Day 2 (SDH+1)

Things have been eventful around here.

We didn't sleep much last night because the nurses came in every hour or two to check Matt's vitals.  Also, Matt kept feeling like he had to go to the bathroom, when he shouldn't since he has a catheter.  The nurse noticed that his urine hose wasn't draining into the bag properly.  She adjusted the bag, moving it lower so gravity could help out, and suddenly Matt was relieved depositing 1500 mL (1.5 liters) into the bag. He had no idea his bladder could hold that much.

The epidural is working well....well, as long as it's connected to him.  This afternoon, an anesthesiologist came to check on Matt and everything looked good.  After he left I happened to notice an IV hose lying on the floor. I traced it up to the epidural machine and we quickly became concerned.  The nurses, doctor, and friends had previously warned us to make sure we stay ahead of the pain and never let it get out of hand because it's hard to get it back under control.  Right away I called a nurse and they called the anesthesiologist back in to repair the hose.  My guess is that while he was here previously, he accidentally stepped on the hose and it became disconnected.  Matt was relieved when it was taken care of.  He was beginning to feel the epidural wearing off and thought he could tell where his bone had been cut during surgery yesterday.  Thankfully the epidural started flowing before there was too much pain. 

Matt's fluid IV line in the back of his hand had started to swell and puff up.  For some reason the fluids were going into his hand instead of into his vein.  The nurse hadn't seen that happen for a while and rated it a 3+ for those of you who know what that means.  She removed the line and had Matt elevate his hand.  The IV line has been moved to his other arm and we're waiting for the nurse to hook up the fluids again. 


Dr Mayo dropped by this evening to check on Matt and discuss tomorrow's surgery plan.  The only concern is that Matt's platelet count is on the low side, 133.  If it drops much lower by the morning, then surgery will need to be postponed until Monday.  At this point, surgery is planned for 8am tomorrow, Friday.  Please pray for Matt's platelet count to rise so that we can go forward with surgery.  

We've had some really great nurses as well as some sketchy ones, but invariably, whoever we talk to, they have really good things to say about Dr Mayo.   We're confident that Matt's in good hands, and for that we are very thankful.