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Post-op day 2

Today wasn't a whole lot better than yesterday.  Abby is still in a lot of pain whenever she is moved at all.  She's no longer vomiting, so the Zofran is helping.  She's only had 1/2 a pretzel and 4 oz of Apple juice though.  :(. 

Basically, she is just lying in the bed with a pained look on her face.  I did get a few traces of a smile today, but she rarely talks and communicates mostly by shaking or nodding her head.  I've caught her crying silently a few times and it breaks my heart.  I wish I could take all of this away!!

Abby has developed a fever tonight.  They are pretty sure it's just her body being angry about the surgery, so they gave her Tylenol.  It hasn't worked yet, but hopefully she will cool down soon.  The fever is causing her to breathe very, very fast (80+ breaths per minute!). We have been doing lots of slow breathing practice and blowing bubbles to work on it, but her alarm is pretty much going off nonstop.  I feel badly for her roommate.  

Her veins are teeny, tiny and blow very fast.  She is truly a "hard stick" and is running out of usable veins.  Between the three blood draws attempts, three iv attempts in the OR, and today's three attempts, there aren't many spots left!  She blew both IVs today and wasn't able to receive pain meds for several hours.  I convinced them to give her an oral dose to get her through, which was a great decision considering that it took 3 tries to get the iv in.  The iv team actually gave up and called for an ultrasound iv, which can only be done by a few people.  This wasn't much better and the man dug around for SO long. Abby was hysterical.  Just as I said he had to stop, he got it.  Praise God!!  Please pray that this one lasts until she doesn't need iv antibiotics anymore!

We don't have a time frame for going home right now, but we do have some goals: 
1). Eat a decent amount of food and drink plenty of fluids
2). Get off iv pain meds and use only oral meds
3). Work with physical therapy to get up and moving
4). Wean completely off the oxygen

These goals need to be met in this order because one kind of affects the next.  They are going to keep her on some oxygen until close to discharge because the physical therapy will be very hard work for her.  

Tonight, our specific prayers are for Abby's fever to go away and for her to avoid any type of infection, for her to be able to breathe at a slower rate, for her to start eating a bit, and for her iv to stay usable!!!!! 

Comments

Karen said…
Julie, we are praying for all of you. Abby is such a strong little girl. Your blog post brought me to tears for everything Abby is going through right now. We are all thinking of you and your family and praying.
Anonymous said…
I hope her fever breaks. We are all pulling for her and you guys. Hugs and kisses from Girl Scout Troop 1049
roxs81 said…
See if the hospital you in has a VeinViewer
it should help theme find Abbie's veins

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