*TMI alert* Fluids in and fluids out....
Surgery went well and she's on the road to recovery. It was hard to deny her water every time she woke up. I even asked the nurse who called the surgical team to ask if she could have some water. She was quite pitiful in her cries for water because she was thirsty. Mostly she'd go back to sleep quickly but there was one long stretch with repeated requests for water. *sigh*
A surgeon came to see her around 5am and said she could have clear liquids. So Victoria started drinking diluted apple juice. In fairly short order (4 hours) she drank about 40 oz of liquid about half juice & half water. Juice is a treat and she was thirsty. However that much liquid in plus full IV line, meant so much liquid out. We fully changed the bed 3 times plus a couple of change just top layers. She had a shower and two sponge baths along with gown changes. We were using up their supply of gowns on the floor and filling our dirty linen bag. She only tolerated chest therapy on a low pressure - that looked like it was barely doing anything. But we got through it.
It wasn't until much later that the nurse told me we didn't have to save the diapers any more. Monday afternoon we go for a single abdominal x-ray. But Victoria was having a bit of pain and I wanted her to have meds before we made her get up. So we delayed our x-ray for 10 minutes while she got some more toradol. She was still very pitiful and had to be carried and obviously uncomfortable. Not too much fight after assurances that she could keep her legs closed, diaper on, and just one x-ray. We met the doctor in the hallway on the way back to the room. He made sure we knew he was going to look at it right away. But we didn't hear from him soon afterward. No news is good news.
She had a nap, but nurse told me she needs to get up as soon as possible as much as possible. So after some struggling and complaining by her and enthusiastically telling her what we could go see did she agree to walk. We went to see the fish tank. She correctly identified the angel fish in the tank. ;-) Then back to the room for a sponge bath and a new diaper due to an overflow of liquid poop. After getting all cleaned up with new pants and all this time she wore shoes so she could walk in the garden. She walked and I pushed her IV pole. We walked all through the garden looking at the flowers, a little statue with chairs just her size nearby. Then off to see the fountain and the 'supermarket' = gift shop. When asked about it later she said she didn't buy anything, but touched everything. That's pretty accurate.
When back in the room, I let her IV run on the batteries some more so she could play on the floor. She had a great time. I even got a picture of the letter A she drew on the magnadoodle. When Hubby came to see her after work, she was amusing herself by pulling the shades up and down herself. That entertained her for over 30 minutes. She was a totally different child so we knew she felt much better. She tolerated chest therapy full on. She painted pictures with the ladies who brought the art cart to her room. It was a nice change for her. She was feeling so well at the end of the night she had to be asked if she wanted a time-out before behaving. And a struggle to get her to sleep.
No IV beeping every two hours in the night and limited interruptions for checking stats in the night made for a good sleep for both of us.
Surgeons came Tuesday morning and said she could have food a likely go home today. She's had her breakfast - so far so good on tolerating real food. Bacon, tater tots, grape, and apple juice w/ miralax - breakfast of a champion. Now we're waiting for all to be well and hopefully some more poop out then clearance to go home. Time to start the struggle to get her out of bed. Surgeon says the pain from changing positions will probably last about a week.
More poop out - still not a lot of substance, but enough to be getting on with. We were released from the hospital in time for rush hour traffic on Tuesday.
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