Saturday, November 20, 2010

Day 3.. Lisa comes home...

Big day yesterday. The girls were excited for Friday. Friday meant that they would again get to see mom, but also their Grandparents from Iowa were coming into town. Honestly I wasn't ready for Friday. I couldn't sleep so when I finally drifted off around 4am I knew morning was going to be rough. Of course since their was excitement in the air Ryan decided to get up around 6:45 to start the day. We were out the door on time got up to school and dropped Ryan off at class. Mia was weepy and not nearly as enthusiastic about the day so I let her play Hooky from school. Finally a good smile from her. Even though I have been trying to keep things normal I think all of the craziness had gotten to Mia. We took off with Alice in tow and headed down to the hospital to see Lisa. Of course Lisa had a request for and Iced Grande 8 pump Soy chai, so we made sure we had that when we showed up. I was thinking Lisa would be having a good day. The night before she was really together. Maybe it was all of the excitement of finally seeing her babies again, but I expected the same for Friday. We showed up and she looked good, but you could tell she was not in the same state as the day before. I guess these first few weeks there will be lots of ups and downs. From what the Doctor has told us there is a lot of things going on inside. Things are moving around and changing. The main reason Lisa had to have the surgery was due to the syringomyelia.It is a disorder in which a cyst forms within the spinal cord. This cyst (syrinx), expands and elongates over time, and it starts to destroy the spinal cord. When the Doctor performed the operation he said that her spinal cord was very flat. It had been extremely flattened due the build up of fluid. Now that there is room things are moving around and hopefully her spinal cord will start to get back to its normal shape. So now knowing that I think there will be lots of swings in how she feels. I know it freaks her out and I can't blame her for feeling that way. It has to be a pretty scary thing to feel the way she does.
I was a little concerned with what Mia thought of mom not feeling as well, but I think she did OK. We ended up visiting with Lisa for about an hour that morning. I watched her go through some of her physical therapy. Walking up and down stairs, doing her neck exercises. There was talk about her being able to go home, but I thought there was no way they would let her go. I was secretly hoping she would have one more night at the hospital. Not that I didn't want her there, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to take care of her. Plus the housekeeper hadn't shown up yet. I still had to get new sheets and other things to make Lisa more comfortable. I just wasn't ready. Just in case we took off and started our errands. We dropped Alice off, hit costco, Ricos for lunch, and ran back home to start many loads of laundry. We picked up Ryan from school, then went back to the hospital to meet up with Lisa and her Dad. Kimberly, Dr. Oro's nurse showed up and gave us another run down of what lisa was experiencing, how she was progressing, and letting us know that Lisa was ready to go home. You have to be kidding me.

Seriously I wasn't ready. I wanted to make sure everything was perfect for when she got home. I still had things to do. She said not to worry, and that I could pick up Lisa anytime before midnight. Lisa's dad took the girls and they all went out to dinner and to watch a movie. I was on turbo mode running back home, getting prescriptions filled, laundry, feed the dogs, walk the dogs, throw some cat food out, more laundry, make the bed with all the new linens. Oh, had to run to walgreens to check a few things off my list. Back to the store to pick up prescriptions and get gas. Then a text from Lisa, don't forget.... Ok, back home, pick those things up. Grab a pillow and blankets for the ride home.. another text.... don't forget a camera. OK, finally I think I have everything and I was off to the Hospital to get Lisa. I showed up and she was ready.. She had most of her things packed up. She was relaxing watching food network and eating french fries. We called the nurse in and had her go over everything I needed to know. I wanted her to show me what meds she needed, what times, what order. Don't give her this one until 9. Make sure this script is for 2mg if it is not, you don't want to combine it with this one. You have to worry about this. Make sure you don't overdose her. WTF? Should she really be going home? With the crash course in medicine Lisa and I were on our way out of there. We made it home about 8:45 and she went straight upstairs. She was met by nurse Ryan who was there to make sure she was comfortable. Fluffing pillows, getting water, Ryan was ready. The dogs of course were super excited to see her and I have a feeling will not want to leave her side. Luckily I think I have cracked the code on the medicine and think I can handle it. I think Lisa had a pretty good nights sleep. I am sure it was better than being in the hospital. I don't think Lisa noticed me starring at her most of the night to make sure she was breathing. I was on high alert last night. I set all my alarms to make sure she had her meds at the right time and we did just fine. thank goodness. We are all happy to have her home.


3 comments:

  1. My husband writes the best girlie details :)
    And is a great nurse and caretaker- thanks honey

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  2. So glad that you are home and now the healing can begin. We wish you all the best!

    ReplyDelete