Danny is able to use the bathroom without trouble or pain now and he is sleeping through the night, which is something he hasn't been able to do in a long time. The amount of fluid his chest tube is putting out is still over the limit, so we are waiting on that to slow down a lot. If the tube is removed too quickly then the extra fluid may seep out through his sternal incision instead of being reabsorbed into his body. So, the best thing to do is to be very patient and let the chest tube do its job!
Danny is still using a pain pump that he will keep until the chest tube is removed. The good news is that when he needs the pump, it works...however, he doesn't need it nearly as much as he did in previous days. Danny will be transitioned over to oral pain meds with IV pushes for breakthrough pain when the chest tube is removed.
I thought the incision the surgeon did this last time was to reopen the bottom 6 cm of the sternal incision, but apparently I misunderstood. The surgical bandage was finally removed today and it's 6 inches, not centimeters. That makes more sense to me because I was having a hard time understanding how he could drain fluid, flush, scrape, and stitch in a 6 cm opening!
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| Bottom 6 inches reopened...that's about half! What's still covered is the chest tube exit site. |
Danny's arms look soooo sad...the slightest touch hurts.His veins are not cooperative anymore!
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Bruises from IV's and blood work |
We try to go for several walks each day. It's kind of hard because Danny needs to walk to recover more quickly, but walking makes more fluid drain through the chest tube thereby keeping him hospitalized longer...
Prayer requests:
- Chest tube stops draining or slows down considerably
- Easy transition to oral pain meds from the pump
- Sternum stays closed tightly with no leaking
- The 1st three lead to going home soon!!
- Our children
God Bless,
Danny & Tricia  |
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