Tuesday Wrapup

I wrote most of this last night and fell asleep before I posted it. Here is the end of the day report from Tuesday:
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The dogs are fed, so am I. The Waldorf salad and chicken ragout from the To Go Menu of Gourmet Dreams was super. Far better than the drive thru line at Jack in the Box.

I did leave before the plasma transfusion was complete. Mary was wide awake and watching NCIS. I don't know what she was planning to do after that but she was fully engaged in NCIS.

Comments about an amazing day. When the day shift nurse arrived at 7AM, they could not wake Mary up. They were concerned, and rightfully so, of a problem from the transfusion. At 8AM, Irene the nurse asked a foggy and nearly non-responsive Mary if there was someone she would like to talk to. Mary whispered "Husband" and Irene found my number and dialed the phone for Mary. We talked briefly and I arrived at the hospital about 2 hours later. I walked into Mary's room and she was sleeping soundly. A few minutes later, Irene arrived and woke Mary and asked her to identify me. It took a moment for Mary to even open her eyes and look towards me but when she did, she clearly picked up some energy. Mary then became awake but was clearly dreamy. Irene asked me to keep her awake and not let her nod off. I did my best.

At noon, Irene and the aide put Mary in a chair next to the bed. The purpose is to change the pressure on the lungs to avoid problems. This is something they only do when there is family or friends around to monitor the patient. The fear is a patient blacking out or doing something without supervision and then falling and causing severe damage. Frankly, this was pushing Mary a bit for during the last few minutes, I had to hold her head up because she would drift asleep in mid-sentence and literally 'nod off'. After sitting for 45 min, they put Mary back into bed and she slept soundly. In fact, so did I (the benefit of all those years of flying in coach class is that I can sleep sitting up in a chair).

For the early afternoon, Mary was on a cycle of sleep, wake, chatting and asleep again and the nurse said this was ok. Various doctors arrived and Mary would wake up and engage in conversation. She was not 100% but she was, at times, strong.

At 6PM, Mary went back in the chair. The move from the bed to the chair was much easier this time because Mary did a bunch of it herself rather than the nurse and her aid lifting, holding, rotating and placing her in the chair like they had to do at noon. Mary was alert, chatty, even displayed a strong O&P gene component during the conversation. I didn't have to do my duty holding her head up. After 35 min or so, Mary buzzed the nurse and asked to take a walk. Irene came in and was tickled pink that Mary wanted to walk. So they help lift her and she walked across the room to the sink and brushed her teeth and combed her hair. She walked back and got into bed much easier than at noontime. When I say walk, the nurse had her in a full support hold in case Mary started to fall but the hold was pretty much unnecessary.

The walking caused pain so Mary hit the self medicate button and that caused her to drift off for a while. By 8PM she was alert again and I reminded her that the show NCIS was on because she had talked about it while sitting in the chair. She turned it on and was fully engaged, watching intently.

Somewhere in there the shift change occurred and last night's evening nurse reappeared--name of Rhoda. Rhoda was amazed by the change during the 12 hours. Rhoda told us that Mary's BP had dropped to 90/55 at one point and that's when the orders came through for the transfusion. And, when Rhoda left on Tuesday morning, she was unable to wake Mary at all and she was very concerned. Clearly she was relieved to see Mary awake, alert, chatty and generally in very good spirits.

Now, as Mary reminded me several times, we have not won the war, only the first battle (step 1, the surgery)--and we know there are several more battles to fight. The unknown right now is the state of the liver. The blood tests are indicating progress but its ain't over til its over and we are in the first hours of step 2. Mary has not had anything to eat or drink so there is no telling what will happen when they let her have a bit of something and that amazing re-plumbing job is tested to see if she can digest. (Mary is getting plenty of liquids and nutrients by way of the IVs so there is no risk on that front.)

And if you have read this far, the O&P gene? Its a family joke that grandma Alberta's major contribution to her two daughter's is the genetic pass down of O&P gene. Now, as many of you know Mary or her sister Reenie (Maureen E) you may not be aware the gene exists for in polite company they can both control it very well. And right now, O&P is benefiting us greatly for Mary is really driven, motivated, you name it to get through this step 2 successfully.

Mary herself asked me if she was showing O&P when talking to the chief surgical resident late yesterday afternoon. You decide. The recap:
The doctor said, "Your blood tests show the liver function isn't perfect" to which Mary asked, "OK, what are the numbers?"
The doctor made the mistake of saying, "Let's just say they are not perfect" to which Mary said, "I cannot stand it when someone will not answer a simple question. Or, perhaps, you don't know what the numbers are!" She had the doc back on his heels! At that point he turned to one of the members of the pack (doctors travel in packs in a teaching hospital) and asked for the numbers. As he was reading them off, Irene the nurse who had joined this conversation in progress said sweetly, "I'll get her a print out a bit later, is that ok?"
At that point, the pack "stepped out the back Jack" as the song says. I think Mary had really surprised him.
So, what does O&P stand for? Hmmm, maybe I will let you guess for a while.
Later