still in hospital - day 14

For those of you not on facebook, Alicja's surgery went very well and she is out of the ICU now. Dr Colletti was very pleased at the intial testing of her ABI - yea!




-Amelia-

One of my best friends from college, Patti, came for a visit :). She is living in London now and we haven't seen each other for about 7 years so it was great to see her. This is her first trip to Italy and almost all she got to see was the inside of the hospital - what a great friend! We did actually get to go out to lunch a couple times (thanks DJ!). Patti and Amelia became friends right away and she helped all of us break up the monotony of our hospital stay.

Monday the 13th was a tough day. Amelia still had to have an IV for fluids and antibiotics and it kept coming out. Between the IV and daily bloodwork, her poor little arms are black and blue. DJ noticed on Mon morning that Amelia's hand was very swollen and her fingers were turning purple. The IV in her wrist had come out of the vein overnight and was filling her hand with fluids. Her fingers were constricted with tape....poor thing. We had to go up to the 5th floor (pediatrics) to get a new IV put in (the 5th one) and this was after she already had blood taken earlier. We were all very upset. DJ and the nurses were trying to comfort me almost as much as Amelia since we both were crying (guess I can't be strong mom all of the time).

Patti and I went out to lunch and while we were gone, the IV slipped again. DJ had enough and told the nurses no more IVs, we were done! What a good dadda :) So now Amelia is IV free and can roam around without a large pole always rolling around after her (it was making her nervous). She is also sleeping much better which means I am too.

We were supposed to get out of the hospital on Thurs afternoon. We were all packed up and ready to go when the word came from Dr Colletti that none of the families could leave until Friday morning.........we shall see what happens tomorrow.

Today Amelia had a bandage change without sedation so I was able to get a quick look at her surgery site. It was a very quick look since I had to hold her still while the doctors and nurses changed her bandage. There is ~3" long cut behind her ear and she has lots of stitches. The area looks really good and seems to be healing nicely. The bandage will stay on for 5 more days and then I'm not sure if it will come off or be replaced.

The past couple days have been beautiful and sunny. I can't wait to get Amelia outside for a little fresh air and sunshine. There is a nice park across the street from our apartment and I am hoping we will be able to take Amelia there to play on the swings sometime next week :)