This picture reminds me of two of the things that Nick has really been wanting to do. The first is going to the beach and the second is getting a puppy one day. It illustrates how are hope for the future can sustain us even through some of the darkest times.Nick has managed to come through this latest assault on his body with flying colors. Last night was really tough to see...Nick's left side is once again all bandaged and bruised with not one, but two, big chest tubes coming out. The first night post-op Nick slept. They have him on a pretty good dose of pain medicine, so he was able to sleep most of the night. He had to get some platelets and some blood, but otherwise, things are going OK for now.
Yesterday (Thursday) Nick was much more with it and able to communicate with us via pencil and paper. Early this morning, the Ear, Nose, & Throat doctors came in to do Nick's first trach change. I was not there, but, it seems things did not go according to plan. The doctor who was doing the trach tried to change it out to the current size (#8 ), but, instead they had to go with a smaller size, because they couldn't get the #8 back.
Nick's surgery went as well as can be expected. They were able to clear out all the pleural fluid.
They took about one liter of fluid off his lung. They also opened up his old lung biopsy site and found 300cc of fluid which they also removed and then packed this wound and left it "open" so it would heal from the inside out. The main problem now is that the left lower lobe was supposed to re-expand on it's own after this fluid was removed. However, so far, Nick's left lower lobe is not opening up despite numerous attempts to get the lung open in the OR. On Thursday morning, Nick's CXR did show some improvement in this lobe. The doctors are taking a wait and see approach, hoping that the lung continues to open up and re-expand on it's own. If it does not, I don't think there is anything they can do.
In the meanwhile, Nick seems to be rebounding with his usual alacrity. He is an amazing guy and I am proud to call him my son. I must go to bed now. It has been an exhausting few days tacked on to an exhausting few weeks. I am not sure where all this is going, but, I am too tired to ruminate on it now. If only puppies on sandy ocean beaches could make it all better.
3 comments:
Diane,
AMAZING!!!! What a warrior. That son of yours is unbelievable. I think he got his determination from his mom. I am praying the pattern is changing and Nick is on the rebound. I am hoping next summer you, your family and Nick are at the beach with a new puppy, and this horrible nightmare is a thing of the past. HOPE!!!!!!
Love,
Mary
I continue to keep you all in my mind. Nick is an amazing person, and you and Glenn are amazing parents. Keep up the faith. I don't know why, but when I saw the puppy picture, all I could thin was "boys are snips and snails and puppy dog tails." Maybe Nick's progress is slow, like a snail, but it will end with a cute new puppy dog tail.
Isn't the saying, slow and steady wins the race? You all can do it. It may seem long and agonizing for you all, but hod fast. You can do it.
Good morning Diane,
I didn't know anyone could breath at all with the amount of fluid Nick had in his lungs. That is so scary. What torture this has been for him just to breath. I am so glad they were able to remove it and hopefully his lungs will rebound as planned.
Thank you for keeping us updated on Nick's progress and your life. I will say a little prayer today that Nick and his future puppy get to go to the beach.
Lots of love,
Vicki Tinsley
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