Post Surgery, day 6b

The Doctor changed her mind about the "leak test". Instead of just waiting, she decided to go ahead and do a CT scan with some contrast (leak test) around noon. This was partly because her pain level was higher this morning and they were concerned there might be a more serious problem.

Barbara went down for that around 1 and was down there about an hour. One of the doctors just came by and let us know that the CT scan had not shown any major problem, so it is still a wait and see. If the drainage starts going down, then they will likely work toward getting her to start eating and going home. Once they see that trend, the transition to going home could be as fast as a day. However, it may be a couple or even a few days before a decision is made. If the drainage starts going up, they will start thinking about going back in. Because she has already been through major surgery in that area, they want to avoid additional surgery if at all possible, but if they have to, they will. So far the "leakage" is slow enough that they still believe there is still a good chance it will seal itself. If she goes home there will likely be a nurse to come check on her with a followup visit with the doctor in less than 7 days. There is also a chance they will send her to rehab for a day or two. They are clearly watching her very closely, so even though things are not going exactly as planned, we feel good about her care.

With the change in pain meds today, she has not been as active as yesterday, but is doing as much as she can. The main difference seems to be that her legs feel rubbery when she tries to go for a walk. This is likely from the IV pain drugs compared to the epidural. This makes her feel very unsteady which means she is taking shorter walks. The pain level is also a little higher when she walks, although it is still very low when resting.

I guess the bottom line is we are still mostly in a wait mode. We should know a lot more in the next couple days.

Wayne