Linda is getting better. How do we know? She's cussing out the nursing staff about the "thickened water" they still want her to drink until her swallowing reflex fully recovers from the anesthesia and the breathing tube, and wanting to know why she can't just get out of bed with six IV lines and a dialysis catheter attached to her body. She's getting nutritional supplementation through a tube they put in her nose while she was under, as well as eating grilled cheese sandwiches and her usual protein shakes by mouth.
By dinner time this afternoon she finally grasped the concept that she isn't exactly going home tomorrow, and she's going to have a lot of work to do before things are completely back to normal.
The best news of all, however, is that she is progressing just as her doctors expect her to, though it will never be fast enough to satisfy her own expectations. The nurses here on the transplant floor are very familiar with the anxieties of people who just got new organs, and Linda's occasional attempts to pull one or another tube out of herself do not come as a surprise to them. They are very good at keeping her safe.
The biggest issue today is the fact that the TV channels here in Indianapolis are not numbered the same as the network stations at home, so she struggles to find the shows she wants to watch from time to time. She has taken up the study of the discharge instruction notebook they gave her to start learning today, and that also helped calm her down a lot. They have started her on her anti-rejection medicines, and the antibiotics she has to take because the anti-rejection drugs suppress her immune system. It's just wonderful to see her pink color returning, the "liver spots" fading, and her fighting spirit returning. The doctors, nurses and I all feel really good about her future.
She would be glad to see any of you who want to visit, but please call ahead to make sure we don't assemble a crowd all at the same time. Thanks to one and all for the balloons and cards, candy and puzzle books. They really do cheer her up.
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