Good news / bad news

Last night was a tough one for Vicki.  She would wake up yelling that she needed more medicine.  I would ask the nurse to get something, reposition Vicki, reposition again and againg until she would finally take a deep breath and sigh and go to sleep.  For half and hour. Then start the process all over again.  All night long.   I felt like such a drug seeking mom.  I assume this is her response to the withdrawal.  We need to work on a better solution to her night time rest.

The good news is that her back incision looks SO much better.  There is no more puss or spinal fluid drainage.  This is not her surgeon's weekend to be on call, but she came in to see her.  I thanked her for coming in,"I like Vicki."  She was very pleased about the way her incision looks.  It appears the leak has stopped.  She said the infection actually could have stopped up the leak.

The bad news is that they need to have her pump dose down to 100 - 200 mcg/day before they can remove the pump or have very serious effects on her muscles and then kidneys.  They dial it down 10% a day.  By my calculations, that will not be until somewhere between Nov. 15  to the 20th.

The surgeon also said she has been thinking and dreaming of how she is going to plug this hole when she takes the catheter out of her spine.  It is difficult because of her spinal fusion.  She thinks she may have a solution of implanting a different kind of catheter that is impregnated with antibiotics into that spot.  That would also keep the spot open for re-implanting the pump.  That usually does not  happen for 3 months after this current one is removed.

This morning, Vicki is rather sedated.  Why can't this happen at night?  They are working on a concoction to give her at bedtime to hopefully let her rest better.  It is hard when Vicki is unable to say where her pain is or if she is just agitated.  We have many options of medications to give her (all of which we used last night at one point or another) but don't really know which one(s) will help.

As you can see, we have a long road ahead of us.  If you would like to send a card or note to Vicki, the mailing address here Gillette Hospital, Adult unit, room # 7319, 200 University Ave E, St Paul MN 55101.