I stayed a little later than I’d planned last night. Amanda asked Weren’t you going to leave early. She wanted me to leave so she could go to bed! On the ride home, I didn’t take the train but caught a bus that stopped close to the hospital. I swapped at the transit center to a bus that puts me closer to the apartment with less of a walk. I may not have ridden the transit system for a few weeks, but I remember the route of the top 4 buses I ride. By the time I took Tank out and got in bed, it was past 11, and Amanda was sound asleep already. She had a full day of nonstop peeing and was tired!
We knew it would be a lot of weight loss, but with over 6 liters voided, she lost exactly 15 pounds in one day! When I spoke with her this morning, he was already within two pounds of what we assume is her new base weight. The PA came by before rounds and wanted to keep her on everything through tomorrow. I was hoping for a discharge today. She said all her kidney numbers looked good and that drying her out a little extra would be good. I worry about pushing the kidneys too much, though. The fluid flow had slowed, so maybe she won’t dry out too much. She seems to be feeling better, but was tired this morning and took a nap after the PA left.
When Amanda starts to feel better, she will want to get out a bit, but I think it’s important that we don’t do too much. She needs to stay put for a bit and just take it easy. I felt that they should wean her off the dopamine and not just abruptly stop it, and send us home. It was like the doctor heard me. The PA called and said they weren’t rounding as a team, and the cardiologist wanted to cut the dopamine in half and maybe stop it altogether later tonight. I like this plan much better.
Amanda felt better, but looked worse to me. I think losing 20 pounds so quickly just made her look that way. Her face was smaller, and she was really pale, more so than usual. I told her she looked like she could be in the Twilight Movies, looking like a pale vampire! She was getting really tired, too, saying she was feeling down after they turned her Superman juice off. As I left for the apartment, she settled in for a nap.
Just wen I think I have the buses figured our, I realize I don’t! I almost walked to the apartment, and if I had, I would have gotten there quicker. The weather was nice, and it wouldn’t have been bad. The only reason I didn’t was that the wind was blowing like crazy, and I didn’t want to chase my hat down Main Street. I walked to the transit center instead of taking the train. I hopped on one bus to have a shift change for the driver, and the ticker jumped 20 minutes. The new driver was busy doing a walk-around on the bus. So, I opted for another bus, only to have the first one leave about 5 minutes after I got off and before the next one arrived. Even with the scheduled departures at the terminal, I still can’t figure it out, and it’s not like the drivers are going to give you any information.
When I returned to the hospital, Amanda looked better. The color had returned to her cheeks a bit more. I think the nap helped, and her skin may need time to adjust after all the fluid was shed so quickly. I ordered dinner pretty quick after I arrived. We had Mexican from a place we hadn’t tried yet. Some potato taquitos piqued our interest. They had fabulous chips and a warm salsa that was great, too. Probably the best chips I’ve ever had, and I make a pretty decent fresh corn chips myself. They were made with their freshly made, very pliable yellow and blue corn tortillas, which were very good too. That was the key to their superb chip.
After dinner, Amanda commented on her now much-skinnier legs. She said I have an ankle now! All the doctors and PAs who checked her legs and feet were also amazed at the difference. Her Superman juice, the dopamine, was finally turned off completely. The Bumex is still running, and she is starting to hurt with the achy muscles and feeling pains all over again. I think she should let the nurse know and ask that the drip be stopped. She wants to keep it going and see it through, though. Just by her I&Os, which I have been keeping track of on her board, she is down to her base weight with the negative liters of fluid today. I think we’re at a good spot and shouldn’t push it. I am glad they weaned her off the dopamine early. We’re looking at a discharge tomorrow, and hoping that with it being Friday, things will move along quickly. We aren’t holding our breath, though.
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