Elaine's Back!

Posted on July 22, 2005

Tagged brad : Favorite Nurse

Elaine, our day nurse, came back in today even though she was off the next two days. It's so strange that I was wishing so much that she could get him through this rough period. I know Rhonda will be thrilled when she wakes up. I'm a little concerned that Brad may be in more danger than we realize if she felt the need to come back.

He stayed on 10cc during the night and that managed the pain until sometime after 2:00. Denise had to give him a booster shot of morphine. At 2:45, they came to his room to do a chest x-ray (my guess is they will do it each night and compare the lungs to the previous x-rays). It's a good thing he had that booster shot.

The danger with the morphine and the reason he can't just be doped to the max is that he would start breathing shallowly and not get enough oxygen in his blood. I don't know what the measurement is, but his score was in the low 90s most of yesterday and his respirations were 10-17 breaths per minute. Every since I got back from dinner yesterday, his oxygen blood score has been about 100. That's really good.

I'm concerned that he still needs so much morphine. The plan was to be on 8cc after about 6:00 yesterday. I guess people react differently to having a bar sewed to ribs and cartilage. Dr. Koury said he has good muscle development, which actually works against him for some of the pain. Part of the pain comes from the muscles. Dr. Koury said it's like a giant charley horse that doesn't go away.

If we go home Sunday, I'll consider us lucky.

p.s. Breakfast here is highly recommended.