dan has nueropathy... and it is what has been affecting his stomach and it is a big part of his phantom painb.... you know the we were at the ER 3 times ... i guess when i though of nueropahty i always thought extremities.. not really true it can pretty much go anywhere there are nerves and we have a lot of nerves in our abdominal area... so since at least last nov... he has had issues off and on with his stomach and depression and not eating...and not drinking... well without him able to articulate effectivley its been hard to know... but we are making progress... he has the gastroperesisda - no doubt, along with nueropathic intestinal pain, along with nueropathy that when it is "stimulated" can "blow up" through out his body -- mostly the affected side but it can shoot anywhere... and any pain ( like bumping his arm or head can cause it) the doc nuerology PA was not comfortable at all with him on reglan.. she said giving it to dan just gave her a bad feeling--- i like her and trust her so i will trust her with this too. so we put him on amitza 8 mcg -- that will hopefully keep his gut moving so his stomach doesent hang on to the food so long it putrifies... drinking water for him still difficult... will drink 2 boosts a day.. sometimes another beverage and will usually but not all the time will eat a meal of sometype during the day....if it was up to him he would live on boost.... hopefully dan will be on of the people gabapentin will work on and it will help with the nueropathy... intresting dan got his bioness arm unit he started out of 5 to stimulate he is so sensitive now he is down to a 2 and even a 1 now to get the response... so thats good.. i can tell the arm thing is gonna be a LONG term commit.. no quick fix here.... he had a great day today mood wise -- we had our son and his wife and baby up for a few days and he was such a crab he told them to go home.... now that they have left he is in amuch better mood next month maybe only 2 days seems about all he can tolerate of company. he is also much happier now that the 15 yr olsd has basically moved in with her sister in town... i intiated this as dan was just way to mean and critical... and her being at that really tough age isent what she needed so another loss to the stroke.... she is such a good girl though and has had her own ulcers ( literally) from dan... and i with my anemia which is triggered by stress... cant be the granma i wanted to be but it is what it is right? anyhow i just needed to vent a little and talk myself through everything covered in the last little bit of time that has elapsed... everything just flies and i know at least on this site people understand and give effective, knowlegeable feedback.. people not in the stroke world just don't get it .. the mood swings the, absolute explosion he can have over nothing, the absolute crying jags he has- he just will weep.... and believe me he was never a crier... the refusals that can be so detrimental to himself... the having to call an ambulance to move him because his nueropathy is so bad he cant move.... the ambulance people seen him tremble from the pain and though he was seizuring .. i knew he was not.... got him to the er gave him morphine - of course he felt better... but then the residual constipation from the morphine along with the gastroperesis and he cant even talk effectivley to tell us where the pain is ( all over)... last time he had a spell of pain we couldnt even touch his affected side... luckily the speech therapist was there and was like that is nueropathy... managed to get him home but i needed help at home to get him into bed.. had to call my nephew who had to leave his job and come and help us.... so the stroke just reaches out and touches everyone... cant have to many people over at once , cant go to a party, to many people make him anxious.... so unless the day is perfect --- we may or may not do what is planned or we ( he ) will just decide to stay in bed...thanks for the vent session nancyl