Friday, August 31, 2012-The 3rd day following the PA band surgery.
Since Diego was off the sedatives and had the ventilator tube removed he was awake more and trying to talk. His nurse, Sarah, was trying to manage his pain and nausea. One seemed to trigger the other so this proved to be a bit of a balancing act.
Around 12:00pm, the ultrasound tech came into Diego’s room to do the echo. While she was scanning Diego, Dr. del Nido came in to check on him. I could see in del Nido’s face that he was very pleased with Diego’s progress from the previous echo on Wednesday. It was really touch-and-go for the first 36-48 hours after surgery. Diego’s left ventricle was struggling to cope with the added pressure from the band. If his LV was not capable of the extra workload then they would need to go back in to make adjustments. Dr. del Nido said, “He made it through the valley and he looks much better.” He gave the okay for Diego to be moved to a regular room on 8 East.
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| Removing IV |
Diego still had IV lines in his neck, both hands and feet. After the echo, at approximately 1:00pm, the nurse removed two of his IV lines. The most difficult part about removing the lines was the adhesive they use. It is sealed tightly to his skin and hair and sometimes the skin was folded underneath.
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| Sarah |
By 2:00, it was time to start working with Diego to get him up, moving around, eating, drinking and doing lung exercises. Basically, we were trying to give his body a jump start so things would start working again.
Sarah moved Diego into a regular room on 8 East at 3:00pm. It was during this move that Diego seemed to hit his low emotionally. He was frustrated with the fact that he has to stay in the hospital a few more days. Once he is discharged, we will need to stay in the Boston area a few more days so he can return to the hospital for a follow up appointment before returning home
Diego tried to dig his heels in and refused to drink, eat, and walk. That forced the two of us to have a power struggle. If you know Diego and I well, then you know that we are both equally headstrong. When the two of us meet at a crossroad, I have to remind Diego that I am still “the mom” before we can move forward. I told Diego, “The only way they are letting us leave is for you to start walking, eating and drinking. So the sooner you start doing that the sooner we get out of here.” I think I got my point across. I left the room to take a little break and when I returned; his nurse looked up at me and said, “Are you mom?” I nodded yes and she said, “Oh good, because I was just asking Diego if I could take the IV line out of his foot and he told me I had to ask his mom for permission before he could do anything.” I laughed and said, “Yes, you can take the IV out.” Now that we have worked through the low point, I think we can complete our next task of being discharged from the hospital!
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| Day 3 |
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