Julia had a fairly good night (Saturday) and slept well. She fell asleep at around 8 AM and didn’t wake until 2 AM. She was in quite a bit of pain and had to go to the bathroom. It was slow moving and the tears came, but she managed to sit up and move to the commode. Julia’s nurse explained to her that it was important to try to move – the more she moved the easier it would become. Julia slowly tried to move her shoulders, easing the pain and stiffness out of her arms and back. She was so brave, knowing it would hurt, but also understanding it would help her get better. Julia slowly and deliberately made it back to bed and feel back to sleep, pushing her pain button as she reached her pillow. X-Ray came in to visit at 6:30 AM to get a new picture of Julia’s lungs. I peaked at the “instant picture” and could see that her left lung appeared to have inflated a bit from yesterday’s films. Soon after Julia wanted some breakfast – a good sign, but she only ate a small amount. The surgery team and pain management team then came to visit. Today’s goal was to get Julia up at bit more, try to move her off of the pain button, get her off of the oxygen and hopefully remove the chest tube.
Julia managed to take several walks in the morning, slowly making her way down the hall. She also had a sponge bath to clean up a bit. When the nurse was through cleaning her up, Julia asked if she could put her earrings back in – the “bling” is back and slowly Julia is feeling better.
By the time her bath was over, Julia was in a bit of pain and her nurse gave her some “extra help” in her IV. During the infusion, Julia began to complain that her arm hurt – her IV was not working and so they needed to remove it (veins only last for so long). After checking with pain management, they decided to not place a new IV and just move Julia to the oral meds for pain. The afternoon brought several visitors (Jake and his family, Uncle Ken and Aunt Cindy, Regina, and Aunt Donna and Uncle Howard) and many smiles, although by the end of the afternoon, Julia was quite tired.
Several times, the nurses tried to move Julia off of the oxygen, but her monitor would start to beep and the oxygen had to go back on her nose. They will just need to slowly wean her off the oxygen, waiting for her lungs to heal a bit more. The chest tube will also wait until tomorrow to be removed – they stopped the suction, but will not take it out until possibly tomorrow.
After dinner, Julia complained of pain; finally saying she was at 4 on a scale of 1-10 – she only previously was a 2 – hard to believe. She got her medication and climbed into bed to watch a movie and cuddle with Kevin. Eating ice chips (a new favorite), watching “Bolt” and talking about being able to get a dog when she is eight – our girl is slowing feeling better. “Want to sit with me and watch the movie, Mom?” “Sure I do Julia.” “Can you hold my hand Mom?” “Always, Julia” and she fell asleep, holding my hand and my heart.