can move back there this evening. What a mess with moving patients all over the place.

Please continue to pray for Matt and also if you could pray for my Friend Peggy's daughter, Katie is having a lot of medical problems with the shunt in her head and the drainage in her stomach. We pray they figure out the problem and the pain in Katie's head and stomach go away!

Blood Needed

Dr. Sugarbaker said Matt will need two pints of blood. His red count cell was down and he looks like a ghost so he is hoping a couple pints of blood will pick him up and maybe tomorrow we can go home!!

The hospital has some kind of flue bug going around here. We are taking every precaution for Matt not to get it. There are a lot of patients and staff that have it on the floor. So they moved everyone up to third floor while they disinfect all the rooms. So far Matt has been doing a good job of washing his hands.

Thank you

Matt's Nurses

Matt had Rose for a nurse for many nights

So far today Matt has been doing better. He has not vomited at all and his bleeding problem seemed to has gotten better. He is afraid to eat to much so he will not have to run to the

bathroom to often.

Lots of Snow!

Here are a few pictures of a outside sitting room of the hospital! Matt watched the pick up Truck with their plow clean the busy streets. They don't have the proper truck to plow with. They also don't have snow blowers. It took 8 workers in the hospital as a group to go out and shovel all the sidewalks around the hospital. We watched out the window at all the cars getting stuck on the roads!! they say the ended up with 24" to 30" of snow in the Washington DC area.

Matt figures next year for his one year check up he can bring his truck with the plow and a snow blower so he can make lots of money while he is out here.

Matt is feeling better and his bathroom visits are going better.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

Complication from Surgery

Matt started bleeding from his rectum last night. The nurse got the on call doctor to check Matt out. He said we would watch him for awhile. Matt again went to the bathroom and it was blood. They called in another surgical doctor to look at Matt. She gave him a physical exam, While she was here he started to vomit. They took some blood to for tests. Blood test came back and so

far all seems good.

Matt continued through the night to go to the bathroom and have blood. Dr. Sugarbaker came to see him. They said no going home today. He still is going blood but he hasn't vomited today. They said Matt can continue to eat regular food and drink but not to eat a lot at one time. They want him to graze through out the day.

Please help to pray for Matt to get over whatever is going on inside of him.

Off another Machine!

Matt has been feeling pretty good. He has a pain in his right side once in a while and had a few dizzy spells. He has a hard time sleeping at nights. He is up every few hours. He goes for walks and has been sitting in the room at the end of the hall watching all the snow here in Washington DC. They are expecting up to possible 30" in some areas. Matt laughs at the TV news reports teaching people how to shovel.

They took off his pain pump so if he needs something for pain he can have it in pill form.

Dr. Sugarbaker thought he might let him go Monday. Matt is working on Sunday to leave!!

Matt's pathology report came back. His tumor marker test before surgery was 4.7. Dr. Sugarbaker feels he got everything out!!

Thank you for all your continued prayers for Matt on this journey!

Great News!!

Matt enjoying his first soft food breakfast!!!

Dr. Luigi came in this morning and checked on Matt. Matt tolerated full liquids yesterday so they are advancing him to soft foods today. While Dr. Luigi was visiting breakfast came with oatmeal! Matt turned his nose up at it. The doctor said soft food would start at noon today but if he wanted

better food "Mom" could run down to the cafeteria and get some eggs. The doctor left and I went

down to the cafeteria and got eggs and potatoes and chocolate milk!! The nurse told him to enjoy and she would be in with her fork to enjoy with him.

At 10:00 Dr. Sugarbaker will be in to talk with us about his pathology report. If all goes well we

can go home tomorrow.

One problem.....Brian is snowed in at Gaithersburg, 45 minutes away and 30" of snow are due here starting at 10:00 today and tomorrow. Where do we go???

Matt and I decided if Dad can not come pick us up we will go to the hospital hotel. Matt said anything is better than in the hospital!!!

Thank you for all your continued thoughts and prayers!

Nighty Night for Matt!

