Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Day Six

So. What have we been up to today? Charlie's been up and about most of
the day, and is walking fairly happily, pushing his drain trolley all
by himself.
We managed to get the cannula out of his ankle, although it did bleed
quite a lot. We were pretty horrified to see how big the cannula was -
about three inches long and as thick as a pencil lead. No wonder he
was hobbling around before. Once it was out, he walked much more
freely, and walked all the way up the ward to the bookcase, and all
the way back to the bathroom (twice!)
We were very pleased that the cannula in his hand is still flushing
nicely, and are hoping that it will last until he no longer needs a
cannula.
He has also been off continuous monitoring for the past day or so -
his obs have been so stable that he no longer needs to be connected to
the heart/sats/blood pressure monitor all the time - the nurses just
hook him up when they do their obs every four hours.
So now we wait to see what his INR will be tomorrow. If it is 2.6 or
less, the drains will be pulled. (There is still quite a lot if fluid
coming from the third drain, so that will be staying put for a while.)
I am, in all honesty, dreading the drain removal. I've heard some real
horror stories about how distressed the children become during the
procedure - and Charlie's not just losing his drains - he's losing his
central line, pacing wires and pacemaker dressing too. He has been so
good, brave and stoical so far - I'd really hate for anything to knock
him back.
We'd really appreciate your continued thoughts and prayers that it
might not be too bad after all.
Charlie is being an excellent patient.
I, however, am very impatient.
I want him to be better yesterday, and I keep counting how many days
we've been here an trying to work out how soon we might feasibly be
able to go home. But we can't possibly know - we just have to wait it
out, and hope Charlie stops draining sooner rather than later.
And I find that really hard. I'm the kind of person who copes best
knowing what's what. Being left dangling in limbo land really doesn't
suit me. Maybe this whole experience will teach me to go with the flow
(no pun intended!) a bit more.
Charlie's eating and drinking well still, and has enjoyed reading some
stories, playing on the computer, playing Guess Who and Top Trumps and
making a daffodil picture at the craft table with Nanny. He's quite
excited at the prospect of making Easter boxes tomorrow, and doing
cookery on Thursday.
As I write, he is ALMOST asleep, but once again the ward is bright and
quite noisy, so he is a little restless. He has looked tired today,
but a more normal tiredness - caused by a late night and broken sleep,
rather than the effects of morphine. Sleep well, my little darling.

Sent from my iPhone

3 comments:

Ann Fisher said...

I'm totally with you on your impatience, it seems like you've been there for ages already, it's been a long week. It must be so hard living on a ward, I'm always desperate to get home even when it's a holiday! It will be such a great day when you go back in through your front door and hopefully not too far away with Charlie progressing so well. Thoughts and prayers to you all for the drain removal and for your coming home soon. XX

Anonymous said...

Prayers going up for a stress free drains and line removals. Huge hugs for you all - I totally understand not liking the being left in limbo feeling xx

Anonymous said...

think of that first sweet breath as the 3 of u walk in through your front door safe and sound and looking back, this time away will seem quite surreal, i'll be thinking of u and praying that all goes well with the 'removals' but please don't listen to the horror stories, chaz always surprises us and exceeds all expectations, looking forward to our 1st coffee morning on your return kellyxxxxx