It's J-M. again, reporting on Deborah's progress at the CMC in Scranton...
I ended up waiting a long time after speaking with Dr. Gerhart, before they called me back to the recovery room to see Deb... about two hours. I was getting pretty nervous... what could be happening?... did they forget about me? Well, they certainly hadn't forgotten about me, and did call me in. The nurses in the OR recovery area were very busy taking care of Deb when she came out of (the rather long!) surgery. She was very cold. Her body temp was actually lowering. They had to take measures to warm her up: wrapped her in warmed blankets, and utilized a "Bear Hugger" (?), which is a cocoon-like inflatable fabric bag through which regulated hot air is circulated .
As the anaesthesia was wearing-off, Deb was experiencing considerable pain. When I finally got in to the recovery room she was warmed-up again but quite sore. When they were sure she was 'stable' (by about 24:00), she was moved up to a room (rm # 463), where we are right now. She was admitted under Dr. Gerhart and he had left the 'orders' for the nurses (on the department).
Deb was, however, still in considerable pain. The medication wasn't ever taking the 'edge' off her pain. The nurses did everything they could within their standing orders. Then, when a few hours had elapsed (by about 02:30, 22 June) and Deb was still not getting satisfactory relief, they unhesitatingly called Dr. Gerhart at his home. He was happy to work through the exercise of finding the right medications with them. I understand he needed to be called more than once and clearly wanted (even demanded) to be called for whatever reason, at any time.
By about 04:30, Deb's IV was hooked-up to a PCA (Patient Controlled Analgesic, I think?) which allowed her to get pain medication when she required it... to the extent prescribed by the doctor and programmed into the machine. That, and an additional Demerol shot (through the IV) not more than every two hours, and some pretty powerful anti-nausea medications have kept her discomfort and pain almost 'under control' at times.
She has been able to get up and make it as far as the washroom several times, completely under her own steam. She's really fighting to do the right things to make this a successful recovery.
Now, about 24 hours after the surgery, Deb's really experiencing a lot of discomfort: abdominal pain, cramping, nausea, and all-over soreness. There have been a couple times when she's nearly been over-come by nausea... all-the-while dreading the inevitable strain on all those tender abdominal muscles that would come with vomiting. With the help the very responsive nurses, she has been able calm down each 'episode'.
She'll remain in hospital, under Dr. Gerhart's and Dr. Redan's care, probably for at least a couple more days. They speak favourably about getting her pain and nausea under control. I hope so!
I'll talk you again... J-M.