The infiltration on my wrist is a big pain. I asked them to move the IV to my left wrist because even having an IV on my right hand makes it hard to use the bathroom (women will understand.)
They moved it and my wrist felt better.
Today I also got to walk a lap or two around the floor, and physical therapy had me walk down to their special room and go up and down a couple of stairs. I passed with flying colors!
I am still tired, and I still feel a little weak when standing up. But I am definitely getting better at getting up and down.
I got my daily wipe-down bath with the gross body wipes today and was once again glad I have my powder with me to make me feel less damp and more silky. Smells way better than the wipes too.
I think Friday was the day they removed my central line too. This was on the left side of my chest below my shoulder. This is a line that goes directly into my heart. Just like when they removed the drains, they had me hold my breath while they pulled it out. It didn't hurt, but the length of the line was a lot longer than I expected it to be.
Now the only things I was still hooked up to are the adhesive leads on my chest for the heart monitor and the IV. But I have a lot of bandages where things used to be!
I was still getting iron infusions to raise my hemoglobin, and they also had social services come by to make sure I had a good place to go for recovery.
I had bad dreams again last night - really freaky weird ones. I blame the oxy but the nurse also told me I have been through a major surgery and sometimes that just happens.
I really am tired of being in the hospital, and cannot wait to go home.
Don't catch COVID or a cold.
One thing they have been clear on is that I have to avoid catching a cold or a cough. I need to keep using the bear - which I do anytime I need to move or have to cough, which is less today than yesterday.
The pressure from a cough is very hard on the sternum and they do not want me catching COVID or RSV or anything at all. I cannot risk breaking the sternum wires or opening the incision. It is 3 days until Christmas and my husband Jim and I are going to hunker down at home by ourselves to avoid catching anything.
I don't know what my sternal wires look like - I saw the Xray but couldn't really make it out. But here is a drawing I found online that shows you sternal wires.
They took me down to a standing X-ray today instead of taking one in the bed, and it was nice to go traveling around the hospital a bit.