Well, all things considered, Bethany had a very good day. Actually, it was one of her best yet. The spinal cord drain was removed, and the nurse used a staple gun (yes, it was eerily similar to Home Depot's, but it wasn't orange) and proceeded to staple her twice, without any anesthetic. Geesh! It really, really hurt. Not only does she have a 10" incision that is still healing, but she also has two drain incisions that are relatively fresh, along with a host of other incisions, and such, and still....they opt to not give her a local anesthetic.
When she received staples the first time, the doctor (Graber) did not give a local. The second time they were stapled in her backside, the doctor (McMaster) did. Thus, he was our fav. Now, the nurse didn't. I promised Bethany that, should she ever require more staples, it will NOT happen without a local anesthetic. Goodness! to top it off, the staples didn't even work, and they wanted to use two stitches instead. Not! They called our surgeon, Dr. Healy, who basically said to leave Bethany alone for now. (hee hee)
After recovering from that with a boost of Dilatin, she rested for a while. She still hasn't eaten and has drank very little for over a week. She is, however, continuously receiving IV nutrition and lupids. Bethany is still in a lot of pain, and no one can seem to figure out why. It is extremely disconcerting that she on so much pain medication, and no one knows why. They have ruled out virtually everything, or so it would seem. But....thank God, they are still looking.
After the nurse woke her up to receive her shot in the tummy (yuck), finger poke, and some meds, she slept a bit longer. She has been really sad and frustrated for many reasons: she feels like crap, she is constantly being poked and prodded, she can't see or talk with her boyfriend (she has severe laryngitis due to the ventilator), her vision is blurry, she feels as though she's in a fog, she can't handle absolutely any light and very little noise, and yada, yada, yada. She is not complaining at all, but she is so sad that she just bursts out crying about every hour or so.
She is now trying to sleep, but her nausea is a constant presence. The med they will administer at 10:00 pm will not only help with her nausea, but it will also make her sleepy. That's good. I'm going nuts without any light to read, no TV to bide my time, and this recliner. Although it's relatively comfortable, I really want my bed.
A shout out to Pastor Tim and Shelly who invited Joy and Jonathan over for dinner with their family and to hang for a couple of hours. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves. You know their kids are sweet and obedient when the first thing that Joy and Jonathan said, when I asked how their dinner/evening went, was, "Pastor Tim's kids are so sweet and so obedient, Mom." Gotta love that! My kids are identical to me in that we totally appreciate well behaved, polite and kind children. Great job, Sherman's. Oh yeah, Jonathan also told me he had 4 (yes, I said FOUR) helpings of dinner.
Thank you, everyone for continuing to pray for:
--Bethany's total and complete healing and recovery;
--Bethany's mental health, too;
--Wisdom for the doctor's to diagnose what has been causing her pain;
--No more crisis
Blessings and peace to all, Love, Shari and Bethany
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