Food and Water

Yesterday, the surgeons gave me the thumbs up a for liquid diet.  That was quite thrilling, considering I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since last Sunday.  It also gave me the ability to drink water which is another huge plus, as even though I was getting pounded with IV fluids, my mouth was still incredibly dry.  Waiting to see if I'll get onto a soft diet today or tomorrow.  Mashed potatoes... yummy.

My blood pressure has stabilized and now has three digits on the top.  They took the central line out yesterday as they were happy with the numbers and wanted to minimize the chance of another infection.  It was kind of nice having that line in there, as they were able to just pummel me with all kinds of drips and there was no burn that I get in my forearms.  Oh well:  I'll take the burn rather than a picc line infection!

The foley is supposed to come out today sometime, but I've still got a ton of edema to get rid of.  It's nice to kinda cheat and not have to get up or really control the liters of urine that are pouring through the kidneys!  I was able to get out of bed yesterday, but it was quite a struggle and definitely painful.  My strength is still low and just standing is a chore.  The pain management has been okay, as they started me on percocet by mouth, but it doesn't last all 4 hours.  As a result, I'm still mixing in demoral in between to keep the pain at bay.  I'm hoping we can get this under control before I get released, as I won't get to give myself IM shots at home.

Today the blood cultures confirmed the infection to be a resistant staph infection: MRSA.  As a result, I'm now on isolation restriction and everyone gets to wear fancy little gowns and gloves when dealing with me.  I have to think this isn't the greenest way of dealing with patients, but it at least keeps them safer.  I'm not really at any risk (I already have the infection), but I'm a risk to those around me.  (Gee, way to feel like a leper!)  They cut out all antibiotics but the one necessary for the staph infection: vancomycin.  This is a benefit from a fluid perspective, as I was receiving four antibiotic drips before every 12 hours.  Mixing in the potassium and magnesium (which were also low), I was getting little IV throughout the day, but when I was getting it, I was getting it at a pretty good flow rate.

The goal is to get out of bed one more time today and at least go for a little walk.  I won't be breaking any land speed records, but I'd love to get off my right side and try being vertical for at least a short period of time.  There's only so much TV you can watch and I'm pretty much at that point now.