Last week ended on a very low note for us. Marcus took a turn for the worse on Tuesday with severe abdominal pain and lack of appetite. It then turned to vomiting again on Wednesday which put us back in the hospital. It was determined that he had intestinal blockage, which is unforatunately a fairly common side effect of abdominal surgery. I really need to go on the record and say that an American doctor, Thomas Martinez, has been our salvation at the Hospital General. He has been translator and guide for us to get over the language hurdle. The doctors, nurses and staff have been great and very knowledgable. It's our feeble grasp of the Spanish language that is the real problem... so future expats, learn espanol before you get here!

Yesterday morning we started the day be running to Echauri to get a CAT Scan and determine what was causing the blockage. The good news is that all his studies (panels) came back looking good so there was no infections present at this point. The scan showed adhesions (scar tissue) forming around the end of the small intestine and possibly the appendix. Due to the amount of time the blockage had been sitting we all agreed that surgery was required before the tissues started dying due to blood deprivation. At 2:35 AM we wheeled Marcus to surgery. At 5:15 AM they brought him back.

At this point all I can say is they he looked better, his color was back and he was more alert. He is also sleeping. Nicki took over at 9am and she has been waking him every hour to walk, but he is sleeping the rest of the time. I am heading in now to take the night shift. I don't expect any major changes before tomorrow, but I will keep you all posted.