3.23.11

AYNSLEY:
Ups and downs, victories and defeats.

The port surgery was successful yesterday, but today Mom's entire right side is extremely sore. This afternoon around 2pm, the nurses needed to remove the dressing and flush the port in preparation for administering IV fluids tonight. Mom usually gets about 500ml of water and electrolytes each night; she simply can't drink enough to keep her properly hydrated. Last night they didn't give her the IV because her port was still healing and the nurse on Capitol Hill removed her pick line too early. Something about the way the dressing was removed or the port was handled was horribly painful and Mom was pretty miserable the rest of the night. She had a headache (I hypothesized it was due to dehydration), she was achy, she was a bit weak and nauseous...all in all, not great.

Mom ate the least amount today than I've seen in a long time. Two bites of dinner. Six bites of lunch. She was a bit nauseous in the morning, but it seemed to subside in the afternoon, though she did make the statement today that she's always a little nauseous. I hadn't known that and it made me so sad. And also so proud of her-she never feels like eating or doing therapy, but she always pushes herself to get stronger.

Mom also had the strongest PT session that she's had in a week. She walked a little bit, which she hasn't been able to do in a long time. That was encouraging and fun to watch. She also got a lot of massage today. Ross and I rubbed her head in hopes of alleviating the headache and her legs got a lot of attention in PT. I also did some acupressure points for her stomach which worked wonders and made me so happy that a little point stimulation made her so much more comfortable.

She took a lot of Tylenol today in hopes of making the headache and the soreness more tolerable. I'm hoping that with the IV fluids and maybe a full night's sleep that she'll feel much better tomorrow.