Freedom is on the Horizon
Jul. 27th, 2019 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseFor those who would rather skip the details of Shawn's medical condition, the short of it is that the doctors are starting to transition her to HOME.
She tolerated full liquids last night and this morning (tomato soup... whooo!), so there may be another step up today at lunch, depending on if things continue to do well. It's funny how FAST they want to transition back up, given how looooong it took us to get this far, but, hey, I'm not complaining. Besides, Shawn will not be pushed. The one day that we had a setback was so disheartening she's been very, very careful to take baby steps.... or baby SIPS, as the case may be.
But, they want to get her eating at least semi-solid food before discharge, because one of the things they will be sending home with us is an oral blood thinner medication... which she will _could_ be on for life. The thing is that heparin, despite what your Facebook friends might tell you, does not, itself, dissolve blood clots. The body does the dissolving on its own--or, if it can't, it reroutes/boosts redundant circulatory systems. The thing heparin does is make it so that, if possible, thinner blood can flow around the obstruction while the body heals itself.
For Shawn's money, she could NOT BE HAPPIER to have an excuse never to fly in an airplane ever, ever again (she hates air travel.)
She got a rebound migraine last night, which she was expecting, and the doctor okayed her usual meds, which means they are really confident that she's out of the danger zone, because Zomig is a vascular restrictive.
It seemed to have mostly worked, in that she was able to sleep relatively well last night. I stayed with her again, because 1) hospitals are scary and I fault no one who wants company overnight, ever, even for a paper cut, and 2) the night before had been super rough will all the weird new migraine aura stuff (none of which she's had to the same extent since.) Interestingly, the thing that might be helping those symptoms is the anti-depressant that has an off-label usage as menopause symptom relief.... because for those just tuning in, thanks to an oophorectomy fourteen years ago, Shawn has been on what are essentially replacement hormones/estrogen and, as estrogen can be a culprit in blood clots, the doctors cut her off cold turkey. She got all of menopause all at once. FUN TIMES.
But, again, Shawn is not in for migraines or sudden medical menopause, so, while the doctors are doing everything they can to mitigate the pain and suffering that comes with those things, they really, deeply ONLY CARE that her stomach is improving and that her heart is working and there are no random NEW blood clots forming anywhere. All seems to be good on that front, so we will be packed up and sent home to deal with migraines and menopause on our own, as it were.
I'm a little worried about the timing of all this, because, OF COURSE, this Monday (so, day after tomorrow!!) I start teaching my week-long class at the Loft for teens. It's every day, for THREE HOURS (9 am to noon) and normally, I'm like, bah, I can talk for three hours/have things for the students to do, no problem!' but now I'm like, THREE HOURS??? HOW DO I EVEN DO??' I've been scrambling for some good writing exercises because one way I can do is to let the students write on their own for a good, long while....
But, while I'm worried about filling class time, I'm EVEN MORE WORRIED that the doctors will be like, "Oh, discharge? Monday at 10 am." Hopefully, they can be flexible if they do decide that, because, for those just tuning into my life, we only have one car in our family and, basically, only one driver. (Mason is learning and Shawn _can_, but she doesn't really like to drive, and, anyway, no one sane would let the patient drive herself home.) I mean, there are Lyft and friends who could potentially help, but I'd also really like to be there to hear all the instructions for home care, etc., etc.
BUT, even if the timing ends up being super-inconvenient to me, I'm just so, so, SO glad we seem to be nearing the end of this nonsense.
Yesterday, Mason came up with a perfect metaphor. This long hospital stay has been like one of our family road trips without ANY of the good parts. We're all stuck in a small space together, but going nowhere. To be fair (and why this metaphor is actually fairly accurate), is that despite what it might sound like, our family actually does very well together in small, cramped spaces for extended periods of time... but, we are starting to hit our limit.
She tolerated full liquids last night and this morning (tomato soup... whooo!), so there may be another step up today at lunch, depending on if things continue to do well. It's funny how FAST they want to transition back up, given how looooong it took us to get this far, but, hey, I'm not complaining. Besides, Shawn will not be pushed. The one day that we had a setback was so disheartening she's been very, very careful to take baby steps.... or baby SIPS, as the case may be.
But, they want to get her eating at least semi-solid food before discharge, because one of the things they will be sending home with us is an oral blood thinner medication... which she will _could_ be on for life. The thing is that heparin, despite what your Facebook friends might tell you, does not, itself, dissolve blood clots. The body does the dissolving on its own--or, if it can't, it reroutes/boosts redundant circulatory systems. The thing heparin does is make it so that, if possible, thinner blood can flow around the obstruction while the body heals itself.
For Shawn's money, she could NOT BE HAPPIER to have an excuse never to fly in an airplane ever, ever again (she hates air travel.)
She got a rebound migraine last night, which she was expecting, and the doctor okayed her usual meds, which means they are really confident that she's out of the danger zone, because Zomig is a vascular restrictive.
It seemed to have mostly worked, in that she was able to sleep relatively well last night. I stayed with her again, because 1) hospitals are scary and I fault no one who wants company overnight, ever, even for a paper cut, and 2) the night before had been super rough will all the weird new migraine aura stuff (none of which she's had to the same extent since.) Interestingly, the thing that might be helping those symptoms is the anti-depressant that has an off-label usage as menopause symptom relief.... because for those just tuning in, thanks to an oophorectomy fourteen years ago, Shawn has been on what are essentially replacement hormones/estrogen and, as estrogen can be a culprit in blood clots, the doctors cut her off cold turkey. She got all of menopause all at once. FUN TIMES.
But, again, Shawn is not in for migraines or sudden medical menopause, so, while the doctors are doing everything they can to mitigate the pain and suffering that comes with those things, they really, deeply ONLY CARE that her stomach is improving and that her heart is working and there are no random NEW blood clots forming anywhere. All seems to be good on that front, so we will be packed up and sent home to deal with migraines and menopause on our own, as it were.
I'm a little worried about the timing of all this, because, OF COURSE, this Monday (so, day after tomorrow!!) I start teaching my week-long class at the Loft for teens. It's every day, for THREE HOURS (9 am to noon) and normally, I'm like, bah, I can talk for three hours/have things for the students to do, no problem!' but now I'm like, THREE HOURS??? HOW DO I EVEN DO??' I've been scrambling for some good writing exercises because one way I can do is to let the students write on their own for a good, long while....
But, while I'm worried about filling class time, I'm EVEN MORE WORRIED that the doctors will be like, "Oh, discharge? Monday at 10 am." Hopefully, they can be flexible if they do decide that, because, for those just tuning into my life, we only have one car in our family and, basically, only one driver. (Mason is learning and Shawn _can_, but she doesn't really like to drive, and, anyway, no one sane would let the patient drive herself home.) I mean, there are Lyft and friends who could potentially help, but I'd also really like to be there to hear all the instructions for home care, etc., etc.
BUT, even if the timing ends up being super-inconvenient to me, I'm just so, so, SO glad we seem to be nearing the end of this nonsense.
Yesterday, Mason came up with a perfect metaphor. This long hospital stay has been like one of our family road trips without ANY of the good parts. We're all stuck in a small space together, but going nowhere. To be fair (and why this metaphor is actually fairly accurate), is that despite what it might sound like, our family actually does very well together in small, cramped spaces for extended periods of time... but, we are starting to hit our limit.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-27 11:56 pm (UTC)