Cross said Jenna has met the criteria for discharge this afternoon as long as her blood work comes out okay. She's ambulatory, going to the bathroom, and on oral medications. Honestly we've said all along that if we were given a choice (and Atwood acted like we would be) we'd stay the extra day because of our experience after Jenna's C-section. However, after the last 2 nights of having a PRN nurse from another hospital who finished each visit with "Did I forget anything?" and it was not a rhetorical question; we've decided we may do just as well at home. Jenna's friend Cara is coming in tonight to stay with us (whether at hospital or home). She's a nurse practitioner so we may would probably be in better hands there than here. We'll see what the blood work looks like and what Dr. Atwood has to say but I wanted everyone to know it was a possibility we go home today.
Cross made rounds
I was right. Dr. Cross wasn't happy to see her this out of it. She just won't wake up good and her speech is incoherent. I wonder if the last time the nurse came to check vitals if Jenna asked for more pills and she gave it to her when she came back. I didn't get out of bed that time. Cross wants her to be 'comfortable not pain free.' He thinks her sats are low because she's over-medicated. He was happy that she was up so often yesterday. He also said he was off to check her hemoglobin. Yesterday she was a little bit low.
A quiet night
Jenna slept large chunks of the night. We had to get up once to go to the bathroom, they took vitals 3 times, and the lab came by to take blood about 530. We may have overdone the meds now because I know they didn't want her this groggy. It was a good night though and she looked peaceful most of the time. She even smiled a few times in her sleep and it was funny. When she woke up she didn't remember what she'd been dreaming about.
Getting caught up
We had a small snafu this afternoon/evening with her pain meds. I'm not sure if I just missed it, she said it to Jenna, or even to someone else in our room. I do believe she said it because she was a perfect nurse, but apparently Jenna's oral pain meds are by request only. At about a little after 6 Jenna said she could kind of feel a tingle where 1 of the drains was coming out of her side. I knew this to be abnormal and I looked at the clock and saw it had been about 6 hours since her last dose. So being the advocate I am < I'm wearing these women out :) > I went to the nurses station and was informed she could have had the meds 3 hours ago. She can have 1-2 pills each 3-4 hours depending on what she wants. So she took 2 pills then and she's about to get 2 more pills now a little over 3 hours later to get her caught up on the pain. About 2 hours ago the pain got pretty bad but about 1 hour ago she wanted to get up. I helped her wash her face and brush her teeth, and then she got to put on pajamas!!!!!
Jenna's friends are so good to her. Misti was here earlier when we tried to figure out how to get some of the pajamas Jenna brought up here. After awhile the nurse and I declared it impossible with the tubes. Well Misti left a little later. About an hour and a half later Kristen and Brooke showed up with pajamas. Misti went to Dilliard's and found her some pretty pajamas that were big enough to house the extra stuff and button up all the way in the front so she could get her IV and ON-Q lines through it. She then passed the PJ's on to Kristen and Brooke who were headed over. The nurse unhooked her IV and I helped her put them on. The smile on her face was priceless. Thank you guys so much for that gesture. All of you are making her heal as much as or more than the medical staff that surrounds her.
Jenna's friends are so good to her. Misti was here earlier when we tried to figure out how to get some of the pajamas Jenna brought up here. After awhile the nurse and I declared it impossible with the tubes. Well Misti left a little later. About an hour and a half later Kristen and Brooke showed up with pajamas. Misti went to Dilliard's and found her some pretty pajamas that were big enough to house the extra stuff and button up all the way in the front so she could get her IV and ON-Q lines through it. She then passed the PJ's on to Kristen and Brooke who were headed over. The nurse unhooked her IV and I helped her put them on. The smile on her face was priceless. Thank you guys so much for that gesture. All of you are making her heal as much as or more than the medical staff that surrounds her.
Noah's pic-Updated
Well I have a few minutes now. Jenna finally went to sleep and there are no visitors currently. I thought I'd take this opportunity to share the most amazing photo of our Noah. Amber Lanning of Lanning Photography took some photos of our family last week. Here is a card from the proof sheet. Please remember that Mrs. Lanning owns the copyright to this photograph so if you share the photo with other people please include her information so they can order a copy of their own. I bought this shirt for Noah from the Komen website. It says "When I grow up, there's gonna be a cure." You can view the entire photo with ordering instructions here. Here's a snapshot of the proof with her copyright information below. It's absolutely beautiful.
