Recovery - Day 1

So, it's Friday afternoon & Suze is still in ICU.  She slept a lot last night but drifted in that strange place between awake & dreams.  So far they are managing her pain via the epidural rather than loading her up on  heavy pain meds.  This has resulted in greater clarity when she is awake.

They have elevated her to about 30 degrees in the bed, repositioning her a bit every so often.  She has to do regular breathing exercises & periodic intentional coughing (very painful) in order to avoid fluid build-up in her lungs.  Her pain is manageable & when asked about the pain responds, "It only hurts when I breathe..."

They are watching her blood sugars as the pancreas is responsible for producing insulin.  They gave her a couple of insulin injections last night but today her counts have been within acceptable ranges.  We're still waiting for our Docs to visit but we've been told that since the surgery ended so late in the day, they would typically wait about 24 hours for them to make their rounds (late afternoon or early evening).

Mackenzie spent the day at the hospital with Dawn, Grandpa & Grandma, getting a "pass" on school today--she was heart-broken as you can imagine.  Ben & Katie were in school today & stopped by the hospital for a visit.  Ben's off to the Snider/Dwenger football game tonight & all three kids are hanging out at our house with our good friend Becky.  It has been so good to have Dawn in town for all of us, but her "little sister" was most pleased!  She heads back to Kansas tomorrow but will be returning later in the month.

As for me, "Nurse Retched," after a quick trip home to change last night, I spent the night in the ICU lounge--definitely not the Holiday Inn Express!  I slept about 2 hours between checking on Suze, finding a comfortable position on the 3' institutional couch & fluffing the rubber pillows.  Jim, Mim & Dawn encouraged me take off mid-day to take Mackenzie to lunch & I grabbed a couple of hours of sleep at the house.    While I was very grateful for this window of time, I must admit that the cobwebs have overtaken my brain.

Your prayers have been most appreciated & we believe God knows everything about everything; He's got it!  That's the belief to which I proclaim & cling.