A Day, er...a Night...or was that Day?

The last 24 hours have been, well...a day.

Saturday morning, the nurses noticed that Patrick wasn't wiggling his right toes anymore. We are all confident that he was on Friday, so the surgeon was paged.

Good News...there are 3 reasonable explanations, none of which are permanent or overly scary

• swelling from soft tissue has impeded the nerve
• epidural is working TOO well on the right side
• the papa-something nerve was stretched too far during the surgery

Bad News...all the above explanations require some action to narrow it down...

• partial removal of the beautiful cast
• removal and/or stoppage of the epidural flow
• removal of the right leg cast & reset with a bent knee

*sigh* Even the surgeon was commenting that if anything weird were going to happen to a surgical patient, it would happen to Patrick, LOL.

I have had the very unfortunate experience of watching my boy writhe in pain today while the epidural flow was stopped...I think everyone had underestimated how much that was helping him cope. His blood pressure spiked and he didn't nap more than 5 minutes at a time most of the day. Still no toe wiggling... So, after several attempts with a slightly malfunctioning cast cutter (imagine the surgeon wielding said instrument suggesting that a roomful of nurses and the mom prepare to take cover in case the blade goes flying), portions of the cast have been removed. It is determined he's got no feeling below the hip. aaarrrggghhh

So now we wait...feeling seems to be returning to his leg, slllooooooowwwwwllllyyyy. Still no toe wiggling, but I'm optimistic. For now.

He finally fell asleep, but woke up a bit ago...around 3:30 am. Thanks to my erstwhile sitter of the evening, Bea, I've had a bit of rest. They woke me when beastie insisted on a Mommy-hug. (There are worse things to wake up to!) I'm ready to hit the hay for a snooze again...Patrick, however, is having fun pushing all the nurse call buttons & playing with the bed. And now I hear the vague sounds of snoring from Bea's general area. (Oh, did I mention that Patrick has finally turned off the lights?)

Nurse Amy has been kind enough to take his vital signs on demand in the wee hours this morning...booger keeps pushing the call button, then insisting on having his respirations counted, heart rate listened to, blood pressure & temp taken. I have pictures, but apparently brought the wrong cable to connect my camera to 'puter. Oh well....will add 'em later!

I think he's drifted off...so maybe I can, too...