This was taken on Thursday evening, with only a few tubes still connected. Friday morning I did some housekeeping stuff and then took the grandparents and Oscar down to the Powerhouse theatre for a holiday showing of "Tashi", one of Oscars favourite characters. He has all the books and this is probably the last year he'll enjoy the plays (next year Tashi probably won't be cool - he's growing up too fast!). Afterwards we went for an ice-cream at New Farm park, then visited Rowie in the afternoon. Bearing in mind she's now at four days since the procedure, here was Rowie sitting in her bed with absolutely no connections to any monitoring or draining type things - amazing really. What's more amazing is that, since Thursday, the only pain relief being offered was Panadol or Aspirin... imagine that.
Rowie was in some discomfort but, for the most part, she was battling on and without the kick-ass painkillers was able to remain quite lucid and aware. We went for a short walk - the physio-therapist and doctor recommend a bunch of exercises which will help her recover quicker - managed to get out of the ward and down the lift at which point she felt whoozy and so we put her in a wheelchair and got her back to the ward. Shortly after we left, to allow her to rest.
Friday was quite a big day actually, as Rowie had to endure a bunch of tests including an echo-cardigram (to check her new valve) and some x-rays.
The Good News
The ECG reports that her new valve is doing it's job well - the enlarged chamber is dissipating, blood pressure is good, and overall the surgeon is very pleased with progress.
The Not-So Good News
The X-Rays showed a fair amount of fluid build-up in Rowie's lungs - approx 800ml in one and 700ml in the other. This is bad although not altogether unexpected - 50%+ of all heart surgery patients get this build-up as a consequence of the procedure (apparently they use fluids to essentially "inflate" other organs and get them out of the way, which can add 5kg to the patients overall weight post-op).
Friday evening Rowie called me to say that they "might" drain at least one of her lungs... she was scared, as I would be too. That just sounded bad. I went back to the hospital.
The protocols in place around decisions are many and varied, but we as patients and loved ones only see the outcomes, which are generally lots and lots of time followed by either nothing, or sudden activity. So it was last night. The on-call doc had to make a call and advise his supervisor, who had to discuss with the surgeon, then they all had a look at the X-rays... and have another think... and another look...
Amongst all this, Rowie and I were seeking clarification from the head nurse, a nice guy named Clinton. Clinton seemed to think that they would probably wait til Saturday morning before doing anything, so after some deliberation we decided that it was best if I went home and got Oscar taken care of.
20 minutes later, Rowie SMS'd me saying that they were going to drain one of her lungs after all... so back to the hospital! I missed it, so wasn't there for her, and I felt terrible... it was quite a painful procedure, although via referred pain due to the local anesthetic. Poor Rowie has a drain tube and it looks like they may have to do the other today...
