Slow and Steady

We are now three days post-op, and quite a lot has happened.

The main thing coming out of surgery for Zane has been finding a balance between pain management and maintaining the integrity of his respiratory system. It’s one of those Catch 22 things with him. Zane has a sensitivity to narcotics. Meaning, when he takes them, they tend to suppress his respiration. Yet he really needs them because he’s been through a serious surgery and is experiencing a whole lotta pain.

Yesterday, during the day, he was on a combination of supplemental oxygen (between 2 and 4L) and the Bipap. At night, after the respiratory therapist deep suctioned him (didn’t like that one), gave him his inhaler treatments, and administered easy pap, he went back on the Bipap throughout the night. Through yesterday and last night, Zane received a staggered variety of medications: a PCA (patient-controlled analgesia—the narcotic with the clicky button you can hit to self-administer narcotics every eight minutes), Valium, and Lortab. Last night was a comfortable one for him. No alarms—that I heard.

When the critical care team rounded today, I listened in. They decided that, based on his morning x-ray and his oxygen saturation levels, he would be moved to the floor. So today, he was taken off the catheter, had the central line removed, and stopped receiving the PCA. He’s now in the airways wing since he continues to require Bipap at night.

The plan going forward is to continue to create a balanced approach to pain management while weaning him off both the Bipap and the oxygen. Once Zane is off Bipap, they will conduct a capnography—or carbon dioxide study—of his lungs to find out whether or not he needs to go home with Bipap equipment for nighttime.

Today also marked the first time I removed Zane from bed and positioned him in a chair. We need to retrain ourselves as to how we transition, position, and handle Zane from now on. It’s no longer okay to allow his back to twist. The PT coached me in moving him out of bed. Somehow I managed to get him in his chair without incident. Zane sat up for one hour. But when the time rolled around for him to return to bed, she was long gone. So the nurse assisted me with Zane’s transition back to bed. She held the tubes and wires while I lifted and positioned him. He wasn’t happy with me. I wound up having to hold him at one of his incision points.

Right now, Zane is sitting up again, semi-watching Kung Fu Panda with his brother. But...mostly he's sleeping in his chair.

Though we’ve moved to the floor, we still have a nice view of the city. Yesterday, the room looked out on Chase Stadium. Today, we have a visual of the entire downtown area. I leave the shades open at night, so I can see all the sparkle of the city along with some of the stars.

Still not sure when Zane will get discharged. We’re still approaching his care one day at a time.

Thanks to those who have checked on Zane and to my family and friends who have come by the hospital to visit. It means a whole lot!