Sheena has now had several days at home. She has had many visitors and phone calls. These do tire her out. She likes having visitors but check first in case everybody arrives at the same time. She is now in bed asleep, although I will have to wake her later so she can take some of the tablets.
Now Sheena is home, these reports do not seem so necessary. I will update them once a week, rather than each night. I hope they have been usefull for you all.
Being back at home has suited Sheena. She has had a number of visitors and been for a few walks in the sunshine up the road. She still gets tired and needs to rest. Still on the antibiotics and painkillers. Sister Robyn is coming down from Auckland this week to look after Sheena.
Sheena is now home. With most of Trixie's family here for lunch today, Sheena had family company and soup made by Trixie. She has numerous pills to take and Sheena sees a need for a spreadsheet/chart to keep track of them all. I will set that up tonight.
There have been several visitors this afternoon. The fire has been lit to keep her warm. The cats are very pleased. Sheena is now worn out and is in bed asleep already.
Sheena has rung from the hospital saying they will let her go home today. She is having her last IV antibiotic. I will pick her up this morning and she will be home for lunch today. She will still need to rest, so limited visiting for brief periods only please.
Sheena is improving and getting bored in hospital. Blood pressure still low. Not on drip now and had last IV antibiotic today. More oral antibiotics to start tomorrow. Dehydration not so bad now. There was talk that she may be getting out over the weekend.
Sheena had several visitors today and did enjoy seeing people. We went for several walks. Briefly outside to the courtyard. Also climbed the stairs for one storey. Need to keep up the fitness.
Sheena is still in hospital and day 18 of the expected 7 to 14 day stay has just passed. She feels generally well and was expecting to be out before the weekend. The current talk is for Monday next week. The issues are the IV anitbiotic which is given by a drip, and the high fluid loss. Continuing low blood pressure has motivated her back onto PowerAde drink and salty biscuits, chippies and soup drinks. The additional time in hospital has meant more healing of the operation site.
Today we went for two walks to the main foyer area. In the morning it was sunny, so she went for a 5 minute walk outside in the fresh air. In the afternoon it was just around the main foyer. The end is getting in sight.
Sheena is much better today. I took her to the main foyer of the hospital and she had a cup of tea in the cafe. She even went for a 5 second walk outside. She is still on a drip periodically. This is for IV antibiotics and to keep her fluids up as blood pressure still low due to dehydration. She is drinking juice but is now baulking at the PowerAde. She is eating most of her meals and potato chips.
Awaiting a satisfactory outcome of monitoring before she can come home.
Sheena has had some more tests and is back in the ward. Sedatives were involved so she was still quite drowsy this evening. She is back onto liquids and a drip as she is dehydrated and her blood pressure is low. Results from some of the tests indicate the infection may be related to the operation and so that is being treated with antibiotics. There is still the painkillers.
Her only visitors today were Hugh and myself. There is talk of her coming out of hospital in a few days.
Sheena is progressing. She has had a series of tests to determine the cause of the fever and high temperature. Several possible causes have been eliminated but they are still investigating. She had more tests this afternoon and will have more tomorrow. She had tea tonight but no breakfast tomorrow before the test. They all involve blood samples or injections and she is feeling like a pincushion.
She is still on painkillers and now anti-biotics. Tomorrow involves a seditive, so she will be asleep most of the day.
My appologies for not updating these notes yesterday. I could not get to my computer to edit them.
Sheena had a good day on Saturday. She went for several walks around the hospital. Sunday morning was OK and she had several family visitors in the afternoon. She has been eating well and drinking the PowerAde and fruit juice rather than water. Unfortunately at tea time this evening she felt very cold and was shivering. It appears this had been coming on most of Sunday. When measured, her temperature was high and there is suspected infection. The nurses dealt to this and the doctor ordered tests. I checked late tonight and a chest X-Ray this evening has eliminated infection there. Blood tests taken and lab reports awaited. Other tests to be done tomorrow.
