04 April 2012

Critical

Mum has been in and out of sleep ever since she left the recovery room yesterday afternoon. Except for a brief few minutes when she sat up on the edge of the bed to cough, she's been in bed for three days. The morphine drips to reduce her pain also induces sleep, and in the brief moments when she's awake you could she her eye lids are extremely heavy and threatening to close at any time.

The first 72 hours after surgery is critical and the nurse comes ins every hour to check her vital signs and watch out for signs of fever.

So far, she's been alright, with just a higher than normal body temperature, and she's still expelling a lot of fluids through the tube leading from her stomach. The doctors have increased her dosage of IV drips and added more nutritious formulas, but over the long run, if she cannot get up and move around, her limbs will get bloated...

No comments: