I waited for Veronica to get her next round of pain medication. Now I will go to sleep so I can be alert for the nurse shift change at 7 tomorrow. We are told that tomorrow may seem the same to Veronica, but I will start to notice little wins. She is speaking with more complete sentences this evening. Still trying to manage the pain.
This afternoon Veronica was brought out of the ICU to a regular hospital room. When she arrived at the new room, she got out of the wheelchair and walked with help from the nurse to a chair about 12 feet away. She was given the choice of laying down or trying to sit. She chose to sit. A short while later she walked with me to the bathroom which was about 15 feet away. After that, we walked back to the bed. She was exhausted but stayed sitting up on the side of the bed. The more time she spends sitting up, and moving the faster she will recover. The OT came a little while later. Veronica at first walked with the OT and me helping. She then took a walker all the way out of the room. She turned around in the hallway and made it all the way back to the bed. When the OT asked Veronica if she could speed up, she did. She is exhausted now. The doctors and nurses are working diligently to manage the pain. Vestibular therapy is really hard, but whenever the shecklets are mentioned or asked about she fights through. During what I hope is the hardest day of her life she is still a mommy first.
Veronica was able to take some more effective medication to manage the pain. She has been resting calmly for the last hour. It seems like sleep to me. If she is truly sleeping it will be the first time in days. She will be moving out of the ICU soon.
Peter from PT just came in and worked with Veronica. Veronica stood and moved her feet for 5 minutes! Peter left her with some exercises to do, and goals to reach today. One goal is to walk to the hallway by this afternoon. The hallway seems far away right now.
When you water ski with our family you yell “Hit It” when you are ready to go. The driver of the boat hits the throttle and you go skiing. When you first learn to water ski there are a lot of “Hit It”s followed by splashes. Just now Veronica put both skis in the water then Mark (the RN) and I “hit the throttle”. Veronica did great! She kept her tips up, and her skis straight, she did a quick turn and landed perfectly back at the dock (or recliner). She stood up for a good 5 seconds! Now she is sitting up in a recliner. Dr. Schwartz wants her to sit up and move as much as possible. Mark said, “you will hate me this morning, but love me by this afternoon.”
This morning 5 of the doctors who performed her surgery stopped by to check on Veronica’s progress. They were all happy with her progress and said that she is recovering as expected. Unfortunately, the expected recovery isn’t pleasant.