January 27, 2024
1 year +340
Day 4
Todays pain brought an increase in the PCA. Slightly discouraging when Tate needs to be off it to go home. And last night we noticed that Tate is leaking some spinal fluid from the incision in her back. This incision is about 4 inches where they accessed her spine to attach the catheter. She has a 6 inch incision in her lower abdomen where they imbedded the hockey puck sized pump. They tunneled a catheter internally around her side where they connected it to her spine. Knowing all this, her pain team told me this morning that this is a tough surgery from a pain standpoint and sometimes steps backwards are needed to eventually move forward. So an increase on the PCA at day 4 isn’t desired, but in Tate’s world of pain, not completely unexpected either. As for the leaking csf, it’s not constant and the hope is that it’ll self resolve. Tate had a pretty decent headache tonight when upright, but did much better when lying down. Likely compliments of the leak.
We learned a new trick which is always fun. Tate is getting shots twice a day to prevent blood clots. Out of everything she’s been through, she hates shots. So they put in a tiny little catheter called an Insuflon. It stays in and works like a mini port for the shots. They still burn but you don’t feel the needle.
The simple things like repositioning in bed and walking to the bathroom are still really tough. Tate did sit up in bed a bit more today with the added pain meds. We’re praying for good sleep and no more leaking.