I arrived at the hospital this morning to relieve DH, and he slept a bit before driving home. I showed Titanium Girl the t-shirt I’d gotten for her as a surprise: a white tee with the periodic table listing for titanium. She seemed to like it and not think I was too silly for getting it for her. She had a great nurse in ICU today, Nurse S., though because of all the different surgeries, it was hard for her to find a comfortable position and to decide what would work best for her. They confirmed we would be moving to a regular room today, though they were waiting on orders for it. Our spine surgeon had already approved it, but someone else needed to sign off too. My friend and Evil Triplet (yes, there are three of us, muhahahahaha) L. stopped by with awesome coffee for me, and friends T. and D. brought me a very delicious lunch and visited for awhile. Seriously, these things mean so much, I just can’t even tell you.
Nurse S. mentioned that the bed Titanium Girl was laying on belonged to the ICU, and that she’d have to be moved to a different bed before going to a regular room. I mentioned this was the bed they rolled her out of the OR on, that they’ve never transferred her any other time before going to a regular room, and that transferring her from one bed to another was going to be unnecessarily painful. She went to check with someone else, and that person came back to mention that, again, the bed belonged to ICU. I said, again, the bed came from OR and that transferring her would be painful, and that if they wanted to wait until after she started standing tomorrow to switch it out when she didn’t have to be slid around on three incisions, that would be much more preferable. That person went to talk to someone else who apparently told her not to worry about it. Score one for Mamma Bear.
PT stopped by; I wasn’t sure if they were going to wait to get her in a regular room first, but no, Dr. C. is in full task master mode and wanting to get that going. And that’s just fine by us. PT J. said they’d be in twice a day, and this morning she’d just be sitting up. After a pain pump shot, PT J. and I helped Titanium Girl log roll to her side, then I helped swing her legs out as PT J. gave her a hug and helped her sit up. It was not easy. After a week laying down, she was light headed as they told us she’d be, and it was hard for her to hold her head up. But she did it. I wanted to take a picture for DH, and even a picture of her back for him, but she really didn’t want pictures at all. I peeked at her back as I was helping hold her steady, and while it wasn’t a great look, it definitely looked better from what I could see. The shoulder blade prominence looked miles better than it had, and the lower hump was gone.
Titanium Girl reached her endurance limit, and we got her repositioned back in bed. The effort pretty much exhausted her, and she slipped off to sleep. PT. J. left me with a handout on spinal fusions that talked about things that can and can’t be done during the healing period as well as some exercises that should be done. There are some interesting things in there I hadn’t thought about, like modifying movements when she brushes her teeth. Since she’s not to be bending over for awhile, she’ll need to bend her knees to spit in the sink. And of course log rolling to a sit to get out of bed will be required for quite awhile. PT J. assured me this would all become pretty second nature for her.
Nurse Practitioner S., whom we’d had in ICU the morning after Titanium Girl’s first surgery came to talk about meds and transition to the regular floor. With all surgeries behind her, Titanium Girl will be transitioned from a constant dose of IV pain meds with pain pump for breakthrough pain to scheduled oral pain meds every 4 hours with pain pump at lower dose for breakthrough pain today. She’ll also remain on the muscle relaxers and valium for muscle spasms. Tomorrow she’ll transition further to oral pain meds only when requested, and I think that still includes pain pump for breakthrough pain. She was hitting the pain pump less today, so I’m pleased to see this progress. She’s also getting pretty good at taking pills without needing slushies or jello to get them down with. With medication plan in place, we headed to a regular room, this time on a different floor than we’d been on before.
Nurse E. took over from ICU Nurse S., and she’s been wonderful. My mom came for a visit as we got settled in, and Titanium Girl was more awake for this visit. Not long after she left, PT. J. came back for more work; Titanium Girl wasn’t terribly thrilled with this notion, but it’s got to be done. The plan for this visit was to sit up, transition to a chair next to the bed, sit there for a bit, then transition back to bed. Again, this was not easy, but she pulled it off. We told her today would probably be the hardest day, and every day and PT visit will get easier as she grows stronger. The effort again sapped her strength, and napping quickly ensued. I see so much strength in her, it’s amazing. When she’s in pain and I tell her to focus and relax, she does. I can’t imagine facing down the pain she’s facing at 12, but she’s fighting through….
