Irene made it through her hip surgery just fine. Irene was courageous and seemed quite calm: I’m so glad she was strong. The only downside in the process thus far was not knowing what was going on after they wheeled her away into the “no admittance” surgery prep area at around 10:00 am. I asked at the surgery admitting area at around noon, but they had no information for me other than what ward Irene was going to end up in after surgery- they basically told me to go sit in the waiting area like a good boy, and the doctor would come talk to me later. Later came and went…until around 2:45 PM, when I saw a bed go wheeling by with Irene on it. I followed (no one said boo to me) and all was well.
Irene was on “patient controlled analgesia” (PCA: the machine pictured in the linked article is exactly the one Irene has) administering something called Dilaudid, which I found out later is a type of hydromorphone. Its stronger than aspirin, that’s all I know: and it seemed to help when the pain kicked in.
Netting it out, it was a “good” day, as such things go. The staff at Langley Memorial have been very kind: I’ll be going back tomorrow and spending a good chunk of the day there with Irene.
Hydromorphone is basically Morphine with the atoms arranged slightly differently. It acts faster and has a more powerful response, though I don’t know if it is actually a more powerful pain killer, just more of a “rush” as it acts faster.
She’s doing good for a girl that can’t stand needles