Chest Tube

I was hoping Penelope's drainage tube would come out today, but no luck. The doctors spent a lot of time after her surgery working with different ventilators and settings to get things where they wanted.  So Penelope's left lung didn't re-inflate until much later than they had hoped. It's not a problem, it just means that she needs the drainage tube for longer. So we'll pray that it comes out tomorrow morning. Since the tube is still in she has to be mildly sedated to keep her from being her usual wiggly self. They were able to back off on some of the other medications today, and they did start feeding her breastmilk again. So she's on the same feeding schedule as before the surgery, 3cc's every 8 hours. It's a little over half a teaspoon. They can't increase her feeds until she's off the morphine since that slows down the digestive system. So, we are still in a holding pattern, but not for much longer.

The surgery has made a noticeable difference. Her oxygen saturation is much more stable, and her blood pressure is much better. There was about an hour this afternoon where she was only requiring about 21% oxygen, which is the same as what we breath. Before the surgery she needed about 32%. Most of the day, outside of that hour, she was hovering around 24%, which is awesome! Hopefully she can keep that up and we won't have to have supplemental oxygen when we come home!

I'm finally on a routine here, which is helpful. I've found that I need to do a few things almost ritualistically. After wandering around in the wrong parking ramp on a few occasions, I now park in the same ramp, on the same level, so that I don't have to think about it. I also have set alarms on my phone for when I need to take my meds. There have been a few close calls with right time and wrong pill. Luckily I caught it and corrected myself. My phone has an option for the alarm to use a robot voice. So now it tells me which medication I'm supposed to take. It's helpful, even though it makes me feel like I'm 90!  Speaking of which, my phone just starting beeping and saying BLOOD PRESSURE! So, I guess it's time for me to wrap this up!