Yesterday, I began reading your comments plus all that I have written since pre-op to Renee. Soon she’ll be up to speed. It is a little tough though, she told me I’m not allowed to make her cry (it hurts) or laugh (it hurts more). This limits my repertoire.
Last night was a night of sleeplessness followed a morning of turmoil. Renee was walking the halls at midnight, unescorted and breaking the rules (see leaf sticker on bracelet). Over a week in the hospital bed has screwed up her internal clock so sleep comes when it comes and being wide awake can happen at any time. All the hospital disruptions will also wreak havoc on your sleep schedule.
The posse of doctors showed up at 6:00AM. They travel in groups. I guess they think there is safety in numbers. But it’s really because this is a teaching hospital and if you’ve seen Scrubs you know that they travel in packs with the leader showing off for the cubs. The leader was not happy that Renee’s been melting ice chips in her mouth. She was told nothing by mouth while the NG tube is in. “It screws up the measurements,” he said. He canceled a scheduled CT Scan because he said ALL that fluid from the ice will mess up the pictures. It wasn’t her fault. The nurses gave them to her. She thought the order had been rescinded. Now Dr. Never Learned Any Bedside Manners has got her thinking that she’s set back her recovery even further.
He really upset Renee. She had a breakdown over it when telling the nurse, then telling me, then telling her mom. It was a triple play. Thanks doc, good way to build the morale of the patient. Where's Molly the Therapy Dog when you need her?
Renee’s had almost nothing by mouth except a couple of spoonfuls of ice chips since Friday. The doctor expects her to survive for four straight days on nothing but a mouth swab, a soft sponge on a stick that you dip in water and rub in your mouth. One nurse called it cruel and unusual punishment. Her blood sugar dropped yesterday to 57 and 70 is the absolute minimum they’ll allow. They slipped Renee an ice pop but it didn’t raise it enough. They had to follow up with some sugar water solution to get her back in range.
Good news:
The physician’s assistant came in this morning and adjusted the NG tube. X-rays yesterday showed that it was kinked. At 2:00PM they clamped it off. At 6:00PM they reconnected to see how much nasty goop they could suck out, if less than 200 ML then the tube comes out and Renee gets to slowly start back on fluids. Almost nil was recorded so this is a good indication of the awakening of the bowels. The tube was immediately extracted. Our Pinocchio has turned into a little girl.
Tomorrow, hopefully, we’ll address the tube at the other end - Hellooooo tube.
After a rough three day weekend it looks like Renee is back to work on the hard job of recovery.
No comments:
Post a Comment