Third Day after Surgery, 2:15pm

Hello all,

When Anne spoke with me at 7am today she was sitting in the recliner and watching the Today Show. She sounded fine. I should be clear and say that her voice is not working/sounding as usual, it's more or less of a squeek now, but they say it may come back to normal when swelling goes down.

I got in late morning today. It's another beautiful day here. The last 2 days have been 'dog days', hot, 90 degrees and sunny but with no thunderstorms. Today and tomorrow will be 75 degrees and full sun again with no thunderstorms in the forecast. Haven't seen a cloud in the sky all week. I was able to mow the lawn and brush the dog when I got home last night. The last couple days were 'dog days'.

Anne's daughter Erika has been here since Tuesday night, so that's been great for Anne to be able to see her. It helps me too because I can go home earlier than usual. I think it's been kind of a vacation of sorts for Erika too. Erika is working at her job from our house during the day and she comes in here after she quits work at 5pm. This has been good for Dixie too. Before Erika got here, Laurie and Dana came thru as usual to help by taking care of Dixie at supper time. Thanks to all of you guys for all of your help again this week.

Anne continues to focus on doing all of her breathing exercises, as well as taking several walks today. Her strength is clearly improving now by the minute. She is a good girl and a good patient. She seems to know what it takes to get better.

She is still in the COR area. Anne had told me last night that she'd be moving today, however no orders have been issued to move her yet. There are only 6 beds in this COR section and a couple are available, so there's no rush to move her out of here. We're told there are no empty rooms 'out on the floor', so it's unknown when Anne might move. It's a blessing tho because the care in here is especially good, also Anne has a very cold room which is to her liking.

Anne said she had a 'not so good' night with the blood pressure fluctuations. The epidural had been turned off to get her BP up, so she had to deal with increased pain. She had to push the manual 'dilotted' button more often to make up for the reduced amount of meds being pumped thru the epidural.

Right now there's a blockage in the feeding tube that has given the nurses a challenge this afternoon. I think they are going to get a new line, or they are waiting for an order from the residents to flush the existing line. Hopefully they don't have to take Anne anywhere for any procedures or anything.

Moments ago the discharge planning person (Kim) came by to get acquainted and start that process. There will be lots of discussion about how much help and equipment might be needed at home. We actually hope she won't need any equipment. We aren't sure how long the feeding tube will be needed, but if Anne is unable to get enough nourishment by eating when she goes home then feeding tube will be used to supplement that.

Anne is doing alot of light coughing. It's a good thing. Big coughing is also encouraged so that fluids/muccous are brought up. It's important for her to get up and move around and to lay on her sides (not just on her back) so that fluids don't pool up inside of her and stay in there for too long. The light suction tube is still installed in her nostril to help with the draining of Anne's stomach. All of this because her digestive anatomy has been reconfigured.

Nurse Jamie is working now to flush the feeding tube clear.

If any of you folks would like to see Anne she tells me that starting tomorrow that would be good.