Laurelle looked better today, but more towards the end of the day. They tried to get her up to walk to the end of the bed and she almost fainted. They realized that her hemoglobin was low, so she was given a unit of blood to hopefully make up for the loss during her surgery. Her temperature was a little high too, but nothing drastic.
She is getting insanely irritated with the nasogastric tube [up her nose and into her stomach]. She was trying to cough up phlegm all day but the tube was in the way and had irritated her throat. She said it felt like she had strep. Her face would crumple up every time she swallowed or tried to cough up crap. The good news is that she is able to eat ice chips today. Baby steps. The surgeon visited her while I was in her cubicle and he said that she is doing well and that he may be able to remove the tube from her nose tomorrow. I think she will be a different person once that is gone.
As the day wore on, the colour returned to her face, which was a huge relief for me. Her cheeks looked rosy again instead of the pallor that she showed since the surgery.
Greg (husband) and Sandra (best friend) also visited briefly.
I don't know how she can manage to get any rest in that unit. She is in the close observation area which has 4 beds in one room and 2 nurses monitoring them at all times. One man had a kidney removed and is on morphine so he moans and groans and complains that people are hurting him (hallucinations, probably). The other lady had a bowel obstruction and was okay, but the dude beside Laurelle had a tracheotomy and it was constantly sucking crap out of his windpipe. I can't even describe the sound that it was making. Disgusting. Think the dentist, but multiplied by...oh I don't know....67668 thousand. I don't exactly know what is caught in his trachea but it was horrible to listen to. Poor Laurelle.
Anyhow, back tomorrow. After all, it's Family Day :)
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