Overnight

We made it through her first night after surgery, and she continued to sleep well. She woke up about every two hours and cried a bit, but it seems like she is crying from discomfort more than real pain. They stopped giving her morphine yesterday evening, but plan to give her another dose this morning after the surgeons are in to see her.

I was also able to nurse her early this morning, and while she didn't take a lot, the little she did take made me very happy, since it has been over 24 hours since she had any milk at all. She is getting IV fluids, but her mouth looks really dry when she cries, and combined with her very hoarse and raw-sounding voice from the breathing tube, she seemed to be in rough shape. Now we just have to watch that she doesn't throw up, which is pretty common after anesthesia.

Our room is full of all kinds of high tech pieces of equipment, but my favorite is a big flatscreen over the nurses' desk that shows all of her numbers at the same time...her pulse and blood oxygen, but also all kinds of lab results which are constantly being updated. She has a central line in her neck, so I suppose that something to which she is hooked is taking readings of her blood. That means she doesn't have to be stuck with a needle anytime they need information, which is a relief. On the other hand, about half of the numbers are written in red, meaning they are outside the normal range. When I asked about this, they reassure me that they aren't worried at all since she just went through major surgery and it is going to be a while before her body adjusts. Still, I am hoping that by getting some milk in her, the numbers will go back to white today.

We are still in the intensive care unit of the hospital (where there is absolutely no difference between night and day, I noticed) but I am hoping that when the surgeons come to see her this morning they decide she is stable enough to be moved to a regular room. Today we are also going to be watching her swelling, which has gotten much worse overnight. Unfortunately there is nothing they can do about it other than to give it time and keep her comfortable.