DJ has made great progress today: she walked around the unit today, ate solid food for the first time since last Friday night, and had her drains removed.
She is feeling a bit antsy today because her energy is returning, she's on very little pain medication and she is finding it increasingly difficult to be still, but she's hanging in there. She's working her way through the "Harry Potter" movies but still can't do any drawing because the head of her bead is only raised to 15 degrees so she is still essentially flat on her back.
On removing the drains, the physician's assistant also removed some of the tape holding the dressings in place and it's remarkable how good she looks already with very little bruising. Tomorrow they will cap her urinary catheter so that the urine will collect in the urinary bladder like it should and then when she needs to relieve herself, she will empty the catheter into the toilet. This process is important to "retrain" the bladder to recognize when it is full. Then the catheter is removed next week and DJ will have to learn to hover over public restroom toilet seats, if she hasn't already mastered that skill.
Maybe the intricacies and details of this kind are not interesting to my readers-if that is the case, please accept my apologies. But I think there are some that might be curious about the process if they are considering it themselves.
What has been most bothersome to DJ is that the inside of her nose felt dry and uncomfortable today...that's pretty much been "it" for her complaints. This is nowhere near as difficult as I thought it would be thus far. Yeah, easy for me to say, I know. But I thought she would be having a harder time, physically. Being young and healthy helps, I'm sure. Not smoking is a MUST. Not that DJ would be caught dead with a cigarette, but smoking is so hard on the healing process that DJ's surgeon reserves the right to perform nicotine tests to be sure her patients are compliant with this policy.
Tomorrow, in the late afternoon, we check out and head to the accommodations closer to the surgeon's office where DJ will check in twice more before going home. The hospital staff has been great, but we're looking forward to a less hospital-like environment and DJ's looking forward to being able to be a bit more upright.
She is feeling a bit antsy today because her energy is returning, she's on very little pain medication and she is finding it increasingly difficult to be still, but she's hanging in there. She's working her way through the "Harry Potter" movies but still can't do any drawing because the head of her bead is only raised to 15 degrees so she is still essentially flat on her back.
On removing the drains, the physician's assistant also removed some of the tape holding the dressings in place and it's remarkable how good she looks already with very little bruising. Tomorrow they will cap her urinary catheter so that the urine will collect in the urinary bladder like it should and then when she needs to relieve herself, she will empty the catheter into the toilet. This process is important to "retrain" the bladder to recognize when it is full. Then the catheter is removed next week and DJ will have to learn to hover over public restroom toilet seats, if she hasn't already mastered that skill.
Maybe the intricacies and details of this kind are not interesting to my readers-if that is the case, please accept my apologies. But I think there are some that might be curious about the process if they are considering it themselves.
What has been most bothersome to DJ is that the inside of her nose felt dry and uncomfortable today...that's pretty much been "it" for her complaints. This is nowhere near as difficult as I thought it would be thus far. Yeah, easy for me to say, I know. But I thought she would be having a harder time, physically. Being young and healthy helps, I'm sure. Not smoking is a MUST. Not that DJ would be caught dead with a cigarette, but smoking is so hard on the healing process that DJ's surgeon reserves the right to perform nicotine tests to be sure her patients are compliant with this policy.
Tomorrow, in the late afternoon, we check out and head to the accommodations closer to the surgeon's office where DJ will check in twice more before going home. The hospital staff has been great, but we're looking forward to a less hospital-like environment and DJ's looking forward to being able to be a bit more upright.
I'm glad she doing well
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the successful surgery and aftercare so far. I am so happy for your daughter, and for your family in general. It must be a huge relief to have this important milestone accomplished. You must be looking forward to getting back to life as usual?
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