As I feared, Miss Zoey's pain got away from the nursing staff last night. Sigh... The nurse didn't want to give her any pain meds unless Zoey asked for them and said she might not need them.
Hmmm...she just got her foot removed, I think she will need pain meds.
I am not allowed to push the medication button and she was sound asleep. At midnight she woke up crying and in pain. It took several hours of chasing it to get it under control.
Mama bear was not happy.
The nurse that let it go was not there, and the third shift nurse did a pretty good job of chasing it. Then...just as she was getting the pain resolved, Zoey kept telling us that she wanted to go potty.
She has a catheter and I told her that it was going potty for her. She continued to insist that she wanted to go potty. Finally, she started crying that it hurt and she REALLY needed to go. Any of you who have had ultrasounds and have had to hold a full bladder know that pain. I recognized the look in her eyes. Yeah...not fun. I told the nurse that Zoey was a really tough kid and that if she was crying it was because she was in serious pain. The nurse finally decided to check her bladder pressure and sure enough...she had a very full bladder. The catheter wasn't working and it had all backed up into her bladder. ARGH!!! Poor baby! It took almost an hour of manipulating the tubing to get it to drain properly and get Zoey comfortable again. It was 4AM by then. After that...thankfully...we were both able to sleep until the doctors came in at 7:45 to do rounds.
Needless to say, she is a bit droopy today after the lack of sleep, but she is staying fairly comfortable. The loss of the epidural was most unfortunate because it does a much better job of pain control. She has learned to push the button, though, for the m*rphine, so it gives her a little control.
The catheter situation continues to be an issue but I will not let it get to the point it got last night. It did get fairly uncomfortable this morning with the bladder getting too full again and I explained to the nurse what had happened. It took her awhile to fully believe me but she eventually got it taken care of. The have decided that the tube is too small for her but there is nothing that can be done about it now. The plan is to take it out tomorrow and start to get her out of bed a bit more.
The catheter situation continues to be an issue but I will not let it get to the point it got last night. It did get fairly uncomfortable this morning with the bladder getting too full again and I explained to the nurse what had happened. It took her awhile to fully believe me but she eventually got it taken care of. The have decided that the tube is too small for her but there is nothing that can be done about it now. The plan is to take it out tomorrow and start to get her out of bed a bit more.
It really seems to hurt her when we move her leg. She cries out and it makes me feel so awful.
All of this makes me so very, very sad for the children in the world who have no Mama by their side when they need medical attention. Who but a Mama will notice little things... or know the child well enough to know when something is amiss? No one should have to go through life without a parent.
I am so glad that sweet Zoey has her Mama here. Whenever she awoke, she looked around desperately for me and as soon as she would see or hear me, she would relax.
Zoey's happy news of the day is that she got to see Grandma, Jake and Katie-bug. My mom flew in Monday night to take care of the kids so she came up to see Zoey today. They all signed Zoey's cast--which I don't have photos of because I was helping them write their names. Zoey showed them the uber-cool playroom and Jake was in heaven. They stayed for lunch and then went home awhile later.
Thank you all so much who are sending messages via email, comments on the blog, etc. I can read them on my phone throughout the day and it brings so much encouragement. I read them to Zoey and she thinks its pretty neat.
I'm sitting out in the hall right now where I can get Internet--it's not available in Zoey's room. I'll try to load some pictures before she wakes up from her nap and I have to go back.
A little droopy today--but content.
Smiling for Mama in the playroom
Jake and Kate eating lunch on the bed next to Zoey's
Grandma and Zoey
Play a cutthroat game of Memory
My mom told Jake he had his shoes on the wrong feet. He then crossed his feet and said, "Now dey not!" Haha
Jake in the playroom, totally enamored with the pool table
