Day 3 2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back

Day 3 was supposed to be a tough day according to the doctor before the operation. I expected it to be one where Louise would be in a lot of pain. I hate to answer for her, but it seemed like her pain was pretty much controlled. However, the pain medication that she had in her made her so sleepy and quite loopy today. It was hard to communicate much with her.

She had an x-ray this morning which showed that she had a build-up of fluid in her left chest area outside of the lung. She had a drain on the right side which had kept the fluid drained on the right side. So, instead of taking the drain tube out of her right side, they put an additional drain tube on the left side. They really aren't too concerned with the fluid build-up, but it did slow down her ability to breathe deeper. They also had to give her morphine and other pain killers as they put in the new tube. Well you can imagine what that additional medicine did to her state of mind.

The other problem today was the swelling of her left arm and hand. The doctors were worried about it and they called in an ultra-sound to be performed on her shoulder and arm. The radiologist who performed the procedure was very concerned about something and went over and over it for at least 1/2 hour. She didn't say anything and she had me very worried. I knew she was looking for blood clots and from what I could tell, she had found some(I'm so good at reading those kinds of things..not). Then she said that she thought it was probably a nerve bundle but she needed to call in a second opinion. The more experienced radiologist confirmed that it was not blood clots and I was so relieved. We don't need blood clots right now. We still don't know where this swelling has come from but it is probably just part of this trauma of surgery that she is trying to heal from.

They did get her up to sit in a chair for over an hour which is the first step to walking. Hopefully tomorrow she can walk a little. They still haven't let her drink any water (for 3 days). She constantly asks for it. She has also had no nourishment for 3 days except for IV sugar water. They are so concerned that the connection from the stomach to the esophagus will leak, and cause all kinds of problems. So they try to avoid any swallowing for as long as possible to allow the connection to heal. Tomorrow they plan to put nourishment through the feeding tube that is now in her intestine. She is still in the intensive care unit and you can see why. She probably will be there at least two more days.

So, in summary, it was a day where I don't think she was in too much pain but a day where she had some setbacks with fluid build-up, swelling and some breathing problems. We are looking for a better day tomorrow. Thanks for all of your great comments and responses. I am passing them on to her as much as her sleepy mind can understand. I hope I haven't overwhelmed you with too much detail, but most of you seem interested. So, I will check in again tomorrow.

Good night, Spence