There's Got To Be A Morning After

My entry last night was pretty matter of fact, wasn’t it? Nearly 15 hours in a hospital waiting room will do that to you. I got a pretty good night’s sleep so who knows what will follow on the page?

I got to Room G101-07 at about 9:10 A.M. Our patient was awake but not happy. Do you see a trend here? It was the same thing following the last surgery. I don’t think Renee realizes that she’s not going to be perfectly comfortable when waking up from abdominal surgery. I’m glad I’m not her nurse. I may be a nursemaid but they can have that tough job.

She told me she ticked off her nurse when she “asked” to be transferred to the colorectal surgery unit. What a way to start the morning with the person in charge of your care! Renee is not very tactful while under the influence of morphine. There’s a lesson for you kids out there, even when used for their intended purpose, drugs can screw with your mind and turn you into something that rhymes with witch.

Renee’s in the post-transplant surgery unit so I’m pretty sure these nurses have some experience. I’m not concerned that she’s not getting what is required although they couldn’t come up with a pump unit for her leg circulation stockings. It didn’t make a lot of sense that they put them on her legs anyway, especially when the room temperature is hovering above 80º. Man, it’s hot in here!

Renee’s leaning heavy on the pain button and they gave her a booster shot to make her more comfortable. She’s feeling pressure on her abdomen (gee, I wonder why?) and flashed back to December when her kidney and bowels refused to awaken on schedule. The nurse reassured her that the catheter is draining fine. I’m sitting bedside now and have been here for almost two hours, that bag is as dry as it was when I walked in. I hope the nurse was correct but if Renee gets the hiccups I’m bringing up the possibility of the NG tube. Don’t worry, Renee’s got a big red wristband that says ALLERGIC TO THORAZINE. She’s not taking that trip again.

The nurse did tell me that they are trying to get Renee to the colorectal floor and that they do attempt to get the patients to their specialty areas. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out. If it happens, hopefully the air conditioning is working better there and Renee can get a window seat. There’s more room window side and you don’t have the crew hopping over and around you every time they check on the patient in the next bed.

Renee’s mostly sleeping but has had some apple juice in between naps. Her magnesium level is low and they hooked some into her IV. Everything else appears to be proceeding as normal for post-op.

As of this morning there’s no indication on how long we’ll be here. But we’re still working off the 5-7 day schedule given to us pre-op. There goes the laptop battery, later ……