Update on Vivian - 6/16

Vivian did pretty well last night, though let me say that a hospital room makes for a miserable night of sleep for the patient's companion.

Vivian was intrigued by her hospital bed and kept imploring me to "please make the bed big." I finally realized she wanted me to adjust her bed's mechanical controls. I made the top of the bed sit up a bit, and Vivian told me, "Thank you. Now I can go to sleep in my big bed."

Vivian woke up around 2 and was pretty agitated about her IV and pulse/oxygen monitor. This time I knew to call the nurse for a dose of morphine before the situation escalated. The morphine calmed Vivian immediately once again, but she refused to go back to sleep so I walked her around the 6th floor of the hospital in her stroller for an hour or so. Vivian eventually dozed off and I got her back into her hospital bed where she slept very soundly. I finally fell back asleep around 4, only to wake up at 5 when the nurse took Vivian's vitals and at 6:30 when they needed me to give Vivian her morning seizure medicines.

This morning after Vivian woke up, she was in pretty good spirits and she ate a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, French toast and cantaloupe. Vivian contentedly watched movies on my iPad but kept barking at Robert and me to "turn off that TV" as we attempted to watch the Mavericks Championship parade, and she continually accused us and the nurses, "Hey! You woke me up!"



Late in the morning Robert and I took Vivian for a stroll down to the PICU on the 5th floor where we were able to see many of the nurses who so wonderfully cared for her last summer. Vivian was a bit groggy at that point, and like I've said before, she remembers little of her time there, but Robert and I were glad to see everyone and they were thrilled to see Vivian looking so much better.


Leaving the hospital

We brought Vivian home from the hospital around 1. She was so glad to be in her own room again! Vivian immediately ordered me to go find Percy, but before I could follow Vivian's command, Percy came sauntering in and jumped on her bed where he's slept devotedly near her all afternoon.


Sleeping at home with Percy by her side

Vivian's arm is terribly swollen and hideously purple just above her cast. The cast is split down the front and back, so we used a coin to separate the sides a little more to give her arm some additional space. The hospital nurse called Dr. Brown in the middle of the night and Robert spoke to his office again this afternoon, and Dr. Brown said as long as Vivian's fingers on that hand are not swollen and have good circulation (measured by pushing on her finger and watching for the color to return within seconds) and provided we can fit a finger inside the top of her cast, the situation is not alarming. All of those conditions are met, but that part of Vivian's arm looks AWFUL and appears to me would be uncomfortable. Vivian doesn't seem bothered by it too much, albeit she's not moving that arm around a whole lot. She still loves her pink "cactus" and admonished every nurse who came near her today not to take it off.

We enjoyed a nice visit from Vivian's Aunt Patti and cousins Owen and Hollis this afternoon, but otherwise Vivian and I slept the day away. Robert has attentively administered Vivian's alternating doses of Tylenol and Advil since she's been home, and those seem to be adequately managing her pain.

Vivian and I are planning to take a road trip to pick up Dorothy from camp in North Carolina next week. Vivian is scheduled to visit Dr. Brown and have her cast removed the following week.

Praise God that we have passed the point where Vivian spiked a fever after her original arm surgery. Praise Him that she has responded well to pain medication and seems comfortable. Please pray that the swelling above Vivian's arm subsides and that she experiences no other complications from the surgery. Continue to pray that the range of motion in Vivian's elbow shows improvement.

Thank you for your kind words of support for Robert and me and for your love and prayers for Vivian.

"Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all." I Chronicles 29:11


The hardware Dr. Brown removed from Vivian's arm!