Updated-sorry so many of you couldn't see the picture, I saved it in a format my browser could see but I guess Internet Explorer couldn't display correctly.
Updated-sorry so many of you couldn't see the picture, I saved it in a format my browser could see but I guess Internet Explorer couldn't display correctly.
Springdale Schools comes to visit!
A little after 4, Jenna's workmates began to filter in before their open house tonight. It was the only proof I'll ever need that this will never change who my wife is. It will be a part of who she is until the day she dies, but this will not dictate the person she is and will be.
Here's a link to a quick vid of the crowd.
Here's a link to a quick vid of the crowd.
NO CHEMOTHERAPY!!!!!
The pathology came back already to Dr. Cross. The right breast was 100% clear and the left breast had only non-invasive cells. The pathologist go through every cell so this is a 100% thing. He didn't mention the hormone relation to the cancer cells so we don't know medication route from here but the big thing is NO CHEMO!!!
So much for the nap
The respiratory therapist finally made it to the room. She showed us how much Jenna needs to be breathing in and for how long. She has to inhale through this apparatus every hour for 10 breaths. This will prevent pneumonia in her lungs from setting in.
Pink Teddy Bear
Jenna just had a special visitor. Susan Earnest is the Breast Care Navigator or Washington Regional. Even though we're not at a Washington Regional facility I guess she does the whole area. She brought Jenna a binder of information, cute little bags for her drains, and a large pink teddy bear to hold onto. She didn't stay long because Jenna's falling asleep (finally) but it was great of her to come by.
Hospital Info
Ms. Susan (Noah's wonderful sitter) asked in a comment but I was afraid some of you may miss it. Jenna is at Willow Creek Women's Hospital in Johnson.
Directions are here!
She's in room 7. She would love to see everybody so if you are able to stop by that would be great. She's doing really well. If she's asleep you can still see her and sign her visitor book. Don't forget to bring a few bucks for the Susan G. Komen bucket :)
Directions are here!
She's in room 7. She would love to see everybody so if you are able to stop by that would be great. She's doing really well. If she's asleep you can still see her and sign her visitor book. Don't forget to bring a few bucks for the Susan G. Komen bucket :)
Human again
Jenna's Mom and Dad got here about an hour ago. Her Mom put makeup on her and fixed her hair. She's gotten up and walked 15 ft. and she's now eating solid food. I think she's feeling human again. I think the walking really helped her out. Her color and alertness have really improved.
All good things must...
Jenna's being taken off the narcotic pump and being moved to oral meds. They are going to overlap the first dosage to make sure she doesn't get behind in her pain meds. Demarol and Phenergan are the order of the day so its bedtime for Jenna. Sats are good though.
That didn't last long
Jenna's back on the oxygen. Everytime she talked her sats dropped and then she dozed and they dropped so.....the tubes back on. She did get her catheter out though. She has 6 hours to pee on her own or she has to have it put back in. I think we're going to try to get up here in a minute.
Tammie is Jenna's new best friend
Our new nurse, Tammie, came by earlier and took off the air compression leggings and the stockings for 30 minutes. She also removed the oxygen and the pressure cuff. Jenna's on cloud 9 now.
Dr. Atwood's nurse Candy
Dr. Atwood's nurse Candy came by and we had the best 15 minutes yet. She showed me how to sit Jenna up and how to rub her back and make her feel better. She also gave Jenna her first look at her new self. The skin looked really good with a little bit of bruising but not much. The drains really help with that. She said they were really pleased with the incisions and the skin from the back looked great.
She also gave us good direction on what the medication schedule will be and when she can have all the stuff taken out. She was really helpful and I'm not covering a tenth of what we went over but we felt good when she left.
She also gave us good direction on what the medication schedule will be and when she can have all the stuff taken out. She was really helpful and I'm not covering a tenth of what we went over but we felt good when she left.
