Last night and today have been long. Danny hasn't been able to urinate on his own yet and has already had one in and out catheter (put it in, drain bladder, take it out) at 4:00 am. Since then he still has not urinated (despite trying every trick in the book) on his own. They are giving him more IV fluids in addition to not limiting his oral intake in hopes to "jumpstart" his kidney.
Danny is on a pain pump with Dilaudid and he is requiring a lot to keep the pain down to a 6 or 7 out o 10...10 being the worst pain. Apparently many people would be knocked out with the amount of pain meds Danny is on right now. Throughout our marriage Danny has never really felt relief from typical pain meds, so his solution is to take nothing unless it's unbearable pain...and then it's when I'm making him because I'm worried about how badly he is hurting.
Anyway, the thought is that the Dilaudid is making his bladder "sleepy" and not give the signals needed for his body to urinate like it should. For sure this will work out and his urinary system will get back on track, but in the mean time they have to continue to do the in and out catheters to empty his bladder. The nurses have a bladder scan machine (like an ultrasound) that tells them how much urine is in the bladder. The in and out catheter is used if the urine is over a certain amount...Apparently the bladder can burst if it gets too full for too long!?!? That sounds pretty uncomfortable to use one of Danny's favorite words. :)
We are both exhausted from spending all night and day trying to help Danny urinate. The question was raised about how I would go about helping Danny use the bathroom...Well, hold him up when he's sitting or standing so he doesn't get too wobbly and fall, holding the urinal for him when he gets too tired, waking him up when he dozes off so he can keep trying, water running in the background, Hot water to dip his hand in, rubbing his back to help him relax, etc... We literally can't think of any other "tricks" to try so it's looking like the in and out will be happening again soon. :(
We went for a couple of walks down the halls today. He was pretty wobbly, but made it just fine. He may go home as early as Monday...the hold up will be getting his pain under control on oral meds. He wasn't sleeping at all due to pain prior to this hospital stay and the doctors really want the pain well managed before we go home. Pain is preventing Danny from sleeping and doing everyday chores/routines...and that wasn't the purpose in receiving a new, healthy heart!!!
Please pray that Danny's recovery would be so fast that no one could assume it would be anything other than the Lord. Pray for pain relief and perfect healing of Danny's chest.
God Bless,
Tricia
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