The anxiety of pain/the pain of anxiety

The first goal today was to remove his NG tube. It appears the ileus is resolving, but we are still taking  . . . [Ed., this is where I fell asleep in the middle of typing]

 . . . we are still taking drinking (and eventually eating) very slow.

The biggest challenge is pain and anxiety management. I write those together because both pain and anxiety. I say both because Tyler is experiencing a cycle of both. Pain is telling his brain “DANGER!!” and anxiety is his brain anticipating danger. So the anticipation amplifies the pain which then amplifies the anxiety. 

The tough part is with the doctors. The docs aren’t thinking of anxiety, they’re mechanics. They understand the engine, but not necessarily the whole car.

Basically, when they started treating his anxiety, his pain was far more manageable, if non-existent.

So Tyler spent the day snoozing in a chair, terrifying his doctor with highfalutin concepts such as “naive forecasting.”

We are very close to getting the hell out of here (possibly tomorrow?). The nurses, respiratory therapists, and honestly, everyone have been fantastic. And we hope never to see them again.

At least not in the hospital.