Dr. Cross/Update
Dr. Cross came by at 6AM. We were awake at the time so he came in because Jenna had slept for about 2 hours and woke up in quite a bit of pain. I told her from now on when she's sleeping I'll hit the button for her every hour so she won't get behind. Cross came in and looked at her chest and said everything looks good. He said he's concerned but not worried about her blood pressure as long as we are watching it. She can come off the oxygen after she eats a hot breakfast and wakes up a little bit. He also wants the catheter out and have her up by midmorning standing a little and sitting in a chair. He had the nurse bring Jenna a breathing apparatus to have her start breathing deeper. Then he was off.
We went to sleep then. The anesthesiologist came by at some point and asked how she was doing. I heard her murmur "Fine" and I went to sit up and when I looked up he was gone. Guess he was in a hurry :)
Our first nurse we had last night came by to say 'Hi' but unfortunately she's not our nurse today. That's too bad. Her name was Leslie and she was really good. Jenna had chicken broth for breakfast that made her make a face worse than anything so far. The coffee made it better though. She also got her contacts in place so that makes her happy also.
We went to sleep then. The anesthesiologist came by at some point and asked how she was doing. I heard her murmur "Fine" and I went to sit up and when I looked up he was gone. Guess he was in a hurry :)
Our first nurse we had last night came by to say 'Hi' but unfortunately she's not our nurse today. That's too bad. Her name was Leslie and she was really good. Jenna had chicken broth for breakfast that made her make a face worse than anything so far. The coffee made it better though. She also got her contacts in place so that makes her happy also.
Lol, bad moderator
After the last big post I realized I hadn't checked to see if any comments needed moderation. I usually get an email and then I realized I hadn't checked my email today. Wow, I don't think I've had a day I didn't check e-mail in...I have no idea. It has to be at least a couple of years. I'll go a little while without checking my personal email but work I check constantly.
Anyways, there were some comments that needed to be approved.
Thanks again for loving my wife!!!
Anyways, there were some comments that needed to be approved.
Thanks again for loving my wife!!!
Back to sleep
The nurse's are gone now, I've remade the bed over her and the pain medication trigger let her push it again so she's on her way back to sleep. I'm gonna try the same.
So far so...okay
We've had a fair night. Jenna rests intermittently. With everything attached to her I think it would take a sledgehammer of sedation to get her to sleep for large periods of time. I got brownie points for making her laugh earlier (I told her with all the tubing she has she could open a plumbing supply store) but I lost them when that hurt her chest.
She's still on oxygen not because of her sat levels but as a precaution for her blood pressure. Her blood pressure has become the bane of her night. She has an automatic cuff on her right arm that takes it every 30 min. It was to come off at midnight and then they would manually do it every so often. However (in the tone of Stephen A. Smith for the sports fans), her blood pressure dropped to 80/45 so they've decided to wait until morning when the powers that be show up to take her off the oxygen. Its just a bad cycle. The oxygen makes her nose itch so she scratches it with her hand making the pulse ox misread and alarms go off. Its funny that with the 7 tubes that are physically coming out of her body its the the oxygen line that is simply on her face that is driving her nuts.
I guess I haven't told you about the various tubes and stuff she has on. I'll try to paint the picture. She has 4 drains coming out of her chest cavity (2 in front and 2 in back) that have about 3 feet of line and a bulb on each end. These are drained by the nurses every 3-4 hours (3 times so far). She has a catheter in her bladder. She has the oxygen line and the pulse ox and the blood pressure cuff on. She also has an ON-Q pain medication pump. Oops almost forgot the IV. She has her narcotic self pump going into that. That's it for tubes. For me the most uncomfortable looking thing is the air compression hose on her legs. She has support stockings on and then over that she has what look like full length leg splints. Each one has 4 hoses coming out of it going to a pump under the bed. Every 5 seconds or so the pump fills them up full of air and then lets them deflate. This is to prevent an embolism or blood clot. I really think that's it for everything attached to her.
I know there are some survivors checking in on here so I'll give you her outputs on her drains. Drains 2, 3, and 4 are each outputting 20-30cc's. Drain 1 though hasn't put out much at all. it hasn't put out more than 3 cc so far. The nurse isn't worried because there isn't a clog in the line outside of her body and there is some output so I guess that site just isn't having fluid/blood buildup. If you want any specific information, register on the site and ask in the comments. If you are a new member to the site then your post will have wait until I approve you in the admin area before the comments are published. I require approval of memberships to prevent the spambots that lurk around the internet.
