We got down to the TCC today, yippee skippy! That's good in that Colby is making progress in his post spinal fusion surgery recovery. It's bad in a couple of other ways, though. Let's talk about the good first. Colby is making progress with the ileus issue. At least I think he is. We bumped his feeds up to 15 mL/hour and he has been on that rate since 6AM. I thought we were out of the woods, but now I'm not sure. Seems that as the day progresses, his tummy gets bigger and more distended (sigh.) His bowel sounds are also less. Damn ileus. I'm sure it's so uncomfortable for Colby. You know how it is when you have that bloated, uncomfortable feeling in your guts. Poor kid. And of course he is still positive for his in's and out's. That means he is taking in more fluid than he is peeing out. Well, Colby is always fluid positive every single time he's in the PICU. Kind of like every time he ends up in the PICU, he gets freakin' frackin' pseudomonas, just like he did again this time. The docs are hell bent bound and determined to give this kid Lasix. I'm not a fan! I agreed to it when he had fluid around his lungs, but now I don't know what to do. And obviously we're not increasing the rate on his feeds, that's for sure. Damn ileus. That's really our only hang up to getting home. I see us being here all weekend. Come on Colby's tummy, start churning!
Okay, I realize that all sounds negative, but here are the positives. Colby has been fever free for several days. Colby's stomach bleeding ended several days ago. Colby is off narcotics for pain. I take that back, he's still on valium for muscle spasms. He sat up in his chair for 1 hour, 10 minutes today. This kid is awesomely awesome! We got those stupid, horrible, pain-in-the-butt spine x-rays done. I think Colby's respiratory status is great. No problems with his IPV and CoughAssist treatments. We're doing them 4 times a day as opposed to doing them 3 times a day at home, to get his lungs cleared up. Again, if Colby's tummy would decide to play nice, we'd have one foot out the door to HOME.
Here are the downsides of the TCC. First thing I noticed, our room is much smaller. Colby and his equipment alone take up half the room, probably more than half. As my mama would say, there's not enough room to cuss a cat in there. TCC doesn't have sleep rooms. I'll be in the room with Colby sleeping on the little foldout couch, so that leaves nowhere for my dad to sleep. They don't have sleep rooms on this unit. He'll probably go get a hotel overnight and come back early in the morning. I'll be doing much more of Colby's care on the TCC, and that suits me just fine. I've been chomping at the bit wanting to help out my sweet boy. There's only so much they'll let you do in the PICU, but once we hit the TCC, move over peeps, Colby is mine again! Which makes me think...he didn't get his 5:30 cough treatment yet. I better hop off here and go see what's up. Chances are I'll be doing it myself. Fine with me, and I'm sure it's fine with Colby.
Sure wish we were heading home about now, but it wasn't meant to be. Colby does things on Colby time. As his bus driver and I always say and laugh, this is Colby's world, we just take up some space in it and follow his lead. Ha ha. Love that sweet boy, though. He is so strong and so brave. I look at him in complete amazement every day, surgery recovery or not. Life certainly gave him lemons, but he has made lemonade out of those stinking lemons time and time again.
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