Yes, these pictures show Chris in the hospital. The ICU, in fact! It started on Saturday, Aug 25 when he started having an unbearable pain in his abdomen and was throwing up. We took him into the emergency room where they discovered that he had stones in his gall bladder and that one had come out and was stuck in a duct. It was preventing the enzymes from the pancreas and gall bladder from getting where they needed to so it caused severe pancreatitis, a highly painful inflammation of the the pancreas. While he was still in the ER, he stopped breathing after they administered two doses of pain medication. Consequently, Chris spent a week in the ICU.
Jonny was allowed to come see Chris after a few days. He was pretty hesitant to get too near his dad. He told him, "You're sick." As soon as Jonny discovered there were buttons on the bed to push, he didn't mind sitting up on the bed with Chris. He enjoyed making his daddy's head and feet go up and down.
Jonny also liked borrowing the nurse's stethoscope.
Jonny got to ride on the wheelchair with his daddy when Chris was discharged. He thought it was the best thing ever, but of course I couldn't get him to look at the camera!
The doctors wanted to take his gall bladder out because it had more stones in it, but they wanted his pancreas to heal before surgery. So Chris spent another couple of weeks feeling sick and sore at home before they took his gall bladder out on Tuesday, Sept 18th. He spent two or three days sleeping on the couch but he is finally starting to feel better. It will take him another two weeks or so before he can go back to work. We've also got to get him eating and building his strength back up. He's lost about 25 pounds because it hurt to eat. At one point, Chris was told not to eat fats, meats, fresh fruits & vegetables, dairy and sugars. It's been quite a month, but hopefully Chris has turned the corner and is going to be better soon!
