November 2009
34 posts
Yep. Going home.
6:31pm :-)
Done?
6:23
Looks like the doctor is letting us go early, since MM isn’t bleeding, and is successfully up and about. :-)
-Micah
Crackers
6:15pm MM is eating crackers now. It’s her first solid food since breakfast. And ginger ale too. Not solid food. But it’s food. Well, it’s not food necessarily. It’s beverage. -Micah
Debriefing
5:58pm The doctor is telling MM what to expect in the next few days, what to do and what not to do. Etc. -Micah
Catheter out, bandage applied
5:45pm The hour of waiting begins.
And it's going to be another hour and a half. . ....
5:18pm The doctor says that after she takes out the catheter, she’ll have to apply pressure to the wound (as it were) for at least ten minutes. Clotting must begin, you see, and it takes ten minutes minimum, she says. Then we have to hang around for another hour for observation. -Micah
It's called a "catheter"
… evidently.
The doctor has arrived
5:12pm The doctor has arrived, and will do the whole removing-of-the-lines and debriefing thing, I suspect. :-) -Micah
Waiting
5:00pm Waiting for the doctor now, to take out the ports or lines or whatever they are. -Micah
Totally unhooked
4:40pm Although she’s a little shaky, she can now get up and walk around. She’s completely detached from the machine. The ends of the lines are still in her neck; it’s just they’re capped and aren’t attached the machine anymore. -Micah
Done!
4:23pm Daisy is unhooking MM from the machine. She has declared her, “All done.” MM says she feels happy, after a lot of feeling worried today. And that makes me happy. -Micah
Awake -- and Food Delivery
3:22pm MM is much more awake now. I just got back from picking up some food from some wonderful friends who stopped by to drop said food off a l’hopital (as the French say; I think?). And flowers. They brought flowers too. In other news, I — the directionally challenged one in the marriage — am learning my way around the hospital. -Micah
Two hours left
2:24pm Daisy says we have about another two hours left. Earlier, Judith said that the recovery guidelines and time for the central line will be basically the same as if they had put the lines into her arms. In other words, the fact that they couldn’t use her arms, and instead had to use her neck, won’t mean she’ll suffer any more serious consequences afterward. -Mr. Micah
Sort of, but not really
2:08pm
So, MM didn’t really wake up. She went back to sleep.
She’s semi-awake now, but I don’t know how long it will last. The drugs have her poor li’l brain a little confused.
She’s pretty much adorable.
Daisy is taking the IV thing out of her left hand now. She’s still connected to the machine via her neck though.
-Micah
Awake?
1:00pm
I just got back from lunch, and MM woke up a little to say a few words. But I’m not sure if she’s ready to be fully awake again.
She wanted water and ChapStick. As per usual. :-)
-Micah
Asleep
The new medicine seems to have been so calming that MM has fallen asleep. She told me she was going in and out, and so asked for a drink of water and said “good night,” as it were. -Micah
Still working on the nausea
11:24am MM is still feeling nauseated, so Daisy is going to add something else to the IV drip thingy to help. She’s also slowed the machine down a little (evidently forcefully extracting blood from the body and the putting it back tends to produce nausea…). -Micah
Calcium and buzzing
11:06am MM has been feeling like she’s buzzing. Evidently has to do with losing calcium during the procedure. So now they have her eating Tums and have added a calcium drip (or something to that effect). Evidently it’s a normal part of the procedure. I just never knew that being low on calcium made you feel buzzy. -Micah
Donation fully under way
10:38am
The machine is now extracting blood from my wife’s body and doing whatever it does with it. I assume it’s also giving the blood back, but there are so many wires I can’t quite tell what goes where.
Fortunately, it’s not rumbling anymore. Just a steady wir now.
Daisy is giving MM some anti-nausea medicine. Other than nausea, MM seems to be mostly sleepy.
-Micah
Um. Ominous rumblings. . . .
10:19am
Yeah. So there are repetitive rumbling sounds coming from the room. (I’m sitting outside the door in the hallway.)
Imagine you’re listening to the periodic, calming rolling-in-of-waves at night beside the ocean. Except imagine that instead of rolling in, the waves were rumbling in.
-Micah
Time to get hooked up
10:14am Daisy is hooking MM up to the machine, so I had to leave the room. I don’t know why, but that’s the rules. Should take about ten minutes, she says. -Micah
Going back to get the central line in
9:15am They’re taking MM back to the room to put in the central line now. Should take about 40 minutes total. I’m off to get some coffee, since I’m not allowed to come along. brb -Micah
Signing the consent form
8:54am
Now MM has to sign the consent form for the “procedure.”
I, unfortunately, won’t be allowed to go into the room during the “procedure.”
Wah!
-Micah
The IV is in
8:37am The nurse put an IV in the back of her left hand. That’s just prep for the central line, which, evidently, will go in MM’s neck. Eww! -Micah
Getting ready for the central line
8:27am
MM is now in her hospital gown and pajamas and special socks.
They have to test her for pregnancy again. *grins*
They won’t take our word for it, evidently ;-)
-Micah
Waiting for the other thing
8:10am
So, Mrs Micah’s left arm’s veins weren’t prominent enough. Or something like that.
So they have to do this other thing called a “central line,” where they put the thing straight into her neck or leg. We’re hoping for the leg.
We’re now in a waiting room somewhere else in the hospital, waiting for the people who do the stuff.
I have no idea...
Arrived and in "The Room"
8:00am
Here we are. In “The Room” where “The Machine” is. Hopefully I’ll be able to post a picture of the machine later.
Judith and Daisy are the nurses in charge.
Right now, Daisy is trying to find good veins to use in Mrs Micah’s arms.
The left arm isn’t being very cooperative, it would seem.
-Mr. Micah
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