ChloeWatts.com

Friday, Feb 5, 2010

Chloe woke this morning after a long night of suctioning, to have her first shower of the stay. There is a special chair that rolls into the shower so she doesn’t have to stand. The only problem is that the chair is poorly designed with a metal brace of some kind that pushes in the middle of the back. So, neither Chloe nor Dana was impressed with it even though the shower was a good thing.

During the shower Dr. Cuyler tried to stop by to see Chloe. He would have been at the procedure today but he was already scheduled for another patient. He really wasn’t needed there but I think he just wanted to reassure Chloe things would go well. Dr. Steve did get to see us before we went down, and he spun a good tail for Chloe to hear. He is the co-doctor with Dr. Shih and will be on for the next month I believe. I like him quite a bit. He calls a spade a spade and doesn’t worry about making waves where they need to be made.

We were picked up just before 10 AM and shuttled down to the 2nd floor where the endoscomys are performed. As I reported, the procedure went well and Chloe was back in her room by 11:15. We waited for Dr. Marshall to talk with us before heading back up. He assured us everything went just as planned and that Chloe would have some short-term discomfort. He also gave us some paperwork on the care of the tube and told us it would be in about 2 months before she transitioned to an belly plug that is much more compact.

To Chloe, any discomfort, at this point, is more than a little. She had morphine and oxycodone and zofran and various times. Her scheduled Speech, PT and Art were all limited, at best. Jenny and Jewel did get some work out of her in Speech and PT but Katie just looked in, asked, and decided to let Chloe rest. She was pretty miserable. Even my stupid humor didn’t make her smile much. There were a few good eye rolls but not many smiles.

By the time I left, just after 8 PM, she was showing signs of coming around a bit. She was more expressive and was able to get on her side a couple times. The very best report for the day is that Dana and I only suctioned twice since surgery. We had hoped that the tube was the cause of so much secretion and, as of now, it looks like that might have been the case. She rested very well and didn’t need suctioning. When I did, all I captured was a few thin, clear droplets.

It will be very interesting to see how she sleeps tonight. It’s great she has the weekend to chill a bit, although we do still plan on getting her up and having her doing some activities. She needs to move more and more and I think she actually knows that. She works through so much adversity.

Blessings,
Ron