Here is Your Update:
Days 2-3
Thursday, we got up and had breakfast, which Sam was relieved to see that he was able to eat. As you may remember, he had been having major nausea the day before all day, and had been unable to eat anything.
They came in at 9:30 or 10am and removed Sam's drainage tubes (both from the surgery site and from the bladder) but left the IV in since the doctor wanted him to keep the Morphine pump going for a little longer.
Then we went down to Joint Camp (Physical Therapy) at about 10:30am. There we saw the couple that I had sat with in the waiting room the day before. He was up, dressed and ready for PT! In fact, of all of the people in Sam's group, this gentleman was the fastest recovery! He was up on his feet by lunch time the second day!
Sam worked hard for quite some time, lots of leg exercises done from a reclining chair. This let us get our Derby Horse on the board. Our jockey is number 3 (our room # is 6203) They have a race set up on this big picture of a race track, and as you meet certain goals, you can move your horse!
Then they gave everyone an ice pack to put on their hip and we returned to our room for Sam to have a much needed nap- with a little help from the pain meds I'm sure.
The most interesting part of this adventure turned out to have nothing to do with us, but all to do with another lady who was there. She was a very elderly lady who had fallen and broken her hip. She had also just recently had her surgery, and her pain medicine was making her very sick too. Gross story short, we ended up playing nurse to her because there weren't any available when she needed one, and she was VERY VERY sick...if you get my drift.....this did Sam in (who was already pretty icky feeling) and we had to go back to our room too.
After a much too brief nap, they took us back to the same PT suite for a buffet style lunch, and the minute they sat Sam's food in front of him... well, we were in the same position as our earlier neighbor. So, No lunch for Sam.
That Morphine they had given him just made him sooooo sick. They had finally and I mean FINALLY, (we had asked a lot) pulled the IV out and removed the morphine, agreeing to let him take another pain pill by mouth, but that last dose at 12 was too much.
After we got back to the room and got cleaned up again, he fell asleep and slept until Leslie and Bob showed up at almost 5:30 I think. He was exhausted. We also missed our afternoon therapy session.
Then things actually got a lot worse, if you can believe it! Sam later told a nurse that throwing up in front of everyone was the best part of his day comparatively!
The rest of the day went really badly because of some physical issues Sam had as a result of the Morphine. But considering the wide readership of this Blog now, I'll spare you the gory details. Let's just say that the early removal of the drainage tubes did not sit well with Sam's internal systems. His bladder filled up, but would not empty! So, the doctor prescribed Lasix finally, 9 horribly painful hours later, and that is basically why Sam and I were up every two hours for the rest of the night, once things started, "emptying out".
We hated it too because it all came down right when everyone showed up to visit, including Grace and Thomas, who we hadn't seen since the surgery. They really wanted to see their Daddy.
The result of this charming story, is that we had a rotten, painful day yesterday, and did almost no physical therapy, so the doctor let us stay another day!
Friday, the Doctor told Sam we would be staying overnight again tonight and that from now on, Sam always has to tell people that he is allergic to Morphine. He had the major reaction of the nausea, the reaction of itchiness, a lot of sleepiness and confusion, night sweats, and then this issue with the bladder. Never again, he said.
Next, he told us that he was going to give us a prescription for a hospital bed when we got home with a "trapeze" which is this huge metal frame that goes over top of the bed, so that Sam can grab on and pull himself up, which is what we have here in our room. This was a great relief to us. One down side to this, is that insurance decided not to allow this, but we found out that Gould's rents just the trapeze, which is all we really wanted anyway. They will be delivering that out to our house tomorrow and setting it up on Sam's side of the bed.
Another great thing was that he told Sam he could get a shower! So, when he was gone, and after Sam's cousin Ben got here and helped us set up a shower chair and re-configure our shower curtain, Sam got a nice hot shower and shave. He felt soooo much better.
Then the lady from Joint Camp showed up and we were off for some mega catching up! We did all of the exercises on the first sheet again in no time, so they gave us another sheet, (We got a much better Therapist this time!!!) and we zipped through those as well. Then he got Sam up on crutches walking!!!
This was the victory of our hospital stay! The best part was when the immobile right leg finally started inching forward. He just starred at the lifeless thing and all the muscles in his body were tense, and he willed himself to move it and it just started moving! He said he felt like he had to re-establish communication with the limb basically. Here is a photo of the notes the therapist wrote on the board in our room to the Saturday therapist, so they'd know the progress we'd made. It basically says that he can walk on crutches if you stay close and that he can get out of bed with a little assistance. Might says something about the stairs, but I'm not sure!
This evening the kids came back to see us and we walked down the hall and showed them the Joint Care suite. They were pleased to see Daddy. Gracie kept singing a little tune, "Mommy Daddy Mommy Daddy" and sometimes just, "Daddy Daddy" or she'd tell one of the nurses, "My Daddy".
Then they left with Linda and Leigh, and my parents and Gannie came to visit for awhile. But once everyone was gone, Sam fell asleep pretty quickly.
We anticipate being sent home tomorrow. The primary reason we were kept was to be sure there were no further issues with the bladder, and to get Sam in with the Physical Therapist. He still had barely done any walking when the doctor came in this morning to discharge, like only across our room. So, we were fairly sure they wouldn't let us go today, and were quite relieved when they didn't. But tomorrow, I think we'll be ready.
With any luck, we can see the Therapist again tomorrow before we leave.
They are supposed to come out to our house as well at least once, so we'll see about that. Otherwise we'll just wait and see!
Thanks to everyone, seriously, who has called, emailed, stopped in, or sent word with others. We really appreciate knowing you are out there. And we Double Love the Prayers. I was threads away from tears several times yesterday when he was in so much pain, and then in walked Derema, and all I thought was, "it's someone who will pray." I truly felt relieved right away. I say this as I listen to a man down the hall who has been alternating crying out in pain (or maybe confusion from the medicine) the whole time we've been here for 3 days or having vomiting. He's been really bad off the whole time. I just pray for him, and hope you are praying for us. We've been really blessed that it's not been that bad for us.
Lots of Love!
MJ
PS- The Gory Details...So if you aren't into that (or barely know us...don't read this)
Now, as careful as I was not to give you nasty info, Sam really wants me to tell you how he made the pain stop because we have others now who are reading this that are getting ready to have this same PAO surgery. He said, "If it can prevent them from going through all the pain I went through, I don't care that it's embarrassing or graphic."
So, here is the short version:
The morphine and also the general anesthesia cause your body systems to kind of freeze up. His bladder just wouldn't release. It was full, he felt like he was starting to urinate, but he could not. Not for hours. And yes, we tried everything. But here is the point: Don't assume that the answer is to relax. This did not work for Sam. The way he made it stop hurting finally, was the opposite. He finally, used all his strength and pushed. Now, that being said, beware, there are lots of physicians who will tell you that you should never strain. Even our own nurse didn't seem to approve of this idea. But, the alternative to not doing it naturally, well, is to have the tube put back in. That is not the worst thing in the world, but....well....
Anyway, once he went that first time, it became easier each additional time. The same thing can happen with stool, so when they say take the stool softeners and drink PLENTY of fluids, do it.... Hope this helped somebody and didn't gross out everybody....
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