Today has been kind of tough. Although Greg is stable in terms of staying off the ventilator, and is gradually waking up, he is still in a state of "fog" and agitation - surely caused by the massive surgery he had, all the drugs he had, and having NO idea where two days of the week went. He looked at the calendar today and whispered "it can't POSSIBLY be December 1st". I tried to recount all of what has happened, like we all have many times, but he is just so restless and uncomfortable that it's just not sinking in.
We've had some issues today trying to get the staff to give at least a small dose of some kind of pain medication and he finally did get an Ultram at 5:30PM, but had had nothing all day. I completely understand the need for him to breathe properly, but it breaks my heart to see him SO uncomfortable from his incisions, tubes, catheters and just being in bed for five days. I'm praying that a "middle ground" solution to his discomfort will emerge tonight. He still has not had all of his specialized attachments removed, and so he can't get out of bed yet, although they did place his bed in a chair position.
He is scheduled for a "short run" dialysis tomorrow - today they took off 2500cc (84 oz) in three hours and he had quite a bit of pain afterwards. The surgeon did talk to Elise tonight and told her to not be discouraged. He said that he has had patients that were on dialysis for six months after cardiac surgery and then all of a sudden, their kidneys started working! We're praying that his kidney function gets restored quickly!
He is also scheduled for his first cardiac biopsy for tomorrow, if he's able to hold still, which seems doubtful at this point but we'll pray that it happens since this is the test that shows if he is having any rejection of his new heart.
He does seem to be swallowing better tonight and actually was allowed to have some applesauce and a few bits of ice cream and did well with it. I am a little concerned about his voice - we're hearing nothing but whispers so far and I'm hopeful that it will quickly resolve and that no vocal cord injury occurred during the second intubation/ ventilator experience. Greg has a beautiful, strong voice that he uses ALOT and we're trusting that it will return to normal.
So, if you'd pray that he would have excellent, knowledgeable, kind nursing care tonight and that he would have relief of his discomfort and get some good, restorative sleep, we would be grateful for him and us!
I hope you all had a good day today and that you and yours sleep well tonight!
Blessings to you all,
Greg's mother