She's still on oxygen not because of her sat levels but as a precaution for her blood pressure. Her blood pressure has become the bane of her night. She has an automatic cuff on her right arm that takes it every 30 min. It was to come off at midnight and then they would manually do it every so often. However (in the tone of Stephen A. Smith for the sports fans), her blood pressure dropped to 80/45 so they've decided to wait until morning when the powers that be show up to take her off the oxygen. Its just a bad cycle. The oxygen makes her nose itch so she scratches it with her hand making the pulse ox misread and alarms go off. Its funny that with the 7 tubes that are physically coming out of her body its the the oxygen line that is simply on her face that is driving her nuts.
I guess I haven't told you about the various tubes and stuff she has on. I'll try to paint the picture. She has 4 drains coming out of her chest cavity (2 in front and 2 in back) that have about 3 feet of line and a bulb on each end. These are drained by the nurses every 3-4 hours (3 times so far). She has a catheter in her bladder. She has the oxygen line and the pulse ox and the blood pressure cuff on. She also has an ON-Q pain medication pump. Oops almost forgot the IV. She has her narcotic self pump going into that. That's it for tubes. For me the most uncomfortable looking thing is the air compression hose on her legs. She has support stockings on and then over that she has what look like full length leg splints. Each one has 4 hoses coming out of it going to a pump under the bed. Every 5 seconds or so the pump fills them up full of air and then lets them deflate. This is to prevent an embolism or blood clot. I really think that's it for everything attached to her.
I know there are some survivors checking in on here so I'll give you her outputs on her drains. Drains 2, 3, and 4 are each outputting 20-30cc's. Drain 1 though hasn't put out much at all. it hasn't put out more than 3 cc so far. The nurse isn't worried because there isn't a clog in the line outside of her body and there is some output so I guess that site just isn't having fluid/blood buildup. If you want any specific information, register on the site and ask in the comments. If you are a new member to the site then your post will have wait until I approve you in the admin area before the comments are published. I require approval of memberships to prevent the spambots that lurk around the internet.
Resting peacefully
Okay the past few hours have been a whirlwind. Jenna's in the room and stable. She's doing really well on the oxygen with her sats at 96 and up. She really wants the oxygen off but they're gonna wait until about midnight to start weening her off. Her pulse rate has also come down to a normal level. It was hovering in the 110-115 range for a bit but she's chilled out at a cool 80 now. She's starting to get a little bit of color back into her face. Her hands and arms still look like Val Kilmer in Tombstone but they're getting better. The swelling in her face is also going down. Her eyelids were pretty puffy but the right one is pretty much back to normal now.
She's drifting in and out of sleep and we talk when she's awake. I relived the day for her and read her the blog entries. I read her what everyone wrote on her visitor sheet. I told her about Noah's day and I went through the list of everyone I talked to and what they were doing. She's resting now with a prayer shawl made by a group at Jeff and Michelle's church. The women crocheted (sp?) the shawl in pink and prayed for Jenna while they made it. It's really awesome. In fact everyone's been awesome. From the bagels this morning to the crackers to the chips to the Dr. Pepper (God Bless You) to the crossword puzzles, to the trips to the Post Office, to the trip to the pharmacy, etc. You have all been more than I could have ever dreamed. My wife is an amazing woman and it is only fitting that the people she loves would be equally amazing. Well...maybe not equally with her but you're pretty close :)
She's drifting in and out of sleep and we talk when she's awake. I relived the day for her and read her the blog entries. I read her what everyone wrote on her visitor sheet. I told her about Noah's day and I went through the list of everyone I talked to and what they were doing. She's resting now with a prayer shawl made by a group at Jeff and Michelle's church. The women crocheted (sp?) the shawl in pink and prayed for Jenna while they made it. It's really awesome. In fact everyone's been awesome. From the bagels this morning to the crackers to the chips to the Dr. Pepper (God Bless You) to the crossword puzzles, to the trips to the Post Office, to the trip to the pharmacy, etc. You have all been more than I could have ever dreamed. My wife is an amazing woman and it is only fitting that the people she loves would be equally amazing. Well...maybe not equally with her but you're pretty close :)
