Saturday, February 19, 2011

Grace's Recovery, Day 2

 She is sleeping soundly after a busy day with some busy moments.  She slept soundly for a few hours last night, and so did I.  At around 1AM she woke up and asked me to lay down with her.  I did, but I can't sleep when I do because I'm afraid I'm going to roll over onto her hips. So I got a few hours sleep, which is okay because she was able to sleep. Blood draw early this morning, and the good news is her hemoglobin is at 8.4 after yesterdays transfusion.  Her hematocrit is still only 23, but we're making progress.  They'll draw again tomorrow morning to see where we stand.  The fever comes and goes, but no nausea today.  She's eaten an applesauce, a yogurt, some scrambled eggs and a few sips of milkshake, but she's been drinking much more.  The pain management team checked her epidural site, which is painful for her, and everything looks good.  We switched her valium from liquid to pill form, which she surprisingly tolerates much better.  Of course, it's easier to mask a pill in yogurt and ice cream than the nasty tasting liquid.  After she ate the applesauce I ordered her eggs, and faked a call from Dr. Miller.  Kate called the room phone from her cell phone, and I answered "Hello?  Hi Dr. Miller.  No, she hasn't eaten her eggs yet, we're trying.  Okay, I'll tell her."  Hung up, looked at Grace and said "Dr. Miller said you have to eat in order to get strong enough to go home."  She promptly opened her mouth and ate half a plate of eggs.  We're sticking with soft foods because she still has very little energy, and chewing is too much for her right now.  Her speech continues to improve.  Today we reached a point where she sounded like Wesley from "The Princess Bride."  Remember when he was lying in Miracle Max's cottage, saying "to blaaaiiizzzeee"  Yeah, we're there during the morphine window.  Otherwise, she's pretty articulate, but still limited to two and three words at a time because of her energy level.

She finally got to change positions today.  They wanted her flat on her back for the first 48 hours because of the pump.  Today we raised the head of the bed  30 degrees, and we removed the wedge from between her legs, propping them with a pillow instead.  She had visitors all day.  Aunt Karin and Maria came by this morning, then Dad and Lisa.  Ted and the kids came by as well, and finished with a visit from Bethany and Brianna.  Grace had no problem sleeping in front of company.

We had another PT session this morning that was pretty painful for her.  We figured out she had no meds prior to the session, so we decided I'd do a session after her next dose of morphine.  She tolerated that much better.  We also bathed her and changed her bedding, which was certainly not her favorite part of the day.  We had to lift her off the bed for the first time and she was in much pain doing so.  I can't imagine what it's going to be like after the epidural comes out either tomorrow or Tuesday.

The plan for tomorrow is a blood draw early in the morning, and transferring her from the bed to a wheelchair.  She will also have two PT sessions tomorrow.

I had to laugh. Ted decided that while Dad and Lisa were at the hospital, he would take me out of the hospital for a nice dinner, with real food to celebrate Valentine's Day early.  He didn't fill me in until after I said "Let's go to IHOP".  Hey, it was close, and it's comfort food!  Just makes me laugh.  He was a good sport, as always, and giggled all the way through his belgian waffle dinner.  There were strawberries on it...it was romantic. ;)

Another update tomorrow. 

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