The protocol for Suzanne’s type of surgery is 48 hours in intensive care. That means 48 hours of intense monitoring of Suzanne. Every hour they check the blood flow in her flap reconstruction, medications & hydration; every two hours they: measure the fluid output of her wound drains, administer pain medication, and every four hours; blood count, plus all the other stuff they are looking at that I don’t even know what it is.

I had some comfort in seeing the care she was given here. You also got to know the nurse pretty well since she was physically in the room for twenty to thirty minutes of every hour as she/he only had 2 patients.

That all changed today as she was moved to a general surgical floor. They still do all they were doing in ICU but less frequently, a lot less frequent as the nurse has 4 to 5 patients to be responsible for. But the reason for the move, Suzanne is doing much better.

Today, all the monitors were disconnected which means a lot fewer wires dangling everywhere. Along with that, both of the wound suction lines were removed, although the drain lines are still there. Actually, the only connection she has to the wall now is the pulse oximeter.

Suzanne started walking around today as well, easier as all the wires are gone. During the course of the day we strolled up and down the hallway three times, probably would have been more but the move put a kink in the time available for that today

All the doctors tell her she is doing great. The plan is to take it easy through the weekend and then make more changes at the beginning of the week. Decided to head home tonight to ‘re-load’ so left Suzanne around 6:15pm.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:4