Post Op Day 1 - 1st Update

Without further ado...

Ta-Da!  Here she is in the body cast.  It's PINK!  

Didn't they do a fabulous job with her baby?  How caring of them!!!

What?  You dont' have family photos like this?  Sorry about your luck.

She's pretty swollen.  And this morning, she appears to be bruising a little on the right side of her face.

They rounded this morning.  She will remain in the CICU for at least 24 hours.  I get the impression that the cardiac docs and ortho docs haven't completely agreed on where she'll go after that.  I'm pretty sure the cardiac docs will win that one.  I didn't realize that the heart and kidney unit (HKU) have different monitors that show more stuff (cardiac stuff) than the ortho floor.  Makes sense.  So, that's why I think the cardiac docs will win.  I don't see how anyone could argue with that.

Physical therapy stopped by this morning.  Apparently they want to get her "up" today.  Yeah, right.  I, of course, sent the PT away for now.  She's finally sleeping *comfortably* now.  The night nurse said that she had an "okay" night.  I know she has to be super tired.  And she has made it perfectly clear that she does NOT want to be touched in any way.  She doesn't care that you want to feel her pulse.  Or that you want to check her capillary refill.

I can tell you this - she needs to be cleaned.  Her trach and neck look awful.  Disgusting.  And her mouth is still so bloody.  I can't help but think that if she were more clean that she would be more comfortable.  So, when she wakes, I'll see if we can get her cleaned up a bit.

They are struggling with her fluid.  I think that all the blood loss caused a chain reaction that they haven't caught up on yet.  Everything is a balancing act, you know.

Oh, just got word that the cardiac surgeons are sending her to the HKU for sure.  Apparently what they say (meaning Dr. Jonas, her surgeon) goes - and so it will be.  I love that they are protective of their heart patients.  So, the ortho people will brief the HKU nurses on that stuff.  And we will go there tomorrow if all is well.

And another thing, last night when we got into her room for the first time, they had her arms restrained.  She did not like that.  At all.  So, I asked if we could untie the restraints.  I really think that giving her some movement will make her feel better.  She still has an arterial line in her wrist, so they were just worried that she would pull it out (that could be very dangerous) since she was so feisty.  As soon as she was untied, she brought her hands together and signed "off".  Oh, my poor sweet girl.  Then she pushed down on her body cast.  And so it begins.  I really don't think it will take her long to get that she can't take it off.  I know she'll get used to it.

After she got settled and went to sleep, Tom and I left and went to dinner.  We went to this place called Lebannese Tavern.  It is so good.  The restaurants here are so yummy.  We had a fabulous dinner (fried artichoke hearts with a butter lemon sauce, roasted garlic hummus, and whole sea bass with cous cous and grilled vegetables with a garlic, lemon and parsley sauce that was SO freaking good I could have eaten it alone).  And the most important ingredient for dinner - WINE.  Yum.

PT is here again.  Gotta go.  More later.

Thanks,
Christy