7-3 8:33 am
The good news - The medication worked, yeah!. Nicki's output is great. Now they will wait to see if the kidney will continue on it's own.  The not so good news - her hemoglobin has gone down from 7.8 to 7.1 (it was 6.1 before surgery), so they are going to give her 2 units of blood. We were finaly told that she received several units during surgery. The Dr's all agree that they must find the problem as to why she is consistantly enemic. She has been as far as records go back. They have ruled out the upper gi and stomach so they will schedule some test for the lower portion when she is released. If they don't find a source they will send her to a Hemoglobin specialist to see if she is producing enough red blood cells or if perhaps they are not lasting long enough. She seems pretty down today. Hopefully the blood will perk her up.  We have to get her motivated so she will take her walks today. Her Dad is good at that.

7-2 9:03

They scanned Nicki's bladder and there wasn't any urine that wasn't being drained. Conclusion is that she is not producing enough. They are not sure why. They (the team) are going to give her another medication tonight to try to correct this. She is retaining a good part of all of the fluid she has been given.  Hopefully they can get this complication taken care of quickly. Her hemoglobin was 7.8 which is still extremely low. If it doesn't correct itself they will need to give her blood or blood products.  She had another fair day today. Please pray for God to give the Dr's ithe knowledge to make the correct decisions in Nicki's health care.

7-2 2:55
Nicki has taken two walks today. She is allowed a few ice chips an hour but no tubes hare been taken out. They are concerned that her fluid output from her bladder is not nearly enough. They increased her intake 3 times yesterday but to no avail. They have added something to the IV to help but so far it hasn't helped. This also adds to her discomfort. They have had to change her IV placement 3 times already, right arm, left arm, right arm.

7-2 7:57 am
Last night was fair.  I think we both slept more than the night before but Nicki had 2 pain attacks.  All 3 IV's have been beeping for 20 minutes. They finally just got turned off. Pray she will get her stomach tube out today. Today isn't starting out as good as yesterday. I hope it improves. I'm going back to the hotel this morning to get cleaned up. Steve will spend the morning with her.  

7-1 11;11 PM

Nicki had a much better day today. Her pain was much more manageable. She's using her pain med button evey 8 minutes with an additional shot every 2 hours but it seems to really help. She sleeps sitting up if at all. I hope she gets some sleep tonight (me as well).  It has rained so hard here that it is flooding in places. The news said that some areas would get a foot of rain. We are nice and dry up on the 6th floor.  Nicki met her goal of 3 laps around the floor throughout the day today. Still working toward those stomach sounds so she can have some chipped ice and get the tube out of her nose. The tube in her nose that goes to her stomach is still draining a lot and they want to see that decrease before taking it out as well as stomach sounds.

Thanks for your prayers.

7-1 12:22

Nicki walked around the hospital floor. Slow but sure, yeah! Back to the tube in her nose...she said that she now knows what the saying "up your nose with a rubber hose" means.  Goal today is to walk the floor 2 more times.

7-1 9:28

Hospital Address and Room Number:

Tampa Bay General

1 Tampa General Circle

Tampa FL  33606

 Room 6466-K 

 

7-1 8:53
Nicki had a rough night but is much better this morning. They changed her medication (to the one she kept saying was the one that worked) and her pain is much more manageable. We both can't wait for the tube in her nose to be removed. The sooner they hear noises in her stomach the better. She will be walking and sitting up some today which will help a lot in that area. Nobody slept much last night. She is worried about inadvertantly pulling the tube out of her nose while asleep, plus the pain, plus all the continuous beeping. I'm sure yesterday and last night will be the worst and it will get better each day now. Please pray for her pain to ease and her recovery.

6-30 8:34 p.m.
They just increased Nicki's Meds. Hopefully this will help. The tube in her nose that empties her stomach is driving her crazy.  They said they will have her up moving around tomorrow. Not a pleasant thought but the sooner this happens the sooner she will be able to get some of the tubes out and she's all for that.

6-30 4:53
Nicki is in her room. She was in a lot of pain but the meds are kicking in. Her mouth is very dry but of course they won't let her have anything. I will stay with her tonight.