Barbara had a pretty good night last night. The nurses stretched and skipped vitals a little so she got two 4 hour sleep periods undesterbed. The nurses here are really doing everything they can to make her stay as comfortable as possible.
So far this morning she has already taken a walk. They want her to do this at least once more today. She has been ok with the walks except that her blood pressure has been low so she gets light headed easily. Not a real problem, but she has to be very careful when sitting up or trying to walk. They also just removed her catheter which means she will need to get up to pee now. If that is too difficult they can use a temp one, but hopefully not.
They also started giving her something other than just sugar water through her feeding tube to see how she tolerates it. They are starting very slow (10 ml per hour) which they will increase every 8 hours if she is tolerating it ok.
As far as any pain, the only problem is she has a cramp in the side of her ribs which hurts when she takes a deep breath or moves certain ways. It is just above where the epidural seems to be working, but they said to try using the pain button more to see if that helps. So far she has rarely used the pain button at all since the pain from the surgery area is being controlled very well without any additional medication.
Her hands seem to be a little swollen this morning, but nothing drastic. She is starting to put out more urine, so this should be getting better as her body recovers from the surgery.
Overall she seems to be progressing very well and so far has had minimal pain or discomfort. She has a long way to go, by is making good progress and keeping a positive attitude.
Wayne
Thank God!
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