Day Nine

In the morning the doctors always have a plans and goals for Esa that the day (obviously with room for changes as he needs them). Today was mostly just a day to get him back on track. No one could explain his fluid retention and new staff kept coming in to evaluate and give their opinions, always arriving at the same conclusion; they had no idea. "He should be peeing out more, he should be going down in swelling." They did everything they could to help Esa have more fluid going out than coming in. He was still at positive 100ml. They were trying different diaretics, pain meds, and sedatives to try to help him to be comfortable, but he was still so swollen. His skin was all shiny and hard because of all the fluid underneath.

I would lay my hand on his head to comfort him and my hand would leave an imprint in the swelling. It was crazy. They wanted to give him a chance to get rid of some fluid before they started working on removing the ventilator (a process called extubating) or anything else. They were still increasing the amount of milk they gave him through his feeding tube every hour, though at some points he would get super gassy and sad, so they would hold the amount for a few hours before increasing it again.

Something that I've been neglecting to mention is the nurses. They are ALL amazing, which is pretty incredible because we've have had so many. They all try to be conversational with us, but more importantly they are all totally focused on helping Esa get better. When he got fussy or uncomfortable they were all over it. They were so aware of what was happening with him. Nicole was our nurse that day and she was so good with him, trying to help him to be comfortable despite his swelling, gas, and incisions, etc.

That night I was told I had Judy J. for our night nurse. Nicole said she was the Mary Poppins of nurses. It was totally true. She was probably in her late 60s and she had a bun in her bright red hair, held in place by three or four pens. She had little reading glasses and she brought a huge basket of candy that she put outside our door. She kept calling Esa her little puppy and fawning over him. She kept asking me if I needed anything and made suggestions, like ear plugs and extra pillows, etc. I hadn't been able to get a sleep room for that night and so I slept on the little couch beside Esa's bed. She gave me the ear plugs, talked super quietly to the other nurses and soothed Esa when he needed it, along with all of her other things nurses had to do. She was amazing.