She is stable now and her temperature is back to normal. I will report more as it is known.
Sheena is still in hospital with the principal issue being loosing fluids and the resulting low blood pressure. She is being put on a saline drip when needed, generally overnight. She has been 'powering' through the powerade drink and the salty potato chips. Trixie bought in some mild cheese and water crackers. The extras seem to make some difference. We went for some longer walks on this floor of the hospital. Once this has settled down they may let her come out.
It looks like Sheena will be in hospital for a while longer. She starts the day being OK but progressively looses more fluid and becomes dehydrated and is then put on a drip. At the doctor's suggestion, I brought in some salty potato chips this evening and she will have them as a snack during the night. Also some 'powerade' drink which she does not like the taste of. It may work so we await the results tomorrow.
She is going for short walks. Movement is impeded by the drip pump and stand she has to push around.
Sheena is still in hospital and is generally happy and can see the point of it all. She is eating well, especially the mild cheese and crackers smuggled in to her. She is still put on a saline drip when they think she has lost too much fluid and her blood pressure drops. Regular monitoring of this is taking place. There will be no escape until this aspect is sorted out.
I visit twice a day and spend a lot of time with her. She is having other family visits but is still a bit bored. Lisening to concert and national programmes on radio. Also reading newspaper. Cannot do knitting as drip goes into left hand.
Sheena had a dreadfull night and early morning but by afternoon was much better. Overall she is fine but needs one major issue resolved before she can come home. She ate breakfast, lunch and tea, but as she was becoming dehydrated, she was put back on a drip for a few hours. This meant another drip line needed to be put in. Going for significant walks around the ward just didn't happen today.
She now has the radio and listened to the concert program. No knitting done becaise of the new drip line in her hand. Sheena had several visitors today.
Again I visited Sheena in the morning and in the afternoon/evening. She is much happier today. Last night's tea stayed down and she ate breakfast, lunch and tea today. Certainly this is progress. All the drains and the drip canula have been removed. She is walking more frequently, longer and further. The Physio took her down the stairs so she can manage the stairs at home. There is talk of her going home on Tuesday.
A few visitors today and she likes seeing people. Sheena tells me it is now boring in hospital. I guess that means she feels better. She now reads the newspaper to learn what is going on in the outside world.
I will give an update tomorrow about her where-abouts.
I visited Sheena this morning and again in the afternoon. She had a visit from her Dunedin cousin as she passed through Wellington. The new parents with their new baby came up from their ward to visit Sheena, so she has now seen the baby ahead of most others. Our two boys, Trixie and Andre also visited today.
Sheena is generally happy considering the circumstances. She did not eat much breakfast or lunch, both still fluid based. When tea arrived it was solids - caserole meat, mashed potato and diced carrots. She said it was nice and she did eat part of it so that is an advance. Tomorrow will tell if it stays down overnight. She is drinking water and has (again) been taken off the drip.
She is now going for regular walks around the ward. Getting out is very dependant on progress.
Sheena is still not eating properly and this is a concern. She is a shadow of her former self. She is going for regular walks and this is good. She did 4 or 5 'long' walks (60 metres) while I was there today. There was talk of her leaving soon but that was before the non-eating set in.
The current excitment was the birth of a baby girl for her nephew Ashley and Antonia in the same building yesterday afternoon. Sheena would dearly love to go visit but is unable to do so. She is getting more visits from Trixie.
Sheena still has pain and getting morphine and other things to deal with it. There is still one drain to come out and she is still on a drip to keep the fluids up. I will visit again tomorrow
Sheena is a bit happier this afternoon, but still not eating properly. She is back onto a 'fluids' diet with broth, jelly and juice, but had hardly any for lunch or tea today. More drains and tubes removed, but still on drip to keep fluids up. She went for several longer walks (40 metres) while I was there.
