Saturday Update

I'm sorry I didn't post on Friday night. I had strict instructions from my husband to go to bed early!

We are now happily settled on Baird 5 (the pediatric floor). Esther was moved up from the ICU yesterday afternoon, enabling us to accomplish our two big Friday goals of more walking and getting to Baird 5!

Today's improvements include no more peripheral IVs, no more sequential compression device (otherwise known as the dreaded leg squeezers), and no more foley catheter! Yeehaw!! Esther has had no pain medication of any type since Friday afternoon and is still able to move around quite comfortably. (Steriods are good!)

Today's dose of steriods was another step down in their tapered dose plan so, thankfully, Esther had a much, much less intense sensory overload episode than she'd had on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. (Steriods are bad!)

Esther had a bit of a set back today with nausea and dizziness, which kept her from doing much walking. Now that the foley catheter is gone, Esther is required to get up every two hours to empty her bladder. That means she is moving around regularly, but the dizziness kept her from being able to walk the hall like we've done the last two days. While she won't get any points for distance today, she certainly should get points for speed! Her morning trips to the bathroom were slow and required me holding her up when she got too dizzy. By the afternoon, she changed her strategy and practically ran to the bathroom in order to get there before the dizziness overwhelmed her. Then she'd sit on the pot with the throw up bucket in her lap (ocassionally needing to use it). Then it was a mad dash back to the bed. As the IV pole driver, I had to be on my toes in order to keep up with her.

Eating is still not high on Esther's wish list, but she managed to get in a few bites. Unfortunately, everything she ate was eventually thrown up during the dizzy trips to the bathroom.

The surgical residents were called in this evening to assess the nausea/dizziness situation and their conclusion is that, despite receiving 50 ml of IV fluids each hour, Esther is too dry. They just gave her a 500 ml bolus. Esther still has a central line in her chest which makes it easy to get things in (fluids, meds) and out (blood for labs). The nurse just came in and increased her hourly rate to 100 ml, so we're likely to be up going to the bathroom throughout the night. Rats!

Esther's red blood cell count is very low and could possibly be a contributor to the dizziness, but they would prefer not to transfuse her. Since her RBC is slowly moving upward, they are hoping we can just wait it out.

We've seen a little more of the pre-hospital Esther today, including some nice smiles and some teasing with Dad.