Caitlin's Surgery- Day 2

Well, we made it through the night! The surgeon's Fellow Resident came by last night, and I talked to him about my concerns with the Morphine. I told him that whatever pain meds they had given Caitlin in Recovery (not Morphine, but I couldn't remember the name) seemed to have worked quite well; she had been moaning and groaning in her sleep, but as soon as they gave her those meds she'd fallen into a quiet, calm sleep. I asked if we could try that pain med again.

He authorized her for the new meds (still don't know the name, but I need to ask so I'll know for the next time), and Caitlin became a different child. She is so much calmer now, and she slept pretty peacefully through the night. She did have a slight fever yesterday, which the nurse thinks was also helping to make her uncomfortable, but that went away overnight which is great!

She woke up crying at midnight, 1 AM, and about 2:15, but I could calm her and she would fall back to sleep. After 2:15 she started to wake up more often, and take longer to calm down, so about 3 AM the nurse came back and gave her another dose of the new pain meds and she pretty much slept soundly from then until 7 AM when her new nurse came in to meet her.

Now if only I could have had some of those magic meds; I did not sleep at all! The bed I made on the couch was comfy enough; the nurse brought me a huge pile of sheets and blankets, and I piled them all on to make the bed as plush as possible. But every time I'd start to drift off Caitlin would wake up. And in between, her IV machine or monitors would start to beep, so I'd have to go get a nurse. Then after 3 AM, when Caitlin finally went into a sound sleep, they brought her roommate back in, who is just not a happy camper. Poor little guy- for some reason his mom is not here with him, and my heart bleeds for him. He cries for his mom and I just want to go over and scoop him up and hold him! I suppose his mother might have a good reason for leaving him here by himself, but I've tried to imagine what might be more important to me than being here with Caitlin and I just can't!

Anyway, the nurses are awesome and tried to help by taking him out of the room for several hours last night. He clearly didn't want to sleep so they wheeled him around in a wagon and let him hang out at the nurses' station. But at 3 AM they brought him back, tucked him in, and closed the door. A few minutes later he started to scream, and scream, and scream. I waited patiently but no one came. Finally, after several minutes of this, I went out to the nurses' station. The kind nurse looked up and asked "Can I help you?"

These nurses have all really been amazing, and I have no complaints with any of them. But at 3:30-whatever in the morning, after basically no sleep, I'd about lost my patience! I said "Seriously?! Can y'all not hear him screaming? I'm about to scream! Please- do something??"

They came in and tried to get him to sleep. Then they left the door open so that they could hear him, which I was thankful for, but it made the room noisy and bright. Somehow Caitlin slept through it all (thankfully!), but the roommate and I were not so lucky. Poor kid. I really hope his mom shows up soon!

Anyway, Caitlin has drifted back off to sleep, so I'm going to try to get a quick shower and get dressed...