Namine is asleep. I just got back from walking Jessica to our car, so she can go home and get some sleep. Not the proto-sleep of lying in the hospital bed – and I use the term “bed” loosely – but actual rest in our own comfy pillow-top. I will stay here for the night, awake and vigilant. The nurses have been quite attentive to Namine, mindful of her pain and discomfort, but I trust them only so much.
I don’t mean to slight the nurses here. Our experience this time around has been quite good, especially when compared with the crapfest of Namine’s foot surgery last year. But there’s no comfort to Namine quite like having Mommy or Daddy right by your side.
Namine’s pain has been kept fairly well in check, but morphine comes with a price – aside from being habit-forming – it causes itching. Namine’s feet and back, especially, have been bothering her for the better part of the evening, and I’m glad that she was finally able to fall asleep. Namine’s normal antihistamine medication is of the long-acting variety, so giving it now would only benefit her about 48 hours from now. She’s sensitive to Benadryl, so for the time being she just has to deal with it – thus my relief that she is now asleep.
Namine hasn’t eaten very much, but then, no one really expected her to. Just the fact that she tried – having taken a nibble of chicken, a little watermelon, and a little orange – is enough for now. She’s been drinking water more regularly, and we hope that she’ll drink even more tomorrow. The wrench thrown into the works here, though, is her chest drainage tubes. They’re still draining, and as long as they’re in, the doctors are limiting the amount of water she can drink.
Namine’s left arterial line was taken out today (and let me tell you, that was no picnic), and the plan is to take out the central line in her right shoulder tomorrow. Depending on how long her stay here will be, we might see about getting a physical therapist up here. Her shoulder was bad prior to this stay, and it’s going to be even worse now. It’ll need all the help it can get.
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