Saturday:
After spending a few hours at our friends, bile started leaking through phoenix's just changed bandages. Her pain was the same and she was unable to stand straight at all-they had released her in that kind of pain. I called the transplant coordinator on call asking what to do....of course the answer was go to the ER at the hospital :( The roads were bad as it had just rained and was snowing and freezing as that big storm was coming through starting with us in Edmonton. Our wonderful friends drove us there and dropped us off....we brought nothing, not expecting a stay. They took one look at Feeny and rushed her in.
4 hrs later after arriving at the ER because bile was leaking from her incision site indicating blockage and fluid build up, exactly as her symptoms were indicating since the night before, they had finally admitted her into a hospital room. They took blood-works, put her on antibiotics through IV, gave her morphine and did a chest X-ray then brought us to a room in unit in the upstairs hospital. A Dr would see us....in the morning, we were told. Nothing would be done that night...after they demanded I get her to the ER asap for treatment earlier despite horrible road conditions, and having released us from hospital with her in the same condition as right then; declaring nothing is wrong with her. As a mother I was scared for her, I hurt for her and I was angry for her needless suffering...they were the ones to warn me and be concerned then immediately not take it seriously when it occurred in a serious incident that then continued to affect her visibly. It could be one of two things... The placement is out and they'll have to go back in to fix it, or its needing to drain and they need to pull the plug and let it drain...both will show her symptoms... Knowing poor feenys luck I'm starting to wonder if its placement... Cuz that'd keep her there a whole lot longer and another procedure to fix...
Sunday
12.5 hrs had passed since we walked into the ER and still no dr has come in and as I was told its Sunday, they don't usually come in too early... They kept her comfortable with the one dose of morphine and sleeping sitting up... I've had to cancel Feenys surprise to meet her first wolfhound(s) and 4 week old wolfhound puppies because of all this as well. I'm unsure if she'll have another chance another time either, as its still nearly 2 hrs from Edmonton and they can't exactly make sure they are around all the time to have us visit in our short yet ever changing schedule up here. I'm thankful that at least with the morphine she's more comfortable then before, even the codeine wasn't touching the pain. I just wish we had answers... And a plan of action to help stop and fix the issue that is causing this pain she is in... Especially when they demanded I get her into the ER ASAP to deal with it.
So, we were told we would be in hospital until Monday morning at the very least, or longer now. There's nothing wrong with her they said though. They haven't given her anything for pain since 11pm Saturday and have no plan to do anything more for her but won't release her either. They can't explain the bile leakage, and can't find a reason for why it was leaking, So they're ignoring it saying she's fine and is just being sensitive to her discomfort and she's not standing up straight due to fear of the discomfort. No explanation for why she can't lay down and not breathe either. We have no answers, they chalk it up to her essentially over reacting to "discomfort" not actual pain even (despite being in much less pain the day before yesterday, was eating and mobile and everything went down hill after they blocked the drain from draining) and ignore the other worrisome symptoms of not being able to breathe laying down and bile leakage from the site accompanied by extreme pain. Her pain was so great that even in sleep her heart rate was setting off the alarms on the monitor, her blood pressure was up, and her breathing was labored. But it's her over reacting to pain....Yet won't release us either. But they aren't doing anything for her in hospital either, including not giving her more pain meds because there's no reason for pain only discomfort. Thankfully she has been managing the pain better on her own since the IV morphine dose last night and is even eating easily now. Testing this theory of being better backfired tho... I had her recline back more in the bed...she found the pressure in her chest less then before, then took a nap in that position.... unfortunately she woke up in extreme pain again in her chest, could no longer walk as straight afterwards, and when she tried to walk around to go downstairs to the cafeteria, she didn't even make it off the unit; at the doors she nearly collapsed from the amount of pain in her chest, we had to grab a wheel chair to continue our walk. The nurses later gave her morphine twice after seeing how much pain she was in, and how hard she tried to move on her own.
Monday
So they came in saying that we can probably go to outpatient today. Her pain is much less again today, she's walking better and able to get downstairs tho it does cause a lot of pain and she's still not walking fully straight. She did manage to make it through a shower/sponge bath as we can't fully soak her with her chest tube, we have to tape it with cling wrap and sponge her off in a shower to try to keep the area as dry as possible. She's eating like a horse again....2 meals each time...it's a good thing I only eat once a day...I could only imagine what the food bills here would be otherwise! lol She walked downstairs and did a bit of shopping at the kiosks with her allowance :) She hasn't had anything for pain all day, tho she is definately in a lot of pain still. We had to wait on one last doctor to see us before we could be released....we waited till 6 pm And then he nearly kept us in after everyone said we'd be going! He decided he wanted to do an ultrasound because her pain is obviously there and is not right. But he said he'd book it for Thursday for when we go back to see the doctors for a check up before we are released back to brooks. There is a good chance they may see something then and we will be readmitted for them to do something about it then....but at least we have a few days of freedom, if she stays stable, in the meantime. We are technically now free from the hospital...we are on pass tho, and I am to call in the morning to the unit to get an official discharge....this is in case we have to come back tonight or in the morning due to her pain being out of control or any other issues, we still have a room available and ready for us. If all is good in the am we can get the official discharge and enjoy our couple days out until we do the next tests on Thursday. So far she's done well tonight, and had fun playing with the child here at our friends and their dog...of course! lol She's much happier, as am I to finally be free of the uncomfortable and confining hospital room!