Knock on Wood

In my post about donating blood, I said the chances of Mom needing a transfusion were slim to none, and I spoke too soon. I learned today that she had two units of blood transfused during surgery somewhere around the 5.5 hour mark when they realized the ureter removal would have to be done via open abdominal surgery rather than laproscopically. Today, her blood pressure continues to be low (80s/40s), her oxygen saturation is low, her hematocrit and hemoglobin are low, and her color isn't great, so she's getting another transfusion as we speak and tolerating it just fine. All these things are very closely related to one another, so another unit of blood and she should be all set and feeling a bit perkier.

She was up in the chair for a few hours, transferred to and from the chair like a champ. She's been doing very well with the incentive spirometer, and can sit up comfortably at 45 degrees in bed. But alas, no drinks till she passes the gases! We've got to make sure those bowels are moving before putting anything else in there. Her urine output is good, her surgical sites are very tidy, and her spirits are excellent. She has a little drain coming out of her abdomen to allow for extraneous fluids to come out, but it's draining very little, which indicates that she's not bleeding internally and doesn't have a ton of "stuff" in there that shouldn't be.

She naps a lot still, so no phone calls yet. Hope you all understand. I've been delivering cards and good wishes from the blog and from those who've called me, which she looks so forward to.

This recovery will be very slow-going, so especially when she's feeling mentally back to speed, but isn't physically, she'll look extra forward to chats and visits!

Coco and I are back to the hospital in a bit. Just wanted to take the dog out for a walk and get some food.

Thanks for the good vibes! She's using every last drip of them.