Hi friends,
I just had some prayer requests again. It’s been almost 3 weeks since I came home from the hospital, but I’m still really weak. So in addition to physical therapy, my doctor referred me to occupational hand therapy at OHSU as it’s so hard to open/hold things, hand letter, etc. (the above piece is an old piece that I lettered more than a year ago). I want to go back to my “normal” routine, but I’m not able to because of this weakness. Please pray that I can get stronger and also be able to find a balance with working hard at therapy but not overdoing it.
On top of that, ever since the hospital, I haven’t been able to fall asleep until after 4 AM every single night even though I’m so tired.
This is what a typical night in the hospital was like:
-10 PM: nurse gives my nightly medications, starts IV carnitine, IV magnesium, IV potassium, continues IV dextrose
-10:30 PM: IV pump alarms due to “air in line,” nurse comes to fix issue
-11 PM: nurse gives IV pain medications
-11:30 PM: different IV pump alarms due to “down occlusion,” nurse comes to fix issue
-12 AM: IV potassium pump alarms due to “infusion complete”, nurse comes to unhook me, gives oral pain meds
-1 AM: nurse gives more IV pain meds
-2 AM: IV carnitine pump alarms due to “infusion complete,” nurse comes to unhook me
-3 AM: nurse gives oral pain meds
-3:30 AM: IV dextrose bag runs out, nurse comes to replace bag
-4:00 AM: nurse gives more IV pain meds (continues giving IV pain meds every 2 hours and oral pain meds every 3 hours the rest of the night)
-4:30 AM: nurse comes to draw morning blood work
So, as you can see, it was just awful! My body got so used to that schedule. I’ve been taking melatonin, but it’s not helping. My eyes get heavy and everything, but it’s like my brain won’t “shut off.” I even tried waking up one hour earlier yesterday, but that didn’t help either. Will be trying a different natural sleep aid tonight. Could you please pray that my body will be able to sleep at night? I need rest so that my muscles can get stronger.
Thank you so much for praying for me, friends.