Recovery

From Mark (written last night)

9:30 am, Ortho Neuro ward nursing station: (husband) "So how is THE patient this morning?" (nurse) "Well, let's say she has made it clear to us what she will and will not do." (husband) "This is promising, she never leaves you guessing. She must be getting better." (nurse) "I guess so, but I wish we could get her to wake up and take some food. She just wants to sleep, keep the lights out and shades drawn. She needs to wake up. You go in there and wake her up. She has made it clear that we are not to do that."

So starts the first day of convalescence. Brandilyn is the type of person who is blessed with a very strong personality. Even when heavily sedated, she can make her feelings known with just the look in her eye. Those big lovely green eyes can communicate volumes. I found her half asleep in a drug induced state of mind. Her speech was very weak and she was asking things like "What day is it? What time is it?" When I told her it was only 10 am, she couldn't believe it. She thought that it must be at least early evening, if not later. She felt like she had been awake all day long. I perked-up at this thinking about that old adage "time flys when you are having fun." As you can see, I was proving no help at all. I couldn't get her to wake up, sit up or do much of anything else.

The nurse came in about then (I expect) to see what progress I was making. She looked at me, shook her head and then made a comment to Brandilyn something like "how are we doing?" Brandilyn gave her a look that said "what do you mean WE?" I decided that I would be more help just stroking her brow and saying nothing. That worked! Someday I will get the hang of all this subtle communications stuff. (husband) "You realize that she will never wake up as long as you are giving her pain medications. They always knock her out." (nurse) "Well 'Dr. Welby', if we take her off pain meds her foot will be very painful. Just what do you suggest that we do?" (husband) Err, uh, well, maybe I better go run some errands." (husband exits stage right)

3:30 pm, Ortho Neuro Ward Nursing Station: (husband) "So how is our patient this afternoon?" (nurse) "She is doing much better. She actually let us in the room and is coming out of her meds beautifully." I go in the room and Brandilyn is sitting up in bed, eyes open, drinking water with the window shades open. She tells me what great nursing talent they have in the unit and then describes each one by name. She has now acquired a room mate. She said that the pain medication that they had her on was making her so sensitive to noise that when the patient was being moved into the room it "about drove me crazy." She had them take her off pain meds entirely and give her just Ibuprofen (Do I know my wife or what?). She was feeling much better and had minimal leg pain.

I am now going to end this edition of the "Recovery Blog" and get back to the hospital. I expect that she will be discharged tomorrow. I do need to point out that the nursing staff at this hospital is first rate. I took a little, but not too much, liberty in my rendition of the events. Thank you all for the wonderful responses to yesterday's post. She may let me do the one for tomorrow. I expect that getting situated on crutches will be an experience worth sharing with you all. Thanks so much for your well wishes and prayers. I don't know how God is going to use all of this, but it's a major event in her (our) lives, and I am sure that it will lead us somewhere we would never have gone otherwise.

Good night all and God Bless,

Husband

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Read Part 4