Fighter

This is the first day of what I'm thinking is going to be a long haul. Even though the surgery went well, Shannon's right foot is still very purple (that's the side they put in the catheter into her vein to put in the stent for the PDA) and one of the doctors from the Thrombosis team is involved now in making sure that that gets cleared up. (Thrombosis, for those of you without a medical dictionary handy is a condition that produces blood clots, which at this stage in the game would be very dangerous.) It's better than it was, according to the nurse, and Shannon has a very strong pulse behind her right knee. Even though it's a common complication in this kind of surgery, it's still worrisome.

But, she's a fighter.

They increased her morphine drip, and she's still on a ventilator (hopefully gone by tomorrow), but she fusses and squirms whenever the nurse tries to do anything (take her pulse or a blood sample, change her diaper, touch her in anyway, really). She also arches her back and holds her breath, making the machines ding and her face a pretty shade of purple. If she could cry, she would be screaming her guts out.

It's a little uncomfortable to know that she can't make any noise because of the ventilator, but it's a good sign that even doped up, she's not having any of it.