For starters; Riley had been experiencing pain in her right arm over the past week. It would spring up periodically but mainly at night. So she would be resting and then all of a sudden she would scream in pain because it was too much for her; the solution is to give her some medicine to ease the pain. Only problem is Riley hates medicine with a fiery passion lately that she outright refuses to even broach the subject of taking anything. The other night Jess was staying overnight at hospital and Riley was awake for hours in pain and any time Jess would try to give her some medicine; Riley would immediately say the pain had gone away; only to then complain again 15 mins later. The doctors initially thought it might be a blood clot but then decided it might be a muscle issue either as a result of the drains or from posture issues post surgery.
If you haven't figured out; Jess and I haven't been getting the best nights sleep as well because of this. We take it in shifts with one sleeping at our apartment and the other at the hospital. This way one of us will be well rested to handle a night at the hospital. The other consequence of this is that during the day; Riley is so much more tired and far less co-operative to do what she needs to do to get better. Needless to say I think we were all a little weary yesterday. Though my turn at the hospital last night was a little better with her only waking a few times and the pain not being bad enough to keep her awake. It seemed to be easing a bit.
On that medicine front; we grew a bit weary on that too. Riley became increasingly unco-operative because let's be honest besides Panadol; they are not rolling out delicious flavours like bubblegum, chocolate or salted caramel for oxycontin, furosemide and spironolactone. These things taste bad or at least that's what Riley shows to me when she can't keep them down due to their taste. So it had become an increasing battle of wills to get to take them. Thankfully we came up with a new plan and started a sticker chart and yesterday I went out and bought a few toys and books as prizes if she builds up enough stickers. So far so good. She still pushes back a bit but it makes it all a little less trying when I point out the LEGO sets that are waiting for her if she plays ball.
The other thing that made things feel a bit more challenging was on Tuesday, Riley's drains decreased a crazy amount. Like barely anything was coming out of them. So even though we kept our head on our shoulders knowing that it will take as long as it takes; we started to get excited a little that maybe just maybe we might be on the homestretch and will be out of hospital very soon. Everyone was surprised and whispers were going around that we could be well on our way.
That victory was short lived when one of the nurses noticed the next day that the suction wasn't working on the drain; once they resolved that issue there was quite a big amount coming through once more. Our hopes were dashed.
...Until they noticed something interesting. It only increased dramatically in her right drain but not her left. So they gave it another day and decided that the left one could come out! That means we are down to just one drain!!
If you are praying for her then we ask you pray for her arm pain to disappear and obviously the remaining chest drain to come out; and maybe throw in there a bit more courage to take all her meds. Thank you for continuing to believe with us and supporting us through this; Riley even got a bunch of cards in the mail yesterday which she currently has hanging on her wall in her room. She loves them.
We are looking forward to when Riley gets to leave hospital and can just run around again without us having to walk beside her holding her oxygen tank and chest drains; making sure she is not tripping on them or running too far ahead that it will tug on her. When she won't have to take five different medicines of a morning or when she doesn't have nurses (who although we appreciate them greatly) who poke or prod her when she is trying to sleep in the middle of the night because they need to do their obs. We are believing in faith that day is coming quicker than we think and we are thankful that so far Riley has been spared of some of the complications and setbacks that can happen.
Comments
Post a Comment