As is the case during hospital stays, it's a revolving door into our room. It seems that the activity never slows down.
Here is the uncut, bullet-point version of what has taken place thus far:
Overnight: issues continued with pain. Little sleep for either of us. Cindy had some breathing issues that made it difficult for her to talk. That issue continues throughout the day today.
7 a.m. - Christine, our friendly physician, stopped by and surprised us with breakfast from McD's.
8 a.m. - Physical therapy: Cindy used a walker and made it down the hallway. She got shakey and got a ride back to her room. They have her sitting in a chair rather than laying in bed the rest of the day.
Morning - Cindy's throat is doing a bit better. The leg pain is being controlled better today than yesterday.
Afternoon - The head of Infectious Diseases came by and explained that they won't know for about a year whether they were able to rid her of the entire infection. They will get a sense of if they got it in about 3 months, however they will have Cindy on 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. He hopes that will help, but there is no way to know for sure. The doctor assured us that it is not life threatening. The worst case scenario is that they will have to amputate the remaining femur to rid the infection from her body, but he does not anticipate that happening.
As has happened in previous surgeries, Cindy's blood pressure is now dropping to a level that is causing concerns. The first remedy is that they will give her a blood transfusion to elevate the numbers. We expect that to occur some time soon. Nobody is in panic mode, but they ordered an EKG as her pulse is a bit "thready" according to a physician that just looked her over. Again, nobody is overly concerned, but they are taking a cautious approach based on past history.
Cindy is drowsy and sleeping most of the day today, which is very much needed.
We heard from Kevin in Afghanistan, however, Cindy was not able to say much due to her breathing issues. It was great that he called.
I'll update again later...
Rob
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Rob--How dangerous is the blood transfusion? Has that worked well in the past?
ReplyDeleteI hope that, while Cindy takes her naps, you are using that time to sleep a bit as well...
No danger in the blood transfusions. She has had many in the past. Some were donated by me, but some were not.
ReplyDeleteThey just took her EKG and began the transfusion. Hopefully that will bring her around.
I am unable to sleep because everyone is coming in with questions. Cindy is unable to provide answers so I am doing so.
I'll get sleep when I get home in a few days. Until then, I don't want to sleep until her temperature comes down (she is running a slight fever), her BP goes up, (they just took it and it is 75/48) and she is less groggy.