He has learned his lesson--the hard way. It was not a very good day for him. When I arrived, he was in a lot of pain--with both legs. Now, for the past week, he hasn't experienced any pain in his right leg, just in his left. Because he didn't have any of the medication throughout the night, the pain came back in his right leg. I immediately told him to push his button--he did without any reservations at all. He can push the button every 10 minutes right now and he watched the clock so that he could push it more. He heard chastisement (which was given with concern and patience) over and over again from the nurses, the pain team, the therapists, etc., about why he should never do this again. Finally, along with his oral pain medications, the pain started to subside and he was calm once again. Thank goodness!
The doctors come in every morning to unwrap his legs so that the incisions are exposed to the air. Yesterday, one of the incisions on his left leg was a bit red--and--his white blood cells count was high. Everyone was a bit concerned that there was an infection starting to brew. But, he didn't have a fever. Because of this missing part, they thought that maybe there was a lab error. Once again, blood was drawn and sent to the lab. The doctor told me that if there was an infection, they would probably have to take Jake back into surgery again to do a "wash out" of the wound. My heart sank--I didn't want him to have to go through another surgery. I started praying even harder. It's amazing how powerful prayer is!! The lab made an error!! His white blood cell count was normal!! YIPPEE!!! When I looked at his incision this morning, it was still a bit red, but much much better than yesterday. :)
Monday night they also had to do a blood transfusion on him. His residuals (guess it's his hemoglobin and something else) were pretty low and not climbing. I received a phone call from his nurse around 11:00 p.m. telling me that they decided to go ahead with the transfusion and were giving him one unit. Yesterday, his levels rose some. Today, his levels are continuing to rise. :) More wonderful news!
His physical therapist took him to the therapy room today and had him do the arm bicycle and then they started working on the left leg. The doctors gave the clearance for the therapist to start bending the knee and moving the leg more. Jake did very well, but you could see that it was quite painful for him. But, he didn't complain. He may have winced a few times, but no words of complaint came out of his mouth. The therapist was impressed with how much Jake could move his left leg and with his "transfers" (going from bed to wheelchair and back). He wasn't feeling well at all during this whole session, but he kept going.
We returned to his room and he began to become very light headed. He thought it was because of the hard workout that Matt gave him with therapy, but the nurses and the PA (physician assistant) believed that it was because of the lack of pain medication from the PCA. Later in the day, this happened again along with some nausea. All because of his frustration and stubbornness! Even with those qualities, we sure do love him! His nurse tonight gave him some medication through his IV for nausea. By the time I left about 15 minutes later, Jake was sitting up more in bed and looked a bit better. He said that his stomach was calming down.
One bright note for the day was that he received some more visitors. :) Our state senator, Senator Leahy, came by with the Brigadier General of the Vermont National Guard (I think that was his title) and another officer of the Guard that Jake knew. When Jake saw this Sergeant, his face lit up with a big grin. :) It was so nice to see that smile on his face! He also had visitors from a chaplain from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard (and his assistant) who prayed with Jake and I before he left. He was visiting his state's guardsmen who are here and decided that he wanted to visit all of the National Guardsmen--no matter what state they were from. :) It was nice to have a connection with him since I was born and raised in Pennsylvania.
I came back to the hotel confident and at peace that Jake would NOT repeat his actions of last night. :) He had the button resting on his chest ready to push if needed. :) With this, I am hoping that tomorrow will be a better day.
I want to thank all of you for your love and prayers in behalf of Jake and our family. We can definitely feel them and have witnessed the power of them. Jake has also. He, too, is very grateful.
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