So the doctor Has become concerned over the sound in the one side of phoenix's chest, or lack of air sound in there, and her inability to straighten when standing or to walk any distance on her own because of the pain in her chest.... So he's ordering a chest X-ray for her to check it out on the suspicion of fluid build up or partially collapsed lung. It would be the same lung we had issues with before after transplant in which it partially collapsed and was paralyzed for a yr or so after a nerve was nicked during transplant. Fingers crossed this isn't the case again with either a partially collapsed lung or fluid build up as it would definatley extend our stay in hospital for a much longer time...as is, if all goes perfectly; they will release us Saturday afternoon when she finishes the IV antibiotics and then we can be outpatients in Edmonton for a few days and potentially go home if she's remained stable in that time.
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Good News!! We may be released from hospital Friday or Saturday, depending how she does and if she starts moving on her own thru the pain and eating. We will need to stay in Edmonton to be near the hospital for a few days to monitor how she does once off IV antibiotics that she doesn't develop sepsis, and that the drain in her side is working, no blockages, and that I can flush it, change it and care for it. In 6 weeks she will need to come back for the same procedure and they will check to see if it worked and possibly balloon out the duct again, if it worked they would remove the drain. There is the chance this procedure could cause scaring of the duct, which they will find out when they go back in, and they will need to do the big surgery regardless in the end. There is the chance of reoccurance of all this, even after she stabilizes and this is a success, in the future and result in needing the big surgery. But right now they can maintain her this way and avoid all the scary risks the other surgery would come with :) I swear things are going well only because I was actually prepared for once to stay the long haul! LOL Never fails any other time with her that we are constantly delayed with one thing after another with her medically any other time keeping us longer then anticipated! I am still waiting for someone to teach me how to care for her drain in her side as well. Hopefully they find someone soon.... and we figure out what materials and equipment will cost to maintain the drainage tube the next 6 weeks as well. She's doing a bit better today, I even was able to give her a sponge bath in the shower. It'll be awkward once home to give her showers, as she needs her side taped up to cover the drain, but she's allergic to all tapes, of course, and then have an extending shower head to expel a thin stream of water to wash her with and try not to get the tape wet so it loosens and comes off exposing the drain site and risking infection. It'll be hard for her as well during the months she has the drain and bag to function normally, she will have to be very very careful that it doesn't catch on anything and rip it out. It's also large, heavy and hard to hide or even keep tucked into her clothes :( She'll be restricted alot in the next few months till they pull the drain, with some risks from it as well.
The wonderful picture msg she opened up after surgery ♥ helped bring the first smile to her face through all the pain she was enduring :) she loves her pups so much, and vice versa ♥
Feenys new attachments. Poor kiddo...that bile duct bag and drainage tube from her chest is going to be a pain to deal with and try to go about life normally.... But I have a feeling she'll figure it out and work around it like its not even there as she has done with many medical pieces of equipment or attachments to her body in the past :) life is what you make of it... And she makes the most of it always ♥
I'm happy to say MIRACLES DO HAPPEN! Tho I should have know this well as she's been saved by several in her young life thus far. The dr.'s managed thru quite aggressive treatment to crush and wash away most of the blockage, as well as used a balloon to widen the bile duct. Unfortunately due to how aggressive they had to be-she's now in extreme pain, crying and whimpering, shaking uncontrollably, teeth chattering, unable to breathe properly and unable to move on her own. They have her on a very high dose of morphine to try to control the pain, which puts her at risk of needing oxygen given to her to help her breathing. They said she will be in extraordinary pain from what they did and it will be awhile for it to calm down. She also has a drain in her stomach that will remain in for a few months. In 6 weeks they will do the same procedure to check the narrowing of the duct and possibly balloon it again. She has some high blood pressure, but that may be due to the amount of pain she is in they said. We won't know until late tomorrow after all the dr's and specialists meet as to when we would be released...or if they are still going thru with the other surgery possibly even despite this news, it's dependent on what else the dr had seen while they were inside and possible future complications. The dr that did this surgery is certain this will repeat and may take many months to get under control. so we will be in limbo until tomorrow sometime as to what is going on and where we will be in a few days.
Feeny has finally gone in for her procedure...she'll be in between an hour to 3 hours depending how everything goes. Fingers crossed miracles do happen and this works and we can avoid the Big surgery next week!
Feeny is doing a bit better this evening. Still in a lot of pain tho, she'd often reach out whispering unable to speak properly from the pain asking for me to come hold her hand at times to help her through it. She's finding it difficult to even try to eat, and has severe nausea. She needed two of us to assist her to the washroom from the weakness in her legs and dizziness, BUT she was given the option to use the bedpan instead of trying to move, as they thought she'd be unable to still and she chose to try to go on her own :) They said the extreme nausea and vomiting is from the trauma the ducts endured tho, so she may be like this for awhile till they heal. They also ran out of the pain medication we chose over morphine (but the equivalent of it) in the whole hospital that was ordered for her and were going to just give her Tylenol. Thankfully that was caught and we got it sorted out before she was in extreme distress and no doctor around to order something else...she's back on morphine for the next while to help control the pain. I'm hoping the next few days she bounces back quickly and heals fast....it's hard seeing my baby who very seldom lets things hold her back; crying and sobbing from the pain and restricting herself because of it :(
We Made it safely to Edmonton, got all settled in and seen the dr, bloodoworks etc and all that fun stuff, lol. They'll be hooking her up to IV and starting antibiotics in case the procedure tomorrow causes bits of the sludge to get into the blood and cause sepsis. She'll be NPO at 4am(tech once asleep tonight) until possibly as late as 5pm tomorrow while they have her on call to squeeze her in for the procedure... I may have one cranky hungry girl tomorrow :s The doctor reinforced that this procedure has little to no chance of working...that they are just trying in the hopes and off chance it may....but we can always hope for a miracle :) then we'll be home in less then 2 weeks! lol Phoenix has settled in pretty well and is all excited over food in bed with a tv! lol Phoenix recieved some wonderful gifts yesterday before we left as well! She would like to thank the kids from kids club for sending her all the great cards they made and for the artsy gifts from the staff :) As well as for the Amazing hand made and beautiful smelling owl stuffie Doreen made for her :)
The Irony in my life...I was thinking today how all I wanted for my Birthday was a phone call...for a surgery date for Feeny, and that nearly every year around my bday
she has some sort of medical thing, like last yr right after it she ended up in hospital with her liver rejecting and then going septic. So I thought maybe with this edmonton trip right before it, I could wish for a call right after... it....I maybe should have been a bit more specific...I got a call at the end of today saying Edmonton wants her up there to be admitted MONDAY! Ummm....how am I suppose to get ready to leave for up to 2 months to live in edmonton with her and have the financial means to even get up there with 2 days that are the weekend no less notice?!?! what about her school? and my job?! And the animals?! and getting my car ready with oil change etc?! Organizing where to stay up there and everything?! I pushed them to give me one more day...so tuesday we will be heading up to edmonton for feeny's admitance into the hospital. Wed she will have her first procedure, 2 days later another, and march 5 she is booked for the Big risky surgery. Birthday wishes do come true....? |
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