Much better recovery after surgery this time!
Wound vacs are smaller this time too! Starting to shrink the fasciectomy size.
The down side (you knew there would be a down side, right?) is that I was left in the surgery waiting room while Kathy was wheeled up to her room. I waited. I waited...
I asked, was told her procedure was finished and she was in recovery. I waited... I WAITED!
I asked again, was told to wait in the waiting room while she checked on Kathy for me. I waited...
AND WAS TOLD SHE WAS TAKEN TO HER ROOM 20 MINUTES AGO!!!
Still a bit dopey when I got up here. Whew! I was worried she'd wonder where her people were at.
The new nurse (different one again) said Kathy talked about the chicken in her stomach. Not food. A LIVE chicken.
Kathy told me of a dream she was having that she had lots of plastic surgery at this hospital and knew just where to go.
She was pretty sure the nurse wanted to drop a Tonka truck on her head.
I'm starting to see why they lock this pain stuff up! Can you imagine the abuse?!?
It is a eye opener to get away for a day or so, then come back, the improvement is much more noticeable. The girls who are coming up this weekend are going to have fun as Kathy's pain lets more of her great personality come back.
I'm going to get my girl something to eat. Anybody know where I can find a corndog?
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Get through this Hell
Kathy is finally getting her wound vacs replaced with new & a thorough cleaning of the left leg fasciectomies.
Hasn't eaten since yesterday.
I'm glad she is unconscious during this.
I want to spit thinking about the procedure.
I pray that no more lower leg muscle has to be removed due to "die off".
The last couple days have given us reminders of how lucky we are that Kathy's injuries weren't worse.
Kathy's legs are still both part of her & with physical therapy, determination, hard work & support from those who love her, she will heal.
She is afraid of chronic pain from nerve damage. Working in pain management made her very aware of how bad that can be.
She is afraid of how bad the missing muscle "divits" and scarring will be.
She is afraid of not walking normally again.
As Kathy recovers, she will see it for herslf, but until then, I may need your help reminding
this AMAZING woman how PERFECT she really is!
As Kathy recovers, she will see it for herself
Hasn't eaten since yesterday.
I'm glad she is unconscious during this.
I want to spit thinking about the procedure.
I pray that no more lower leg muscle has to be removed due to "die off".
The last couple days have given us reminders of how lucky we are that Kathy's injuries weren't worse.
Kathy's legs are still both part of her & with physical therapy, determination, hard work & support from those who love her, she will heal.
She is afraid of chronic pain from nerve damage. Working in pain management made her very aware of how bad that can be.
She is afraid of how bad the missing muscle "divits" and scarring will be.
She is afraid of not walking normally again.
As Kathy recovers, she will see it for herslf, but until then, I may need your help reminding
this AMAZING woman how PERFECT she really is!
As Kathy recovers, she will see it for herself
I'm BaaAAAaack!
Ted again! Drum roll please. Kidding! I was crazy missing this girl! Nicole, my sister-in-law, helped me drive home through the night, so I could catch up on some work wednesday and again to get back up here. It doesn't feel right doing "normal" stuff when things are so far from normal here with Kathy.
Hey, as I reread the posts I'm seeing how the change in mood is much more hopeful & humorous. It's great to be able to see Kathy improving in so many ways!
Yeah, take away the worry of Kathy losing her life or limbs and it's easy to joke about bed wrinkles & bowel movements.
Kathy was terribly sad when Jess had to leave. What am I, chopped liver?!? Good thing Ronda showed up to save the day! I think I'm going to have to work on my approach.
Her left leg is unwrapped now. Finally able to see how well all the king's men did.
Let's see... Long openings on both sides of her left calf will be getting the wound vacs replaced with new ones today. Access repairs to the front & one side of the knee cap area. Back of the knee is stapled together clear across. Her right ankle is reattached and the right thigh is stapled together where the surgeon had to harvest veins to replace the ones destroyed in the left knee area. All that stitching is going to leave some wicked scarring that will make a great story for the grandkids one day. I'm thinking of a jungle excursion story with piranha and crocodiles...
