Anya continues to move forward - quite literally. She's had many rough spots the last couple of days - searing pain, nausea and dizzyness when vertical, and the inability of her stomach and intestines to wake up from the anesthesia are among them. The last of these really holds her back: once her stomach gets going, we can feed her something other than ice chips and she can start taking oral pain meds, which are much easier to maintain and give a constant baseline of treatment, unlike the IV pain meds she's on now. She had one unit of blood transfused yesterday to help with the nausea and dizzyness; it's fixed the former but not the latter, and so she may get another unit this afternoon. The blood did help her get her color back, and she's not so swollen anymore.
Nonetheless her progress is very clear. After struggling to sit and stand yesterday, she's done both of those repeatedly with ever more encouraging results. She walked about 100 feet with a walker today, and I'm sure we'll do that again before the day is out. Once that stomach gets active we expect a big jump in activity - at least I hope for one, since she'll have to learn how to climb 20 stairs before getting out of the hospital! We're estimating Sunday or Monday before she gets out.
In the course of all her treatments and evaluations and routine bed-changings yesterday, I got a glimpse at her new back, which is covered in dressings at the moment. The sight of a straight, clean incision wasn't so much a shock as a relief, knowing that it holds a lot of promise. She's a least an inch taller (but still a little shorter than me) and I can tell that she has "two real hips" - her greatest anticipations before the surgery!
It's especially poignant when I compare it to her old back, which I had to clean with a sterilizing pad several times before her operation on Monday night and Tuesday morning. When I was looking at it then, I found it strange that I wouldn't see this curvy back that I'd known and loved and rubbed and cracked for five years again. But having seen her new back, I don't in the least miss it since the possibilities seem to just leap out of it.
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2 comments:
thanks Chris, for the update on Anya. I just read this post & your last..& this surgery is a life changing event for sure! The relief one feels after this is over is unreal, as my 81 year old mother would agree...
tell Anya I wish her a smooth recovery. She's made it through the hardest part! Hugs to Anya- Lynne
Yea for two "real" hips! I can totally relate to that one.
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