Day 5:...continued

We woke her at 11:am to take her Lortab...of course, she resisted at first...it's liquid, and she hates the taste. I have to constantly remind her, "it's either bad taste or pain." After she got good and awake, she decided she wanted to go down to the activity room. When she stood up, however, she decided she shouldn't walk...just ride in the wheelchair to the activity room. She said it felt so good to get out of this room.

The activity room is great...toys, games, video games, crafts, etc. She decided she wanted to play Sorry! We played with one of the volunteers, and Lauren was winning, until her chest started hurting...we headed back to the room.

Once again, it was a huge ordeal to get her back into the bed. It's the whole sitting on the side of the bed and 2 of us turning her to get her back into the bed, then pulling her up to the right position with the under-sheet/pad thingy. It is always very painful for her, and she almost always resists because of fear. We have to talk her down to taking deep breaths just so we can move her...then, when we do move her, she screams with pain. I will be so glad when we are home and she can get in the recliner to rest...no more turning...just sit and lean back. I think it will be SO much easier on her, and she won't dread getting up & down.

It's now 12:30, and we can't have more Lortab until 3:00. She was hurting too badly to make it 2 1/2 hours (if we're close to time, she's been just breathing through the pain while I massage her legs to take her mind off it), so she just took another 1/2 dose of morphine and she's already sleeping peacefully.

Oh, yeah, Dr. Blewett said it could be muscle spasms in her chest wall causing some of the suddenly sharp pains she's having, and he prescribed a muscle relaxer as needed. We haven't taken that yet, but it's good to know we have it if we need it. He also said it looks like she could very well go home tomorrow. If we can manage to keep her away from the morphine for several hours, we can leave...so, please continue to pray for her pain to subside.

Also, we are losing our precious nurse, Mrs. Cindy Morton, this afternoon...she's been our day nurse every day since the beginning. She has been so wonderful to Lauren. Lauren said she wants to kidnap her and take her home with us. Mrs. Cindy said we are getting a great replacement...hard to believe the new one would even halfway compare...we'll see. Here's a pic of Lauren and her favorite nurse: