City Lights

It is a little after 4:am. I can't sleep so I am watching the lights of downtown Austin twinkle in the distance. Downtown is very small when compared to Houston, or DC, or NYC. But the view from anywhere outside Austin is actually quite nice. Probably because it is small.

Parker has begun to feel the effects of coming off the Dilauded. Lots of pain overnight, lots of anxiety, feeling panicky ..... everything the GI doc told me last night was about to happen. I don't know whether the best thing for Parker is for me to cut out for most of the day or for me to stay. My maternal instincts say stay, but something makes me wonder if he will go through it faster if I am not here for cushioning. Regardless, I can tell it is going to be ugly.

On a good note, his abdomen is noticeably flatter since yesterday. If nothing else this means his stomach and the top part of his small intestine are empty so the pressure is off the ileus. This should encourage it to heal. Let's hope. We are SO ready to go!

There is a woman in another room who cries and weeps when her husband leaves at night, and she doesn't stop until he returns the next morning at 6. One and a half hours to go.