Long Day

It was a long day. They had to adjust Karen's NG tube twice, and her nose was already sensitive and in a lot of pain because the nurse who put it in first was way too rough about it. Her heart rate has been climbing the whole day. It's been in the 120s all night, but has jumped into the 130s on occasion. Her blood pressure has been rising throughout the day as well. It's currently at 140/91, when her normal is in the low 100s. Her blood counts are pretty steady for yet another day, so I think we're past the previous problem. They did finally move us out of the ICU and into a regular room this afternoon.

They've been doing a good of job of keeping her pain level lower, but I think the amount she's taking is knocking her out. She slept, on and off, for most of the day. She probably needed some sleep, but I'm not sure how helpful it is in small quantities. Everyone wants to see you during the day when you're as interesting as Karen is. And because she's been so tired and moving so little, she's getting some atelectasis; essentially, her lungs are closing up. It's not as bad as it sounds, but it's one more thing.

We were under the impression that this was a mechanical blockage like before, but when the surgeon came around tonight he said there is an obstruction, but it's due to an ileus. This is when your intestines go to sleep, and is usually caused by surgery but can be triggered by drugs. But the whole diagnosis is strange to because she's having bowl movements, one this morning and one this evening. And that's usually a sign you're not obstructed. They believe there's a build up of gas causing the obstruction, and placed a rectal tube several hours ago to try and resolve the problem. They think the NG tube may be too small, but it doesn't seem they are going to do anything about it tonight. Still no food or drink for her though.

Long Night

Karen got a sharp pain in her abdomen in the middle of the night. Her pain level quickly jumped to a 9 out of 10, and it took most of the night and into the morning to get her pain level back down. Needless to say, she didn't sleep very much. Her heart rate also jumped back into the 100s; so that's got to be pain related. They brought in a portable X-Ray machine and took an image of her abdomen. They tell us we're dealing with an obstruction of the intestines.

They inserted an NG tube to drain the contents of her stomach. She really hates those, and this one was particularly painful as it went in. It hasn't actually suctioned anything out yet, so maybe that means things are still moving forward at this point? It's also worth noting that she hasn't been nauseous through any of this, which is almost always the case with a blockage. It may have been caught early due to her abdomen already being sensitive from all it's been through lately. However, this does mean she's been taken off solid food again, and with the NG tube in, she won't be able to drink anything either.

Two steps forward, one step back. But at least we're moving forward.