Sorry for the delay in updates, but things have been going so well I have actually been SLEEPING at night. It's not that things have not be progressing with Kristi, in fact, quite the opposite. She has her central line taken out, her chest tube and catheter have been removed, one of the IV's in her hand are out and she doesn't need oxygen at night to keep her level up. Instead of wearing a gown she is wearing PJ's and she can walk without the aid of a walker. It is truly amazing to see. Thursday morning was the only "bad" time she had. That was the day she was taken off Morphine and the pain was really intense. In fact, she still takes 1000mg dosages of Vicodin every 4 to 6 hours for pain. I guess when they cut you in half length-wise it tends to hurt when you heal. The doctors were telling her that it will take 6 weeks for her breast bone to heal and then she can start to get back to normal.
For the past two days she has been spending most of her days sleeping, chatting with visitors and trying to walk and sit whenever she has enough energy. Yesterday she got to spend time in a private room with her boys. She got time to feed and change Hudson and he got some time to cuddle with her. Harrison got a little fussy and only lasted a few minutes. But then he got to see a Helicopter take off from the roof of the building, so he was feeling better.
And Today, we get to go home. She's gonna get discharged sometime around 11 or 12 and we will get to head to our house for the first time in almost 2 weeks. We will be able to share a bed for the first time since 2 Saturday's ago. Needless to say, we are excited...a little nervous, but excited. My Mom and Karen are going to be staying with us for a while to help. Help Kristi get up and around and help with the kids while she heals and I go back to work. It's going to get crowded in our tiny hose, but we appreciate and need the help.
We will have to very diligent in her home care to make sure she stays healthy for the rest of her life. She will be on Coumadin forever and in the beginning she will need to have her blood tested every few days to see what her Prothrombin time is. That is a measurement of one the clotting factors in her blood. It needs to be in a very specific range so clots don't form around her mechanical valve. We will have to adjust her medication (with the help of her doctors) to match her diet so that her body doesn't convert too much Vitamin K into this clotting factor and thicken her blood. Vitamin K counteracts the effects of the Coumadin. So eating foods high in Vitamin K like Avocados, Spinach and Broccoli not in moderation can be very harmful to her. As a matter of fact, high amounts of Garlic, Onions and some vegetable oils can be bad a well. So we will have to make some lifestyle changes. We will also have to take her blood pressure in the morning and evening for a few weeks and her temperature to make sure she is not getting an infection. So I will be acting as home nurse for a while, which I don't mind at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment