On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 16:48:59 -0500, Damsel >
connected the dots and wrote:

~Are we having fun yet? Okay, here's what's been going on ...
~
~On Wednesday, we had to be at the hospital at 7:15. We did all the
pre-op
~stuff, and they took him away from me at 8:50.
....
Anyway, the doctor
~said that the surgery was successful, and that he'd be in his room
soon.

Glad to hear that.

~When I have major surgery, I open my eyes, take note that someone is
there
~with me, and go to sleep again. No such luck for Crash. He was wide
~awake, in excruciating pain, and extremely agitated. Like, they had
to put
~an alarm on him because he kept trying to escape.
~
~Most of you know that I'm pretty mentally ill. Crash is, too, only
worse.
~And guess what? NO PSYCH MEDS! They cut him off of high doses of
the 4
~medications that keep him relatively sane. And they're just putting
him
~back on them this afternoon. The doctor wouldn't listen until I
brought it
~up with the hospital pharmacist. It pays to talk to the right
person. I
~wish I had known which strings to pull 48 hours ago!

They do that to everyone. You can't bring your meds with you, they
have to dispense them, and then they don't take down the whole list.
It's interesting to me that the pharmacist is the one the doctor
listened to.

~Despite universal reassurances that this would be a wonderful thing
for
~him, he's having a ton and a half of pain and has vowed not to go
through
~with it on the other hip. He'll do it because he has to, but not
with the
~same level of confidence he had coming into this one. They're
talking
~about taking him off the morphine-on-demand tomorrow. I hope they
don't

He's young enough that he should get back most of his mobility, unlike
my Mom, but they lie--it hurts like the dickens afterwards, and it
would be easier for most folks to face if they told you straight out.

~He desperately wants to get up and walk, but they only come in twice
a day,
~and he hasn't made a lot of progress. On the weekends, they only
come in
~once a day. They're back to saying he'll be released sometime next
week
~instead of this weekend. It's so critical that he move certain ways
and
~completely avoid other positions. And of course, the no-no's are
what he
~is naturally inclined to do.

Ask them to show you how to get him up and out of bed. Then you can
take him for short walks, at least to the door of the room or the
bathroom.

~When Crash is in pain, he doesn't eat. Period. He lost 10 pounds in
the
~two weeks just prior to the surgery. He's getting thinner and
thinner in
~the hospital. One bite per meal is all he's able to get down. He
doesn't
~even want me to bring take-out to him, and he loves take-out food.
(The
~hamburgers at the hospital are miserable)

For some reason, probably the methods used for keeping food hot for
the time it takes to get from the kitchen to the last patient, the
food at any hospital is the pits. Try and get him to order soup.
That's one thing that sometimes will go down well.

~I came home for a short break this afternoon because the cat or one
of the
~dogs has sought their revenge for our being gone all day by peeing on
the
~couch. I am not amused. Anyway, I'm trying to spend a little time
with
~them during the day when I can get away.

Poor babies! Is there noone who would come by once a day to give them
a little love and exercize so you don't have to run back and forth?

~I've uploaded a few pictures:
~http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/head_trollop/my_photos

He does look good in that color<g>, but he sure hates getting his
picture taken, doesn't he? Many hugs and backrubs for you, virtually.
Hang in there, Carol, this too shall pass.

maxine in ri