Day 2 First Day After 02/14/12

So, today has been interesting from where I am sitting. After the posting earlier today, a few things happened that I believe are worth mentioning.

First, and for most of the day, Cari has been talking about how uncomfortable the bed is, particularly under her left posterior side. When she went to radiology for her CT Scan, they moved her onto a stiff board to facilitate the transfer from her bed to the machine. As, soon as she was done, and moved back to her bed she said, "all the sudden, my bed is really comfortable." Isn't that how it is most of the time, we get comfortable somewhere, or we get use to being uncomfortable where we are, that we don't ever want to move. The ironic thing is that when we move from one thing to the next and never get comfortable, we can find the most comfort.

Second, this morning Cari's pain was kind of all over the place. It wasn't until about 12:00pm that we were able to really get a handle on her pain. One of the things that has made the pain so hard for Cari, is that she was expecting less pain. There are so many factors that are not present, as we have been preparing for this surgery, that we assumed it would go much smoother. In talking to her doctor today his assessment has been that this surgery was actually worse then the initial trauma cased by our little accident 3 years ago. Another factor has been that they brought her out of the unconscious state so early on. When we had the accident she was sedated longer so some of the pain of 3 years ago was never realized. Now the pain is fully comprehended.

Third, Cari has been moved out of the NCCU. That is basically the ICU for neurosurgery. She is weaker than she anticipated and so is not quite ready for visitors at this time. For anyone that knows Cari, just the fact that she is saying that she is not ready for visitors speaks volumes. The move out of the NCCU has come with some perks. She is allowed to get up, if she can or wants to. She is allowed to start eating a soft food diet, but has not had a great desire to eat much yet. The biggest benefit is that she is not hooked up to so many different monitors and they don't have to take her vitals as often. I think tonight she may actually sleep better.

And now a few words from our sponsor... Cari!
Things are progressing a lot slower than I had hoped, which is disappointing to me. My adventures today with physical therapy left me feeling lightheaded and nauseas and I was only able to take anew steps before I sat down on the edge of my bed. I am hopeful that tomorrow it will go better. Time drags by so slowly here, but there's nothing I want to do anyways. I like it quite because the pain is so intense, and I don't want to talk very much, which is so not like myself. I was able to get some sleep thanks to the pain pump, which has helped a lot. The highlight of the day was my back rub from my husband Bill, which I could use more of (I wonder if that is a hint). I may or may not be a little loopy from the drugs. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.