Re: Day 1 - post op

From: Colette (anonymous@medispecialty.com)
Sat Jun 23 09:26:50 2001


Hi J-m and Deb, I will be praying for deb and hope she has a succsesful recovery she is in my prayers Keep us Post! >
>Hello All,
>
>It's J-M. again, reporting on Deborah's progress at the CMC in Scranton...
>
>I ended up waiting a long time after speaking with Dr. Gerhart, before they
>called me back to the recovery room to see Deb... about two hours. I was
>getting pretty nervous... what could be happening?... did they forget about
>me?
>Well, they certainly hadn't forgotten about me, and did call me in. The
>nurses in the OR recovery area were very busy taking care of Deb when she
>came out of (the rather long!) surgery. She was very cold. Her body temp
>was actually lowering. They had to take measures to warm her up: wrapped
>her in warmed blankets, and utilized a "Bear Hugger" (?), which is a
>cocoon-like inflatable fabric bag through which regulated hot air is
>circulated .
>
>As the anaesthesia was wearing-off, Deb was experiencing considerable pain.
>When I finally got in to the recovery room she was warmed-up again but quite
>sore. When they were sure she was 'stable' (by about 24:00), she was moved
>up to a room (rm # 463), where we are right now. She was admitted under Dr.
>Gerhart and he had left the 'orders' for the nurses (on the department).
>
>Deb was, however, still in considerable pain. The medication wasn't ever
>taking the 'edge' off her pain. The nurses did everything they could within
>their standing orders. Then, when a few hours had elapsed (by about 02:30,
>22 June) and Deb was still not getting satisfactory relief, they
>unhesitatingly called Dr. Gerhart at his home. He was happy to work through
>the exercise of finding the right medications with them. I understand he
>needed to be called more than once and clearly wanted (even demanded) to be
>called for whatever reason, at any time.
>
>By about 04:30, Deb's IV was hooked-up to a PCA (Patient Controlled
>Analgesic, I think?) which allowed her to get pain medication when she
>required it... to the extent prescribed by the doctor and programmed into
>the machine. That, and an additional Demerol shot (through the IV) not more
>than every two hours, and some pretty powerful anti-nausea medications have
>kept her discomfort and pain almost 'under control' at times.
>
>She has been able to get up and make it as far as the washroom several
>times, completely under her own steam. She's really fighting to do the
>right things to make this a successful recovery.
>
>Now, about 24 hours after the surgery, Deb's really experiencing a lot of
>discomfort: abdominal pain, cramping, nausea, and all-over soreness. There
>have been a couple times when she's nearly been over-come by nausea...
>all-the-while dreading the inevitable strain on all those tender abdominal
>muscles that would come with vomiting. With the help the very responsive
>nurses, she has been able calm down each 'episode'.
>
>She'll remain in hospital, under Dr. Gerhart's and Dr. Redan's care,
>probably for at least a couple more days. They speak favourably about
>getting her pain and nausea under control. I hope so!
>
>I'll talk you again...
>J-M.

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