Rough Day. Recovery Day 1 1pm (cst)

Nicole wasn't able to get any sleep last night and was in lots of pain (she pressed the pain button 990 times in about 7-8 hours last night, even though it could have only worked a max of about 50 times). Early this morning she had what might have been a minor seizure (about 10-15 seconds). The doctor's said that if it was a seizure, it is okay, it is probably just a reaction to all of the different medications and things that are being put into her body. The fact that it was very short, and has not reoccured makes him think it was nothing serious. Nicole thinks she just sat up too fast and passed out. Her blood pressure was low this morning, but has bounced back some in the past few hours.

Her heart rate has been pretty high all day, around 130-140 beats per minute. This could be caused some by the blood thinner they have had her on. Her hemoglobin levels have been falling some, so they are now giving her a transfusion of 2 bags of blood and they have taken her off the blood thinner. There is still blood coming out of her NG tube, so they are keeping an even closer eye on that now, thinking that she might be slowly bleeding internally (this could have been caused by the blood thinner). If the bleeding doesn't stop, she may have to go back into surgery to find the bleed.

Her NG tube was not draining correctly and they had to readjust it. This was the WORST thing I have seen so far. The tube runs into her nose, down her throat and into her digestive system. To adjust it, they have to push / pull it in and out of her nose, and she gags violently every time they move it. Hopefully they have it in the right place now and don't have to move it any more.

She has now been able to roll onto her side, and she is supposed to have to sit up on the side of the bed by late this afternoon. I think the thing she needs most right now is sleep and relaxation. Tara is playing some soothing sounds cds to try to make it easier for her to relax and sleep (they work, I almost passed out).

All that said, the doc came by and said that all of her problems are the most common ones seen after this surgery, and nothing really out of the ordinary for the day after this procedure. Will send another update this evening .

James

She's in her room!

10pm - She is now out of recovery, in her room, and we get to see her until 11. She is in a great deal of pain from the move from one bed to another, but the nurses are trying to quickly get her enough meds to make her comfortable. She has blood coming out of her NG tube, which looks really scary, but they said that it "happens sometimes, we just have to keep an eye on it." The central line in her neck, the oxygen tube in her nose, and all of the IV cables make for a pretty scary sight. She is currently very uncomfortable and still very groggy from the meds. I am very glad that we've gotten to see her and talk to her, but I almost wish she would fall back asleep, just so she will be more at ease. We get to come back tomorrow morning around 7am. I hope that she is feeling a little better by then, but the nurse and doctors have all explained that the first "few days" will be very rough for her. She is in Unit 6B, room 236, bed 2. However, they do NOT allow flowers in the rooms (If you were to send flowers now, they would just show them to her real fast and then put them at the nurses station, so I don't really recommend sending them. If you MUST send them, I would at least wait about a week until she is able to move around so that maybe she could at least go to the nurses' station to see them.) It's been a pretty long, hard day and I want to thank you all for your continued support and prayers that have brought her through this safely.

James

Surgery Is OVER!!!!

The doctor just came by and told us that they just finished up the surgery and that everything went as ideally as possible. YEAH!!!! They were able to get all of her islet cells in the perfect places in her liver, which sometimes they cannot do. They have put her on a blood thinner for the next couple of days to stop any clotting in order to increase the cells chances of taking properly inside her liver. Everything has gone so well today, we are very happy. They are taking her to recovery now. They expect her to be moved up to her room in about 2 hours, at which time we should get to see her. I'll put her room number info up as soon as we have it.

James

Dr. Sutherland's update @ 3:15pm central time

The head surgeon, Dr. Sutherland, just came by and said they have successfully removed Nicole's pancreas, spleen, and appendix. They are now finished reconstructing her digestive tract. They are currently breaking down her pancreas in order to harvest her islet cells(the cells in your pancreas that produce insulin). This process of harvesting the cells takes several hours. He said that Nicole's appendix was scarred and looked as if she has had appendicitis in the past. He says that her pancreas pain could have covered up the appendix pain and she could have had appendicitis without even knowing it. He expects the harvesting of her islet cells to be finished by around 5 pm (cst) and then they will go forward with placing them in her liver. Once they have finished this, we will get another update. Everything is still going well.

Thanks for all of your continued support, James and the rest of the family.

update from doc at 12:25 central time

A surgeon's assistant came by and said that the surgery is going well. Her pancreas is now out. (Goodbye evil pancreas). The head surgeon is supposed to come by around 1:30 central time to talk to us more about how everything is going.

James

February 8, 2007

We all got up and headed to the hospital at 5:30AM. We walked there since we are only 2 blocks away. It was snowing and cold. Nicole was very quiet and as a mom, I was very worried about her. She had a rough morning, she cried alot and was very scared. In turn, I cried alot and tried to compose myself for her. She finally got her IV in and all the doctors came in and talked to her. These doctors here are the most endearing ones we have ever met. All very positive and compassionate. After talking with Dr. Southerland, they gave her some medicine thru her IV to relax her and start her on her way to sleeping. Then they wheeled her off. Very hard moment for all of us. That was 7:25AM. We won't here anything for at least 4 hours. I will update this as soon as we know something.

Hospital/Hotel Info!

I did find out the hotel information but do not know my room number yet, but do know the unit that you can call to get to my room. james will post the actual room number when we have it.

University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview University Campus
420 Delaware St. S. E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
613-273-3000
We will be in Unit 6B-transplant unit

Radisson University Hotel
615 Washington Ave S.E.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
612-379-8888
Room 862