Day 1 of Recovery

So today is the first day of recovery after yesterday's surgery, and things are still generally looking up.

Jennie's pain is still far from controlled, but they are trying to adjust it to find a happy balance. Duladid is a tricky medicine in that too much can lower your blood pressure dangerously low, while too little keeps her from getting the relief she needs in order to rest and recover like she needs to. Unfortunately she is allergic to morphine which is the other pain medicine they like to use for major surgeries like this.

The other problem with Duladid is that she appears to be building a tolerance to it since it has been the pain medicine of choice when she has been going into the hospital the last 9 months. The nurse just came in and she is going to check with the doctor to see about adding toradol to see if it can help a little.

The only other concern is that Jennie has lost some more blood since 3 am when they last checked. Her hemoglobin counts have dropped from 8.4 to 7.9. Again this is only a minor concern since she is still on Heparin that will keep her blood from clotting as quickly. Unlike many surgeries they are continuing her on this to keep the liver from rejecting the islet cells, so there isn't too much reason to be alarmed they just have to continue monitoring and possibly give her some more blood later.

Now on to the positive news. She looks better and has started regaining her color compared to last night when we saw her. She seems to be more responsive, which is kind of a mixed bag since she is in so much pain.

The nurse just came in again and they are going to give her 3 more units of blood to try and increase her levels and they are also going to lower the Heparin some. They won't be adding toradol right now. This is to prepare for the possibility of going back into surgery if the blood levels can't start to maintain a more normal level. They are worried that there could be some internal bleeding, particularly with the increased pain.

THIS IS ALL TENTATIVE AND THE DOCTORS WILL BE RETURNING SHORTLY TO DISCUSS IT WITH US MORE. DR. SUTHERLAND HAS NOT COME IN YET AND THE DOCTORS SO FAR HAVE BEEN RESIDENTS UNDER HIM. NO DECISION WILL BE MADE UNTIL HE ARRIVES.

Updates will be made when we know more.