Friday, April 17, 2009

Catch up stuff

Steven is recovering nicely from his surgery. The incision is large and creepy looking (22 stitches), but it is healing really well. He had to start physical therapy 3 days after surgery, which was incredibly painful. To his credit, he actually has been doing the exercises at home, as the therapist told him to. I didn't expect that at all. The therapist was shocked when he went back on Day Two and had already improved tremendously!

Giving him the IV infusions at home isn't as bad as I thought it would be. We have the routine down pat now and it goes fairly quickly and smoothly. Steven is even beginning to be able to handle some of it himself, which was impossible at first because he couldn't use his hand. He has the IV's going for 9 hours a day. He is also taking one oral prescription in addition to his pain medication. I have to change his wound dressings, but that isn't as bad as I thought it would be, either.

Having him back at home has been okay, especially since he slept about 22 hours a day for the first 5 days or so! For the most part, he has been very nice and respectful, with a few minor exceptions, so that is good. He had a reaction to one of the IV meds, but they slowed the rate at which the medicine was infused and had him taking Benadryl a half hour before the meds started and that took care of the problem. In addition to the 3 physical therapy appointments this week, we also saw the infectious disease doctor, who is in charge of his medications. The home nurse has been to the house twice, but only has to come once a week from now on. She will check on him, change his picc line dressing and draw blood.

This is just a quickie post to keep my fans quiet, but I hope to post about his surgery/hospital experience soon!

Janine is coming to visit, again, tomorrow. She will be here for a little over a week and we are all looking forward to seeing her. She is bringing me some Autism Awareness ribbons that she made and is selling to raise money for Autism research. I meant to blog about this earlier, but never got the chance. If anyone would like to purchase a ribbon or ribbons, please let me know and I will put you in contact with Janine.

2 comments:

Denise said...

Well, this fan is happy that you finally posted!

I already got my ribbons from Janine (na na na na na na) and they're very cool.

Glad that Steven's doing so much better. I still can't figure out how he cooked dinner for you!

Mom of 7 said...

I'm glad you're happy!

I don't know how he cooked, either. I would have still been in bed, with my hand resting on a pile of pillows, while I popped pain pills and alternated between crying and whining about my pain!!!!

Thank you for the email buddies! I will be emailing them tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for good news on that front!