A had a bad night last night - a very, very bad night. He spent most of it in agony while the nurses rallied round him doing the best they could to help him with the pain, but to not much avail. The docs had turned his epidural off earlier in the evening and all was well, I kissed him goodnight and headed home confident in how much better he seemed. A few hours later however, his body decided to start protesting - and although he was given various painkillers and eventually was prescribed morphine by the emergency doctor at some point in the wee smalls nothing touched the pain. This morning found him curled in a ball on the bed - utterly exhausted but finally able to sleep. Fortunately, since then he has rallied once more - and several naps during the day, a light lunch of proper food (if the mushy variety) have all helped and by the time it got to visiting this afternoon he looked more himself. The pain has eased and he is now on paracetemol and tramadol to take the edge off.
In a bid to cheer him up this afternoon I printed off every single one of the messages of support we have had on both our What Now blogs and took them in for him to read - and it really perked him up. (thank you all of you in tinternet land). This evening saw a visit from the surgeon/consultant who popped up to see how A was doing and was very pleased with him. He had a quick look at the wound (exceptionally neat and tidy and clean but still a little bit Frankenstein like courtesy of several hundred staples lined up from belly button to bits!) A as perturbed to discover on removal of the wound dressing that they had shaved off all his pubic hair - not as perturbed as he will be when he discovers that having it grow back is akin to finding an army of marching fire ants in your pants!! A asked the doc more specifically about the op and we were told that it looked as if the tumour was contained within the bladder and there were no visual indications that it had moved to the lymph nodes but they can't say for sure til histology results are in at the start of September.
In other good news the oxygen has been removed and after I left this evening the diabetic sliding scale was removed, along with the epidural fitting and his central line. Yay! He is officially untethered. He was smiley and relaxed when i left, and I just pray he gets a restful night tonight. As the consultant said, for every two steps forward you take, you may find yourself at some point taking another back. What we need to remember during this process is that you are still moving forward if only a little at a time. Tomorrow sees bigger things - a bona fida shower (A can't wait) and a slow walk around the ward.
I am still feeling positive today and am just about to head for bed to get some more much needed sleep. I do miss my bloke though - and can't wait to get him home - fingers crossed for the weekend.
Nighty night.
T x
When you next see him on Tuesday ask how he is getting on with the tramadol, its a great pain killer, I got it when I came off the morphine pump but oh how it zaps you. I struggled to have conversations with visitors and replys were delayed. She who must be obayed said nothing was different, got the usual are you listening to me, yes then I would crash for 30 secs and continue the discussion, weird.
Hopefully he will be ok on them but if he is a little spaced out you will know why.
