Finally...Tuesday's Update

Carrie had a better night last. Had a little bit of pain first thing this morning but not as bad as yesterday. The doctors started coming in to check on her around 5am and they were to spread the visits out so that they would come in every 10 or so minutes(just enough time for Carrie to go back to sleep just to have them wake her up again). Anyway, Dr. Davies, the heart surgeon, came by this morning and said everything was looking good and still wanted to keep an eye on her chest tube. He wants to try to walk around a little more each day and to continue her breathing treatments. They moved her IV from the central line in her neck to her arm and removed the central line completely this evening. They also took her off of the morphine this evening so now she is strictly on Lortab. The nurse did say that if the Lortab didn't help enough then she could get a shot of morphine. She took her second dose of Lortab and had not needed any morphine when I left the hospital. Both Dr. Davies and Dr. Arnoletti, the oncology surgeon, said that she would probably get the stomach tube removed tomorrow since there wasn't much draining into anymore. Both agreed that the chest tube needs to still be there for a couple of more days. Carrie said that she was having some numbness in her stomach this afternoon but the doctor said that was normal for this type of surgery. He said that there are not many surgeries larger than hers. If the saying "what doesn't kill me makes me stronger" holds true, then I am going to spend a lot more time at the gym when this is all over. Carrie has had real good spirits about this. The only complaint that I have heard is about the food. She is ready for something more solid than popcicles.