Monday, November 2, 2009

The pain is bad but we are getting it under control

It is midnight and i am having a moment to post. I was paged at 8:25 pm - so surgery took about 2-1/2 hours -
I met with Dr Song at 8:30 pm and we talked and waited upon the x-rays to give us complete details of the surgery.
Taylor did very well. They found that two ribs were actually fused together, so Dr Waldenhausen was able to separate them and they found only one rib strong enough or thick enough to do a cable rib in - so she only has one at this time. They were very successful with everything else and we will discuss more tomorrow.
They had some concerns with her lungs if she would need the breathing tube in after the surgery but she was able to breath on her own right away and the breathing is stable and doing great.
Because of the extent of the surgery they wanted to minimize the pain by using an epidural (sp?) i was a bit worried but after talking it through and also talking to another person who deals with this daily felt very good about going this direction. However, after 2 tries they did not want to risk anything and moved to option two which is the morphine drip.
It took us a while to get her to a manageable level and i had to spend the next couple of hours holding her. Without knowing her past i wanted to be safe in graduating the doses - and we seem to know the level which works for her. We have been using a mix of things to help her sleep as well.
I could not get into the room right away but have been impressed overall with the prep'g of the room, the constant discussions with us on everything. I am right now watching about every 40-60 mins to advise the nurse of her pain levels to keep her from getting to low.
God has blessed me tonight with a couple of angels. When i finally got a break for dinner met another women who's daughter is having a transplant and is a Christian and offered to pray for Taylor, then i found our our nurse is a Christian as well. So am thankful - it has been amazing at all the prayers being lifted up on Taylor's behalf and you can see it in how things are going.
Right now she is sleeping soundly with a slight heavy breath - so feel good at how things are progressing. But figure i will be getting little sleep tonight - as i monitor things with the nurse.
Again thank you all for writing and praying - we feel so blessed and feel all those heartful prayers being lifted up for us and Taylor.
God Bless and Thank you!
Lavonne -11-02-09 (3)

5 comments:

Stacey said...

Sweet Taylor, you continue to be in my thoughts and prayers. May you heal quickly without too much pain.

Tim said...

Dear Lord,
Now in the wee hours of the morning there, in Seattle, may Taylor find rest, comfort, let the healing begin.

May her Mama, Baba and siblings also rest in sleep and in the knowledge that You will watch over Taylor in the days to come.

Shannon and Boyd Bringolf said...

I will be keeping you all in my prayers.... Especially to keep the pain under control for little TAylor....

Heather BT said...

Thankful you've found some other Christians to help pray with and for you.
H

Annie said...

So glad this is behind her but will continue to pray for fast healing and continued pain management!! Thank you God for watching over her!!!