Small Steps

Katelyn has been working hard to get better and has lowered some of her kidney toxin levels. They are still quite high but have shown sings of decreasing for the first time this week. We arrived this morning and were surprised to find out that her dressings were all sliding off and one arm was completely unwrapped. So we had to start out redressing one hand and then at 1330 hrs we redressed her whole body. The doctors decided to try morphine again since it has a longer half life. She only needed 3 doses of morphine instead of the 7-9 doses of fentanyl we were having to administer. She is fully wrapped and resting comfortably. It was one of the fastest and easiest for her to tolerate. It appears they are starting to dial in her pain control methods. We have three different dressing types on now: Vaseline gauze, mepitel, and we are trialing Hollister Brand Restore gauze on her right leg to see how it performs. We also changed from Vaseline to aquaphor. I was surprised at how much tackier the aquaphor is. It does not appear that the dressings would just slide off as they had with the Vaseline. I am unsure how fast the aquaphor dries. We are hoping it hold moisture longer than the Vaseline. It will be nice if it does so we do not have to worry about the Vaseline gauze as much. Katy and Sean have kept me busy the last few days. Depending on how Katelyn is doing everyone but Katy is headed home on Wednesday night for Katelyn's benefit dinner on the 21st. I have to work this weekend as well. We will just have to see how she is doing. Katy really needs some rest and relaxation. We are all getting a little stressed out especially now with her internal issues and unknown future. I am ready to get off this roller coaster of emotions. I am growing my version of a goatee for Sean and a large portion of it is grey hair. I think I will have to shave it soon to hide my stress. We had two primary nurses last night fighting over us. Well not really, they were working together to take care of Sissy overnight. Julie's mom baked some awesome chocolate chip cookies for us and we have been pigging out on them all night and morning. Maybe Elisabeth wants to try to top that???? I'm just saying food we likey! If there is anything new tonight i will post again otherwise Happy Presidents' Day!