Update on John and Lillian

I feel like I should probably put something on here about the Howerton kids. I know a couple of family members check for information.

I talked to Marian about Lillian's progress over the weekend. She said Lillian is doing well, but still in quite a bit of pain. They were feeding her through a port in her neck, but she developed a problem with that and they stopped using it.

They are surgically inserting a feeding tube into her abdomen today. She will go home with that. It will probably take a while for her to learn how to eat and talk again. Marian is hoping the doctor will let her go home soon and recover there. She has been in the hospital since May 21. Marian had planned to stay in Reno for two weeks, but she doesn't know when she will come home at the moment. Lillian is definitely going to need help. This won't be an easy recovery process.

John got to have his stent removed today. Normally, the stent comes out after three or four days. In John's case, because of only having one kidney and having an extremely narrowed tube between the kidney and bladder, his doctor wanted to leave it in for about ten days. Everyone I have talked to about stents has told me they are awful. So I was anticipating John having lots of pain and discomfort. But every time I asked, he said it was no big deal. He could feel it, but it was nothing compared to the pain of a kidney stone. He never complained once.

When Dr. Cleveland came out to tell me John came through the procedure fine and give me some instructions for him, he asked me about John's pain over the past week and if he needed another prescription. I told him John had taken half a pain pill one day, but he doesn't like the way they make him feel so he doesn't usually take them. I told him that John acted like the stent caused him only minimal discomfort. Dr. Cleveland said, "He's pretty tough then." Yes, he definitely is. And he can't stand to complain. To John, admitting he doesn't feel good is the definition of complaining.

I think I am a pretty good care giver - even when it comes to demanding patients. But John is an extremely easy, low maintenance patient. I have warned him that if our roles one day reverse and I have a serious health issue involving a lot of pain, I won't be like him. I don't think I will be difficult or unpleasant. I'm very grateful for anything anyone does for me. But I know I won't hesitate to share how bad I feel and I will soak up all the attention he can give.

Last week at the hospital, waiting for surgery, I mentioned calling his mom. And he said, "You called my MOM?" as if he found that shocking. His mindset is that there's nothing she can do and she doesn't need to worry about him. As a mother, my response was, "Do you know how upset I would be if Danny was having surgery and Rebecca did not call me?" I told him that I not only made phone calls, I posted on Facebook and my blog, reminding him, "We need all the prayers we can get!" He rolled his eyes and smiled.

I asked him if he remembered giving me permission to talk about his CLL on my blog. He said "no" and just laughed. I guess he has gotten used to me and my need to share openly. It didn't seem to be any big deal, thank goodness.

As we waited in recovery, I was trying to figure out how to keep him from trying to go to the dealership this afternoon. He didn't even stay home one day after being released from his hospital stay. I was about to suggest he take the remainder of the afternoon to rest when his nurse came in with his discharge instructions. She told him that since he'd had anesthesia, he could not drive for 24 hours. So he has no choice. He is home for the day. : )

John and I are so similar in many ways, but in this area we could not be more different. I never have to be convinced to take it easy and rest.