Hey, as I reread the posts I'm seeing how the change in mood is much more hopeful & humorous. It's great to be able to see Kathy improving in so many ways!
Yeah, take away the worry of Kathy losing her life or limbs and it's easy to joke about bed wrinkles & bowel movements.
Kathy was terribly sad when Jess had to leave. What am I, chopped liver?!? Good thing Ronda showed up to save the day! I think I'm going to have to work on my approach.
Her left leg is unwrapped now. Finally able to see how well all the king's men did.
Let's see... Long openings on both sides of her left calf will be getting the wound vacs replaced with new ones today. Access repairs to the front & one side of the knee cap area. Back of the knee is stapled together clear across. Her right ankle is reattached and the right thigh is stapled together where the surgeon had to harvest veins to replace the ones destroyed in the left knee area. All that stitching is going to leave some wicked scarring that will make a great story for the grandkids one day. I'm thinking of a jungle excursion story with piranha and crocodiles...
Why the Backhoe??
Nurse shift change does not always work in our favor....We've been enduring the drip alarms this morning and as they go off and beep and beep and beeeeeeeeep, our calls go unanswered and though it seems like a miniscule thing I feel like I could threaten bodily harm. It's like a backhoe warning movement (back up already!!) I think Kathy only pretends to be as irritated as I, she is actually quite a chipper gal in the mornings; I on the other hand.....not my finest hour!
I'm realizing how much better things must be to be complaining about "alarms"!
Kathy is on the phone with Geico right now and it is not splendid news. We, friends, are going to have to pull off one hell of a fundraiser for this girl!! Absolutely blows my mind that anyone working in the health industry in this country could could be completely without health insurance. Kathy has paid it forward for a lot of years and now it's her turn to be on the the receiving end! Will be in touch very soon with fundraiser plans.
I'm realizing how much better things must be to be complaining about "alarms"!
Kathy is on the phone with Geico right now and it is not splendid news. We, friends, are going to have to pull off one hell of a fundraiser for this girl!! Absolutely blows my mind that anyone working in the health industry in this country could could be completely without health insurance. Kathy has paid it forward for a lot of years and now it's her turn to be on the the receiving end! Will be in touch very soon with fundraiser plans.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Where's a corn dog when ya need one??
Kathy had a nice nap this afternoon, woke up with some severe pain and we tackled it head on...(whatever that means lol!) When she's in pain it is literally moment to moment! She's not pushing her pain button for a bit, cuz she wanted to catch up on some phone calls. She get's so concerned about other peoples feelings: it's what I love and admire about her. Mid agony-leg-moving today, she started rubbing her nurses back and asking her how she was...we had to chuckle, "Sweetheart, we are golden!"
On my drive up yesterday, I got word that she was craving a corn dog. I'm quite certain it's the first corn dog craving of her life, so today when the craving lingered, it was a priority! While she was talking to Ted, I went down to the cafe' in search of a corn dog. There are NO corn dogs in this hospital and it has directly affected and lowered my opinion of this "fine" establishment! If anyone is nearby with a deep-fried meat on a stick..........Room 1516...lol!!
Wound-vac surgery tomorrow...scheduled for 4:00PM. I have to head back to Medford early, Ted will be here and Ronda again later in the day. I'm glad to be here!
On my drive up yesterday, I got word that she was craving a corn dog. I'm quite certain it's the first corn dog craving of her life, so today when the craving lingered, it was a priority! While she was talking to Ted, I went down to the cafe' in search of a corn dog. There are NO corn dogs in this hospital and it has directly affected and lowered my opinion of this "fine" establishment! If anyone is nearby with a deep-fried meat on a stick..........Room 1516...lol!!
Wound-vac surgery tomorrow...scheduled for 4:00PM. I have to head back to Medford early, Ted will be here and Ronda again later in the day. I'm glad to be here!
Time is a cruel creeper!
