Hi Everyone,
Day 4 after the Surgery and Dr. Beilman came in a little while ago. Sue has been doing great. Once they got the medication “balanced” as they say she really started making progress. The pain medication team was on top of this until they got things right. So, the pain slowly subsided (but was still quite prevalent) and the medication was working without making her really tired. Tubes have been coming out, NG, Catheter, and Oxygen. All part of the progress.
Susan’s progress has been phenomenal, and I have been able to see the changes by the hour. It takes a little bit for some things to progress and the doctor really knows his stuff. Starting and advancing the diet for example, when you start with clear liquids to soft foods then a full meal might be hard to understand but they have a reason for when it’s time to change and in the long run, it pays off. The last thing they want to do is go too fast and have you regress and not feel well.
So, as I said, Dr. Beilman came in today and saw the tremendous progress. At some point, the next step is to continue the recovery progress at home because it can be hard to get rest with hourly or bi-hourly interruptions. Dr. Beilman asked Sue if she thought about when she would like to go home. She said as she feels right now tomorrow looks like a great possibility and Doctor Beilman agreed. As he sees it there is nothing that would indicate otherwise. Getting off the pain IV and move to oral, and she can start to switch over from the hospital care of her blood sugars to her Dexcom system. This can begin tonight so that they can make sure the pain control is working and the sugars are stable. Then at home, as she feels better wean off the pain meds over time.
So, one more thing that I know means Sue is ready to go home. When she gets up and starts to clean her room and make the bed, it’s time to go. Any longer and she will grab a mop and clean the floors too, now that would be sad because some poor housekeeper who probably needs that minimum wage job to feed her many kids and heat the house will lose their job. And, we don’t want that so, home James!
More about Sue’s recovery progress in a couple of days