Last night Casey read, "If I were a Penguin" with pictures and all! She also read him "A chocolate Moose for Dinner!" with pictures. Matt enjoyed his stories and went to bed.

Matt slept for a few hours and was up. at 3:30 am went for a walk to try and tire him out. The nurse told him to use his pain medication. She said it will take the edge off and he should be able

to sleep. He did that and it helped!

The doctor told him today they would up grade him to soft foods. Matt was really happy!!

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!!!

Look at me Now!!

Look at me now!!!!

Gary the PA for Dr. Sugarbaker patients

Matt and his Dad going for a walk.

Dr. Luigi clamped Matt's tube off at 2:00 and said Gary would be back at 6:00 to see how he handle it. If he handle it they would take the tube out tomorrow. Well....that didn't sit well

with Matt. He said tonight would be just fine. So Dr. Luigi said 10:00 they could take it out.

Of course with Matt's charm and bribing Gary with food he came in at 6:00 and just took the

tube out of his nose! He also had Lemon jello and grape juice sent up right away.

Then Matt mentioned about the heart monitor coming off. He said tomorrow and Matt said how about today!!! So at 8:00 the nurse came in and took off the heart monitor!!!!

Matt has the greatest smile on his face!! He couldn't wait to drink something...anything...even water would be okay!!!!

We are so thankful for the progress Matt has made. We have truly been blessed!!

Hopefully no NG Tube!

Matt and his Mom at his 3:30 am walk.

Matt and his Nurse Mindy working hard!!! (lol)

Today at 2:00 they are going to clamp Matt's NG tube for four hours and see how he does. If Matt can handle it and not feel nauseous they will take his tube out at 6:00! Matt is so looking forward to it!!!

Matt had a restless night. He could not sleep. We went for a early morning walk to try and tire him out. A few hours later he went to bed and got a fews hours sleep.

Thank you for all your continued prayers!

Took Casey for a Walk

Matt and Casey resting on their walk!

Casey and Matt on a walk with assistance from Mary and special bunny!!

To end Matt's good day he took Casey for a walk. He had a little help from Mom and her special friend Mary who flew to Washington DC to see Matt.

Now it is time for Matt to get some sleep!

Thank you for all you thoughts and prayers!

Great Day 5

Nurse Meg taking care of Matt! She is getting married a May 28, 2011. They have been talking wedding stuff.

Matt with the bunny Cousin Syd made for Matt

Matt has been having a great day. Matt got his Foley out after he made number 1 and number 2 on the toilet.! Matt also got his IJ line out of his neck and he got two IV's out of his arm.

Matt also Pooped twice today!!! Yeah!!! That also prompted him getting his Foley out!

Matt was also visited by the physical therapist and OT Therapist . They said he is doing so

well they don't have to see him again! The physical therapist said he has to walk tall. So the incision heals properly and the scar tissues don't bunch up and cause problems.

Matt has had a very busy day! He is now taking a nap, a very well deserved one!

Thank you for all the cards and prayers!

5th Day after Surgery

Matt had a better night. He actually got some sleep. They changed his food bag and hooked it into his port. Today the Doctor will take the IV out of his neck.

They want Matt to continue to walk around as much as he can.

Thank you for all you continued prayers and support.

4th Day After Surgery

Matt and his Mom on a walk.

Matt's first long walk.

Matt got his 5 grenades out!

Nurse Jenny taking care of Matt again.

Matt has had a very good day. Dr. Sugarbaker and Dr. Luigi came for a visit. They decided that Matt no longer needed his grenades. Dr Luigi came and took them out. Hopefully by Thursday they will clamp his NG tube to maybe take it out on Friday. It is still yellow/green and needs to be clear. Tonight they are taking out the IV in his neck where they are giving him his TPN (liquid food) to putting it in his port. This is so he doesn't get infection in his neck. Matt's temperature is down. Hopefully no worries for infection.

Also big day!! Matt sat in his chair and he went for a long walk!! Having a great day.