Thursday, August 6, 2009

Day Two Update

Things seem to be going fairly well at the field hospital today. We were finally assigned a room around 8pm last evening (they had to clear out and clean the room from the previous tenant). So we watched a few of the DVDs that we brought with us. My favorite was a film called Matilda, with Danny Devito - highly recommended! Lady Emma had all of her color back in her cheeks and her appetite was coming back, all of which are good signs. In fact, save for the fact that she had IV tubes coming out of her arms, one wouldn't have know that she just had surgery, her disposition was so good.

I slept in Lady Emma's room and let her Mom slumber in the parents' waiting room, where it was quieter. We are in a ward with six other kids of various ages, who have all come back from surgery. There is lots of noise in the ward, but things began to quiet down around midnight. Nurses come in about every hour, so it is hard to sleep. I gave Lady Emma some water several times during the night, but all in all, she has been a cooperative patient. I think that I actually got about four hours of sleep, broken up into blocks of an hour here and there. At 7:30 AM, a posse of about 7 doctors and residents made the rounds and paid us a visit. Curious that. I don't know what they do. It is a teaching hospital so I guess the residents are learning or something like that.

So things seem to be going well. I think that they will release us on Sunday. Staying in the hospital is not as hard as I thought it would be. It must be the parenting thing kicking in. They are going to move us to another room this afternoon, for two patients, so it should be a quieter night tonight. I want to thank everyone for their kind comments and well wishes. Lady Emma, her Mom and I all appreciate everyone sentiments more than you can imagine.

Update - 9PM Thursday Evening
I'm taking a short break from the hospital to go home, check in on the dogs and assure them that we haven't disappeared, pick up the mail, shower and sleep in a bed. Then it will back to the hospital friday morning. My wife gets to take friday night off as we trade off. I left her with the laptop so she will be getting in touch with all of her friends this evening. As I left, I checked back into Lady Emma's room and she was fast asleep at 7pm, totally conked out. She will get the bandages taken off of her finger tomorrow, which will give her the use of both hands again. She tried to play some X Box DS games but said that her "fingers didn't work". She is charming the entire staff of the hospital, or so it seems.

13 comments:

  1. Just caught up with your news. All the very best wishes and prayers from The Emerald Isle.

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  2. I am so pleased with the updates. All good news so far.

    I think that there are quite a lot of us out here waiting alongside you. Thoughts and prayers as always.

    John

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  3. Glad to hear things are going well, but it does sound a little like a field hospital...

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  4. Good luck with everything. I have a daughter of similar age so can empathize.
    Clive

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  5. Great to hear all is progressing according to plan Jim.You must be very relieved. Hugs to Emma.

    Frank

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  6. Don't let it panic you if Lady Emma doesn't seem as chipper the next few days.

    Quite often there is a noticeable "sag" in a patient's apparent heath the second and/or third day after surgery. It is normal. The body is sort of coming to terms with what's happened.

    Don't fret about it . . . and maybe Lady Emma will be lucky and escape it . . . but it is quite common and doesn't mean anything toward her eventual recovery.

    My best wishes to all of you.


    -- Jeff

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  7. Best wishes to all of you, and specially to Lady Emma -children may worry less than their parents, but feel the pain.
    Hugs,
    Jean-Louis

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  8. V pleased to hear the positive news. Matilda is indeed a v enjoyable film and I frequently threaten my brood with the 'clinky' and Ms Trudgegood. There are so many great bits but I do like it when she grabs the little girl with pigtails and sends her sailing through the sky and she comes up smiling in the sea of flowers. Danny de Vito and his wife (the waitress from Cheers - can't remember her name) are also great.

    regards,
    Guy

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  9. This is wonderful news!

    I know that during my hospital visits the nights were the worst.

    Having you and your wife there with Emma is a huge factor in her speedy recovery, I am sure.

    All the best!
    GregS

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  10. Morning Jim,

    Glad to hear things are going well for Emma and her parents. :-)

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  11. Lady Emma's spirit shines through all challenges.

    The hospital staff are 'in tune' with this and her recovery is assured.

    With love to Emma and her many wards.

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  12. Don't forget to look after yourself!

    Greg

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