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06/12/2002 Archived Entry: "Round two - update one!"
We got to the labour and delivery floor a little before 9 AM on Monday, and they quickly got Chrissy prepped to go into the OR. Monique was her nurse again for the procedure (she was actually the nurse that first saw us at the last procedure as well!), and we recognized most of the other folks as well: Dr. Shad Deering, Dr. Maria Canter, Rosemary RN, Dr. Green (the anesthesiologist), and of course, Dr. Kerry Lewis.
I sat down in the waiting area, checked my various voice mailboxes, and caught up with a couple of folks. Very shortly thereafter, though, Dr. Lewis appeared, in great spirits, and he told me that the procedure had been a success! The baby was in exactly the correct position for the procedure, so they didn't have to paralyze her, and it took two tries: the first catheter they inserted went in too far (and is now benignly floating around in her chest), and the second catheter stayed put and started draining fluid. A post-op sonogram showed that the lung had expanded even more than last week! Head RN Lynette commented that when she ran into Dr. Lewis later in the day, he still had a big grin on his face. :-)
One of the risks to this kind of procedure is the possibility of pre-term labour, so they immediately started Chrissy on a Magnesium Sulfate drip at a slightly lower dose than last time (2gm/hr vs. 2.5 gm/hr) and Indomethacin (Indocin). The night after the surgery was not easy – they gave her anti-nausea and pain medication medication, but she was unable to keep anything down at all. We probably got 3-4 hours of sleep.
Tuesday morning, Drs. Canter and Deering came by for a sonogram and it confirmed that the lung was definitely doing better.
Chrissy had a couple of visitors in the early afternoon – Annette came by with her fiance’s mom to deliver a “care package” that a group of the wenches put together. And what a care package it is! There are balloons, colouring books, crayons, colouring pencils, video games, a box of Godiva chocolates, a gift certificate for Toys’R’Us, and many things I’m sure I’m forgetting. The visit and the gifts definitely made her day. :-)
During the day, Chrissy had a lot of pain (which they tried to stay on top of with percocet), and felt very, very nauseous (which they kept on top of with Zofran). I brought Judy (Chrissy’s Mum) to the hospital to visit, and we kept her company during dinner until about 9 PM, at which point we had to return to the house to rescue the dogs. Another bright point in the day is that Kate was her nurse for the night. I think she’s officially our favorite nurse (we’re trying to book her ahead of time for the birth in August :-), and when Chrissy got a craving for an ice-cream sandwich while we were watching “Third Rock from the Sun” on TV, I also picked up a Slurpee for Kate bagful of ice cream treats at 7-11 for the other nurses. This made them very happy.