Day 2 ~ Room 421

Achievements

  Today (Tues) Bob has accomplished some pretty big goals! He's been up and walking (three times, over 1,000 steps total), sitting in the chair, has been napping on and off, and even spending time on his phone, following football scores and catching up on emails and text messages. Pain is worse than yesterday (Mon), but with the local anesthetics worn off and the general anesthesia pretty much out of his system now, increased pain is to be expected. He's still managing pain pretty well with oral Percocet (7.5 mg) every 4 hours. Hopes are he'll be able to go home tomorrow (Wed). But first he needs to pass gas and have a bowel movement (to be sure the intestines are connected correctly and passing things properly), and we're hoping the walking is helping that.

 

Concerns

  Bob's diaphragm has begun to spasm. We would call them hiccups, but these are MEGA-hiccups, which are pulling on his abdominal muscles, causing terrible bouts of pain. They aren't continuous, but when they do happen, they are extremely painful. We've tried repositioning him in the bed, readjusting the angle of the head and foot of the bed, sitting him up in the chair, but nothing seems to be able to stop them. So when they happen, Bob takes deep breaths, pushes down on his stomach using a pillow, and rides them out until they stop.

Vitals/Stats

-Fever: Temp ranged 98F-99F. Normal for post-op.

-Hemoglobin: Hemoglobin was 8.8 (normal is 13.5 - 17.5), which was expected after an abdominal surgery. They began heparin injections, just as a preventative for blood clotting, due to the extensive surgery.

-WBC: White Blood Cell count was normal, no elevation concerns.

-Fluids: Since Monday's surgery, they kept him on IV fluids (saline only). Plans were to take him off fluids Wednesday, as long as his urine output remained satisfactory.

-Blood Sugar: His sugar levels were anywhere between 140-160 throughout Tuesday. Even though Bob is pre-diabetic, he's been managing well with diet and oral medication at home, so Bob's never had to take insulin before. But now while he's in the hospital, anytime the readings are over 150, they'll be giving him 2 units of insulin. So they started doing that.

Tues afternoon - Just finished 1,000+ steps!