February 18, 2022 - Post Op Day #4

Today started off pretty great, and we were super hopeful to get to take Hope home today!  The day has not gone as we had hoped . . .

Hope had a pretty decent night last night.  Late last night, she was super thankful to be able to have her first bowel movement since surgery, which definitely took away one discomfort she was dealing with.  Then, after she settled back to bed, she slept from about 12:30 am until almost 5 am . . . her longest sleep yet!  She also had a couple of naps today, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

The doctor came early this morning to check in on Hope.  We discussed the possibility of discharge, and it sounded promising.  He just wasn't thrilled with the amount of drainage that she continues to have from the drain in her back incision.  They would like it to be 50 ml or less in 24 hours; Hope had 165 ml in the last 24 hours.  So, it is significantly higher.  He didn't say that we couldn't go home though, and there was talk that perhaps it was still possible with just doing more frequent dressing changes.

The surgeon that visited last night mentioned that Hope's central line could be taken out of her neck.  However, he also mentioned needing to check her hemoglobin again, because he said the increase could have been due to her drying out from all the extra fluid that she had in her body.  As such, Hope asked if the central line could be left in for the blood work to be drawn.  However, no blood work has been ordered since.  The nurse on tonight said that Hope shouldn't go home until the next day after the central line is pulled so that it can be observed and make sure there is no complications or problems, being such a large vessel and risk for bleeding.  So now, Hope is determined to get this thing out of her neck!  It has been bothering her all week, and causes her a lot of discomfort.  She won't eat anything that requires chewing because she said it hurts.  So, she continues to not eat much of anything.  The nurse paged the doctor to get an order to take the central line out earlier this evening, but we have not heard anything back, and so it's looking like it's not going to happen today.  Hope is disappointed and frustrated and definitely uncomfortable!  She still has a peripheral IV in her arm, as well, that is bugging her a lot.

So, after talking with the new evening nurse, earlier this afternoon, we were getting frustrated with what was happening in not hearing back from any doctors and trying to get an answer about going home.  She came back a little while ago and said that she still hasn't heard back, but that Hope will not be going home, and it is centered around the excessive drainage coming from her back incision.  Hope was devastated and tearful.  She misses her sister, Gabi, so very much!  And she is just wanting to be going through this recovery in the comforts of her home and with her whole family.  The Covid restrictions have presented some extra challenges this week, but Hope and I discussed that God has also shown us His faithfulness through the harder path . . . the fact that I'm with her now is already a huge testament that nothing can stand against us when God is for us!  (Romans 8:31) 

She continues to struggle with pain.  We've been trying various things such as med times/schedule tweaks, hot packs, ice packs, light back rubs (where she didn't have surgery, of course).  However, it just isn't really working or working for very long.  Tonight, the pain has built into awful back spasms, and she has been in tears with them.  It is horrible to watch and feel so helpless to take this away from her.  This is what happened last time after back surgery also, and the only thing that seemed to help the slightest was essential oils.  So, her dad is on his way here now, bringing her the extra strength essential oil pain relief blend that she was using before surgery for the pain from the broken hardware in her back.  They said we could try using it, and we're really hoping it will allow her some relief.  Please pray with us for God's comfort and for His healing touch over her!

I'm going to end this a bit shy of the end of post op day #4, and finish telling the story in my next post.  I had this message typed out and ready to post, when things took a strange and unexpected turn!