Hopefully she will sleep better tonight. Visiting is best avoided so she can rest.
Sheena did not have a good night and is not so well. This may be 'normal' progress or a result of visitors. In any event, it is probably best not to have people visit unless necessary.
She has not had breakfast of lunch today and is now back on a fluids drip. She did go for a short walk (about 20 metres) while I was there. This was to stop the nurses nagging her. I will visit again this afternoon to check on her.
Sheena has had two visitors today as well as myself. She seems to have enjoyed that but we have to ensure she does not get worn out. She was falling asleep when I was there this evening. She has some reading material given to her (mills & boon, womans weekly, puzzel books) but finds it hard to concentrate for long. There will be more visitors tomorrow.
Healing is progressing. She has had more drain tubes removed and it appears that others will be removed in the next few days. She has been for a few walks as she has to get exercise.
Sheena had solid food for lunch and appreciated it. Tea was also solids but she did not finish it all. Having a shower was a mission but welcome. She has now gotten out of bed several times but cannot go far. The dressings have been changed and it all looks neat and tidy and healing well. Coughing is hard on the abdomen mussels.
Hugh came to visit after work. Having visitors is tiring at this stage and too many would set back her recovery.
On my visit this morning I found Sheena in good spirits. She no longer has the drips and oxygen feeds as she is drinking enough. Also the self regulated morphine feed has been removed as she was not pushing the button enough. She is now being given morphine tablets that are slower acting but work for longer periods.
Breakfast was the same liquid menu as all her meals yesterday. She hopes for solids at lunchtime.
Her sister Trixie visited today so can report separately. Sheena was pleased to see her but it was tiring. When I left, Sheena was due to have her first shower which means getting out of bed. I will check how it went when I visit later today.
I have visited Sheena again this afternoon. She is much more alert at times but still on morphine which makes her just drop of to sleep. She only ate part of her lunch of clear broth, a small jelly and fruit juice. Tea was the same menu and she ate it all.
The staff got her up from bed and into a chair briefly today. She wasn't too pleased, but knows that tomorrow she will have to try more. Getting active again is an essential part of the recovery.
A georgeous large bunch of flowers arrived while I was there. Sheena really liked them, but as they had a strong scent that might affect her, she thought it best that I took them home. In this weather they should still be fine when she gets out and back home.
I have visited Sheena in the morning. Sheena is now in ward 7 North. She is more alert and talkitive but has some pain and morphine to deal with it. There are many tubes for drips, drugs, drains and oxygen. She has her glasses back. It is early on, but she seems to be progressing. She needs to rest and dozed off several times while I was there.
While visiting hours are 10am to 1pm and 3pm to 8pm, it would not help her to have too many people around. Her sister and our boys will probably go and see her on Wednesday.
The operation did not start this afternoon until about 13:00 and as a result went on later than expected. The operation went more or less to plan.
I visited Sheena at 20:30 this evening. She was still in recovery and should be moved to the ward during the night. Sheena was comfortable but still quite dozy when I saw her. She needed to rest, so I did not stay long.
Sheena is now at Wellington Public hospital and the operation should have started. It will be very late this afternoon before she is in recovery and I will get back there to learn more. I will update these notes when I get back home in the evening.
Sheena is now due to go to hospital tomorrow morning. At this stage the expected stay is 7 to 14 days.
Discussion with others that have had these operations indicates that rest afterward is essential. As such, while well wishes are welcome, many and frequent visitors while she is recovering will not be of assistance to her. I will let people know when it is appropriate, but it is most unlikely to be wise in the first 4 or 5 days.
Sheena has had a longstanding condition which has been regularly monitored for many years. At a recent routine test, deterioration of the condition was detected and as a result gastro-intestinal surgery was considered necessary. While considered 'routine', it is still quite major and carries some risk. Sheena is not happy about it but knows that it is the appropriate treatment. There have been ongoing tests and the surgery has been scheduled within the next few weeks.