She is so sad right now:( !!! I'm encouraging her to cry and let it all out! She felt this morning that things were getting better (AND THEY ARE!) and she would continue through the day with a smile. Right now she's faced again with the reality of how slow her healing process is. She saw the clock and what she thought was a whole day(10pm) passed was just a few hours.
She said..."When will we get something good...good news??" I sang her a verse of you are my sunshine (My son Jadens proven way to cheer me) and there was a knock at the door. We just got Danielle's package...!!! It's covered in photos and Stay tuned...more good times ahead..... My jaw dropped and we both cried. That was miraculous...Our good news!
RN Brent just spent 10 min telling her stories about amazing skate boarder healing phenomenons and it seriously had an impact; she knows that tons of other people have endured and overcome what she's in the middle of. That is a comfortable thought when you feel alone in your pain! Kathy is showing her soft side and everyone present melts in sympathy! Prayers for heart strength are needed today!
She said..."When will we get something good...good news??" I sang her a verse of you are my sunshine (My son Jadens proven way to cheer me) and there was a knock at the door. We just got Danielle's package...!!! It's covered in photos and Stay tuned...more good times ahead..... My jaw dropped and we both cried. That was miraculous...Our good news!
RN Brent just spent 10 min telling her stories about amazing skate boarder healing phenomenons and it seriously had an impact; she knows that tons of other people have endured and overcome what she's in the middle of. That is a comfortable thought when you feel alone in your pain! Kathy is showing her soft side and everyone present melts in sympathy! Prayers for heart strength are needed today!
"Good morning America, how are you?"
Just now I asked Kathy if she had anything to say and that was it...and she sang it!
It's a great morning for her and everyone sees it...Even nurse Ratchet! (Nurse Ratchet earned her nickname yesterday...Kathy had some very select words with her & it gave them something to laugh about today:))
She feels extremely rested, I'm not sure how because she insisted I sleep in bed with her and the eighteen pillows...I almost called the nurse in to take a picture just so I could get a visual of how I was clinging on to the mattress between the guard rails. At one point I told her I was going to move to the chair, so we could move her leg over and she whimpered, "Don't take that from me...Lay down!" I did.
They came in about 6:00 to do a chest x-ray (Which looked great, yay!) Drew some blood, and she was up asking for her contacts and a breakfast sandwich. We changed out the sheets and I gave her a head to toe scrub and then a smell good lotion rub down.
(Apparently all that good-morning-get-up-and-go was a little over the top...her pain spiked, brought her to tears and I just spent the last two hours holding her!)
The Trauma Team came in to discuss her progress; blood numbers are little out of whack and she's gonna be doing 2 more units before her next surgery(wound-vac cleaning). She's being switched over to a longer acting pain med. Fragmin, which is injected into her belly skin twice a day. Argatroban drip still in place, which continues to prevent any sort of epidural. Right now we want drugs!!
It's a great morning for her and everyone sees it...Even nurse Ratchet! (Nurse Ratchet earned her nickname yesterday...Kathy had some very select words with her & it gave them something to laugh about today:))
She feels extremely rested, I'm not sure how because she insisted I sleep in bed with her and the eighteen pillows...I almost called the nurse in to take a picture just so I could get a visual of how I was clinging on to the mattress between the guard rails. At one point I told her I was going to move to the chair, so we could move her leg over and she whimpered, "Don't take that from me...Lay down!" I did.
They came in about 6:00 to do a chest x-ray (Which looked great, yay!) Drew some blood, and she was up asking for her contacts and a breakfast sandwich. We changed out the sheets and I gave her a head to toe scrub and then a smell good lotion rub down.
(Apparently all that good-morning-get-up-and-go was a little over the top...her pain spiked, brought her to tears and I just spent the last two hours holding her!)
The Trauma Team came in to discuss her progress; blood numbers are little out of whack and she's gonna be doing 2 more units before her next surgery(wound-vac cleaning). She's being switched over to a longer acting pain med. Fragmin, which is injected into her belly skin twice a day. Argatroban drip still in place, which continues to prevent any sort of epidural. Right now we want drugs!!
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