Last night went well. They gave Amanda the Dilaudid around 10 or so, she was chatterbox again then lights out. Surprisingly they left us alone from 10 until 4 when Amanda needed pain medicine.
They have the toradol on 4 times a day not every 6 hours. So she is scheduled to get that at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, and 9pm. She was doing good yesterday afternoon and evening but by 4 in the morning she was hurting. I’m sure this is a good schedule for most patients. With Amanda on pain meds prior to the surgery this doesn’t work so well, it puts a gap in her pain management. She was sweet about needing the medicine but when I started calculating the time from the last dose, I was nothing but questions. They had told us 4 times a day so we assumed every 6 hours, no one had explained the scheduled times.
She has already been up and walking this morning. She did good, all decked out her pink robe. I also put her fluffy pink grippy sock on to, she was stylin for hospital attire. After the walk they sat her in the recliner.
We were expecting the surgeon earlier in the morning. He came by soon after the walk, of course while I was in the bathroom, it never fails! The plan is to remove the chest tube and discharge us tomorrow. We were planned for a Friday discharge but it was still a surprise. We will not be going home right away, I booked a hotel room weeks ago for Friday through Monday. So that should work well, we’ve done this to much, having to go back to the hospital. As far away as we are it’s always best to say a couple of days after, just incase. We might consider coming back Sunday, we’ll evaluate that later. I wouldn’t feel comfortable coming home any earlier than Sunday though.
Now that we know we’ll be leaving tomorrow, I’ve been working with the nurse to get Amanda off the IV Dilaudid and back on the pill form. The Dilaudid was only as needed but this is her regular medication at home. It’s seems so hard to get the doctors and nurses to understand that. Essentially all the pain meds need be on top of that schedule because regular Dilaudid usage is par for her. They ended up changing it to the schedule she has at home. That’s one of those common sense things that they should have done from the beginning, but most doctors seem to have a problem with the common sense. I can understand, they get into the groove of treating the normal patient. Amanda isn’t the normal patient, plus she’s my girl! We will need to work with the doctor on pain medication to take home also, for break through pain control. She just received the first dose of the oral Dilaudid, once it kicks in I’ll get her up for a walk. Then the physical therapist will come by again around 2 for another walk. He’ll be checking her oxygen levels to see if we can get her off the 24/7 oxygen.
On a side note my entire right thigh has been asleep for the past 4 hours! Product of hospital chair sleeping or it could be that my legs hanging off the chair about a foot and a half! I also strutted around last night in my Dr. Pepper shirt that says “Trust me I’m a Dr.”! I received a few dirty looks!
This afternoon
Another pacemaker rep came by this morning also. He confirmed the atrial lead isn’t working. It got a little rough after the last post. When amanda got out of the recliner for a walk her chest tube got caught and pulled a little. We went for a walk and her pain starting climbing fairly quick. By the time we got back to the room she riving in pain. She also noticed her chest tube incision was leaking. The nurse came fairly quickly, got her some pain medicine and changed her bandage. I was then able to see the the incisions, there were more than I had thought, 3 or 4 and in different locations than we expected. The nurse took one of the bandages off her neck also, it was rough. Those type of bandages, ones that have been put on right after another is taken off, are painful on her delicate skin. In removal the bandage literally ripped her skin off, she was in tears at this point.
The toradol they gave her just wasn’t cutting. So they gave her a small dose of IV Dilaudid, which seemed to get in under control. As usual she got chatty and started feeling better after the dose, wish I could keep some of that stuff around for when she gets mad at me and won’t talk! They finally have the pain meds set right now though. Regular scheduled toradol and Dilaudid with IV Dilaudid for break through.
I left for the cafeteria after she was asleep. I’ve left twice since we’ve been in the private room, of course while I was out someone called the room phone and let it ring forever, it was out of her reach. Who uses land lines in 2017 anyway!
The physical therapist came to walk with her and check her oxygen levels. She just wasn’t up for a walk. This morning after I helped get her up and going he acted like he would leave the walking to me anyway.
We received flowers today, a nice bouquet. They nearly got sent away because they were trying to deliver to the person that sent them, with Amanda’s name clearly on the card! We got a laugh out of that. A friend of Amanda’s from El Paso, that’s here on her own heart story, came by to see her. This was the first time they had met in person. Please pray for her also, she’s having doctor issues, which we sympathize with and understand fully. Amanda and I both were glad to meet her.
Amanda’s blood pressure has been low the last few checks also. In the 90s over 50s range, it should be 120/80, hers usually runs a little low just not that low. I’ll add that to the list of questions for Dr. Nair if he shows up tonight. We probably should have packed our blood pressure machine along with the oximeter. That way we could have kept up with her blood pressure and oxygen saturation while we’re in the hotel. Once Dr Nair gets here and we talk I’ll go grab some dinner. Amanda thinks she’s ready for some soup. There’s a Panera Bread not to far away. I’ll get her a bread bowl she loves those. Maybe I should just act like I’m leaving so Dr. Nair will show up! That’s how it usually works, when I leave boom the doctor shows up.