Saturday, November 23, 2013

St Louis Saturday

Everything's still ok. Her blood pressure dropped last night. They
gave her Meds to bring it up. Weaning her off them now. When her
pressure is stable the PT will have her stand up. We can't move out of
ICU until pressure is stable. They said BP dropping is normal for her
type of surgery.

We do get to be with her all the time, ever since she was in recovery
after surgery. Even Luke can see her in ICU. She has her own ICU room
which is awesome.

Mark stayed in ICU last night. He did sleep some. He'll nap today.
Mom, Luke, and I went back to the House and we were all in bed before
9:30. I took a Xanax and slept until 7 am. Feeling good.

My brother in law is flying in tonight from Colorado to visit. It's a
surprise but welcome. He's good with Luke. It will be good for
Mark--they are very close. Jeff and Mark and Luke will stay at the
House tonight, and mom and I will sleep at the hospital. We plan to
trade off every night.

I know it's going to be rough when they start moving her. So some
difficult times ahead. I'll update as often as I can.

8 comments:

Vickie said...

ICU sounds like one our ME girl used, very good.

So glad you really slept.

Are they able to keep her pain under control? Nausea?

I think I remember our ME girl had to get up at very regular intervals. Can't remember if they had her standing or if she just had to sit up in chair for a certain length of time every couple hours. I remember they had a hard time getting her to do it (very immature girl).

Laura N said...

Pain must be ok bc she's sleeping. Took her off continual IV pain med and now taking a pill twice a day. She also has her button she can push for short term pain control. She can push it a lot if she needs it. They can gauge how well her pain is managed by how often she pushes button.

She has been nauseous today. when they woke her up to move her from her side to her back, she complained of nausea. She has a patch behind her ear and they gave her something in her IV. If it gets worse they have one more med to use.

PT was just here. Moving her arms and legs around. They are not getting her up at all today. BP too low and aren't risking fainting, etc. PT comes back this afternoon to move arms and legs again. Plan is to get her up tomorrow. And yes once she starts standing/sitting, she'll have to stand/walk/sit on a regular bias while she's here. First time will be hard.

No surprise to you I'm sure, but Sophie is very mature and will do what she's asked to do. She is so sweet--she asked the PT what her name was and after she answered, Sophie said thank you.

We may be in ICU all day. We'll see. They moved her last night to a room close to the doctors and supplies. She started out in room 27, the very last room (horse shoe shaped ICU). Now in room 7. Glad they moved her.

There are kids here that have doors decorated with their names, pictures, even a birthday banner. Kids who have been here for months. And of course their parents too. Cannot imagine. Puts things in perspective.

Vickie said...

What are they feeding her? Did they start something proactively so she does not get constipated?

Laura N said...

Yes IV fluid nutrition and they gave her a pill for constipation this morning when she took her pain pill. Still no liquid by mouth (except to take pills). Can have ice chips. She's still sleeping which is good.

Nurse also just told me that if the ortho team may decide to give her TPN, which is a different kinds of nutrition in addition to IV fluids. It's better for her if she starts moving toward eating, but if they can't get her BP where they want it and she can't even move toward clear fluids by mouth, they may start TPN.

Vickie said...

did your bil get there okay?
very kind of him.

Vickie said...

The low bp might well be causing or adding to the nausea. Is her heart rate high with the low bp?

Laura N said...

BIL arrives tonight at 11pm. He leaves Monday late afternoon.

Her nausea is better. They just took her completely off the BP Meds and so far she's stable. One more night in ICU to make sure she stays stable. Can't remember if I already posted that.

I have major hospital brain. Short term memory is shot. Too much info going in.

Vickie said...

You might consider keeping a log of sorts, not too technical, just enough so you can sort of keep track. It will help as you relay info to extended family, and so you can talk to her about it later. Because she will not remember somethings at all and her perception of time will be really off.