Overnight, Day #5

I set about making sure Girl Child’s pain pump was pressed regularly, and we finally got ahead of the pain curve. It was indeed a long night.  I dozed in 25-30 minute increments between the pain pump intervals, and she slept a lot.  I think the lidocaine patch helped, as did staying on top of her pain pump.  Doctors started making rounds just before 6, including Dr. B. The Resident.  Talked over the GI issues, and he looked at her incision and tube.  Lots of other folks in and out.  They’re mostly a blur.  DH messaged me wondering about pain control and whether it wouldn’t be better to have her maintenance dose be higher and her pain pump doses lower.  I asked a bevy of what I took to be residents or interns (Dr. B The Resident had come back with them) about the pain control IV vs pain pump doses. One of the doctors talked to me about it, something about the maintenance dose being a quarter of the max hourly dose and setting it up so there’s no possible way for her to OD on it or impact respiratory rate too much.  I’m not clear on why flipping the two doses doesn’t work in that scenario, but the doctor did say they’d look at that stuff.

The on-call spine doc showed up and we talked over all the various issues connected with the surgeries she’s had, the one she’s yet to have, the impacts of the meds, pain control etc.  I got teary talking through things.  I should have asked if what they see on paper and what they see in terms of her presentation and handling of pain, etc is within the limits of what they’d expect.  He did say that some of what we’re seeing with increased pain could be the cumulative effects of having 2 surgeries now close together.  The “insult of surgery” as he put it.  And of course, she’ll face another round in a couple days just when she might be getting on top of some of the pain from this one.  She’s being asked to shoulder more than some adults could withstand.  I hate this for her, but I do see glimpses of her strength when she focuses herself to relax through the pain, and I know she can get past this.  But man this is a long tough road…

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D W

DW = "Dear Wife" or "Darling Wife". Wife to DH ("Dear Husband" or "Darling Husband"), and mom to Titanium Girl and Boy Child. We're fairly private people; our identities aren't important, but the story is. Many schools no longer screen for scoliosis, and some doctors don't because they think the schools still do. Because of this, scoliosis isn't on most people's radars. We encourage parents to learn the signs of scoliosis and to check their children as they grow so hopefully any issues can be found early when treatment is easier and more likely to be successful.