October 7, 2009
1219 Hours
Good afternoon everyone, I must have been exhausted last night. After getting to bed around 1:00 am this morning. I was awaked at 6:30 wondering, “Where the heck am I”.
When Dar returned to the 4th floor after surgery we learned that her room had been changed to better accommodate my staying with her. This was a very nice surprise, the fold out bed/chair is not the most comfortable but it works.
Dar’s tone at about 10:00 last night was almost gone, she had spoken to our friend Pat Lewis by cell phone around 9:00 and even her speech was better. Dar said “hi Pat” so clearly I think Pat started to cry.
I was able to maneuver and range Dar so easily that it was amazing. Dar’s night nurse was astounded.
During the course of the night Dar developed a fever that got to 100.5, Dr Dawson saw Dar this morning at 6:30 and started more antibiotics and was not concerned that the fever was “site” originated. He believes it is more “post surgery” related than anything else. The sad news is that we do not get to return to CareMeridian today, tomorrow we will see. I am very thankful for Dr Dawson’s caution and attention to detail.
In addition to the fever, later in the night Dar somewhat returned to “old”, “pre” placement status. Not near as tight but tighter than she was at 10:00 pm last night.
When Dar was taking the Baclofen orally she took about 80 mics/day. With the placement of the pump Dr. Dawson set Dar up to get 100 mics/24 hours to start. She is just now getting to that mark of 100. This is a very low dosage, we have lots of room to calibrate and Dr Dawson said that he would probably return later today and make her first adjustment. I was curious how they make the adjustments and was thinking that they must have a special tool they insert through the skin and make the adjustments. Boy was I wrong; it is all done outside the skin with a remote wand that talks to the tiny computer in the pump, soooo cool. I never would have thought. The only time you have to puncture the skin is when the pump is filled, aint that somthin, the miracles of medicine.
Well, as I type I am glad to share with you that Dar’s fever is now 97, and she is resting very, very well. Still somewhat groggy, she has not needed any pain medication and the Tylenol kicked the fever in the butt.
Keep the fever away for 24 hours and I think we might be headed back to CM tomorrow; I am not going to fuss about it, Dr. Dawson will make the right call.
Very quickly, I mentioned that Dr Dawson wants to keep Dar at CM for at least 2 months but would prefer 3. The reason for this is that because Dar has a feeding tube she is at a higher risk for infection to the pump than if she did not have the “peg”. If the “peg” were to get infected the first place it will travel too, is the “metal” pump. If this happens we have real problems and must take immediate steps to deal with it. If we thought and or new that the ‘pump site” were infected, it has to come out till all infections are gone. If left unattended we could have catastrophic problems.
All this said Dr Dawson is going to make sure that Darlene is up to her maximum potential and safety before she goes home. Even when at home all caregivers are going to have to be very attentive and aware of signs of infections. Don’t mean to scare anyone, but these are the realities of what we have. So, we will just deal with it and do all that we can, I am even going to have a “med bracelet” made for Dar so people will know that she has the pump and to look for her ”cheat” in the event that she has a reaction when I am not around or we need to go to the ER.
Ok, that’s the short version of what is going on at this moment, I need to get back to Dar so I am going to close for now, thank you again so much for all your prayers and thoughts yesterday.
I am so excited to begin to see more of what we saw last night in the next few days, heck, the next 24 hours. It is going to be awesome folks, hang on for the ride, “Darlene Is In The House”. Love to all,
Dar/Danny
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