Shane's post-op day 2

Hi, everybody.  It's Kaye, again.  I'll be so glad when Shane can focus his eyes without blurred vision.  Then, he can take over his blog again. 

I saw Shane again on Friday afternoon at 2:15 pm. He was transferred from Step Down to the Chest unit on the same floor.  His room is 4134, bed 2.  His bed is right next to window.  It's down the hallway right next to the Step Down unit.

Shane looked exhausted today. Apparently, before he was transferred, he walked across the Step Down unit with the physiotherapist.  He said that he had to use sanchin dachi (hourglass stance from karate)  in order to keep his balance.  He leaned on his IV pole and the physiotherapist's arm as he made very slow progress.  Then he sat in his chair for 1 1/2 hours.  After all of that exercise, I guess the health care team deemed him well enough to survive and kicked him out of Step Down to free up his bed.  Do I sound bitter?  Nah.....

Anyhow, his surgeon saw him today and gave report to the gaggle of attending physicians that will take over his patient case load when he goes off on his 3 week vacation.  Unfortunately, Shane couldn't understand doctor lingo and I wasn't present to translate.  Shane did say that his epidural wasn't working so they'll just rely on his IV morphine continuous drip and "pain pump"  to control his pain.  So he still has an epidural line stuck in his back - not hooked up.  But his nurse won't be able to remove it until his blood clot time decreases.  Shane is still experiencing the after effects of all that injected heparin (blood thinner to prevent clots)  so if they take something out, he'll just keep bleeding.  Anyway, since they're now using the morphine solely for pain management, Shane was more spaced out than usual.  I offered him something to read, but Shane can't focus his vision very well right now.  So forget about giving him reading material for a while yet.

Shane still can't eat or drink, but he's allowed to have ice chips periodically to moisten his mouth and to help dilute all the mucus caused by the nasogastric tube.  That's the drainage tube that goes through his nose and into his "new" stomach.  Shane spent most of the day dozing and resting.  Not surprised, considering all of physical exercise he did in the morning.

Shane is in a semi-private room that he shares with another patient: Ed Smith.  Ed seems like a nice guy.  He has difficulty staying upright on his own and tends to flop over in uncomfortable positions in his bed.  He doesn't like bothering the nurses so he never uses his call bell.  So if you're visiting and Ed's flopping over, just press the call bell and get a nurse for him.  Nobody should be in any unnecessary discomfort in the hospital and nurses are supposed to be there to help the patients get better.

When I was visiting, Shane's day shift nurse was Ken, this big barrel of a tattooed Scottish man.  I wasn't sure who he was when he clomped through the door and started checking Shane out.  Shane said,  "And you are...??"  "I'm Ken, your nurse.  And I'll be taking care of your sponge bath."  (in a Scottish accent, I'm assuming that because I overheard him talking to Ed that he follows the soccer team in Glasgow).  Thankfully, Ken decided to delegate the sponge bathing to Rose, a student nurse.  Rose looked a bit nervous and unsure of what she was doing.  So I helped out with cleaning Shane up.  Later, Shane asked me if I cleaned him below the waist, because it didn't feel as clean as it should be.  Huh.  Well, I didn't. I guess it was Rose.