One step forward, two steps sideways

[J] Groundhog day (Sunday) was both good and bad for Marisa. As described in a previous post, yesterday was the day the doctors determined whether or not the lumbar drain had effectively healed her fistula. She passed. Hole closed. No additional surgery required. That was the good.

The bad is still developing. The aches I described a couple of days ago have progressed and are now full-blown pain. We originally thought it was just muscle soreness from atrophy. It is now believed to be nerve irritation from the lumbar drain. She was just administered a steroid to speed healing. It's believed that she will recover in a few days. The pain Marisa is in now has only been trumped by the actual insertion of the lumbar drain, insertion of the chest tube, and maybe the headache pain from the night they over-drained her CSF since this whole ordeal began. Marisa wanted to title this post "15 Hours of Excruciating Pain." This has definitely been the longest amount of time she's experienced sustained pain. She did not sleep last night. Last night was the first night I slept at the hospital. Usually I leave just before or after she falls asleep.

As I'm typing this post it looks like Marisa is actually falling asleep. I think the steroid is starting to help. We weren't sure if it was going to provide any immediate relief. Marisa has spent the majority of the previous 15 hours shooting explitives between her gritted teeth while maintaining a white-knuckled grip on the bed. Her current state is a lot easier to watch.

We were supposed to be discharged from the hospital yesterday. Fortunately we weren't. Had they not been a little late pulling the lumbar drain and writing discharge orders, we might have left before the pain set in. I'm not sure how much longer we'll be in the hospital. I'll post something as soon as I know.