Nerve Block Update

Rick had the nerve block procedure done today.
It was just a quick little 10 hour trip to the hospital. When we got there at noon, they got him right into a room and started a saline drip in his port. When I commented that I was glad that they were able to get this procedure scheduled so quickly, they said "Oh yeah, we have a slow day today." Then they tested his blood for clotting factor and it came back high, which sounds good, but is really bad. A normal level is 1.0 and his was 2.5, which means that it would take his blood 2.5 times longer to clot than normal. So the nurse came in and told me that it was too high to do the procedure.

But since Rick was so dehydrated, the nurse wanted to keep him long enough to re-hydrate, which I was all for. In the meantime, they discovered that it was actually a little patient mix-up, and that Rick could have the procedure after all. Rick was having a "Celiac Plexus Block" and not a "Cervix Block", which another patient was having done. Apparently you CAN have the Celiac block with thin blood but NOT the Cervix block. I was just happy that he could get the procedure!

So we were back on.

Then an emergency patient came in, so we waited. Then the Cervix block patient went in, so we waited. Then at 5:30 Rick went in and came out just after 7:00. Then we waited some more. And I'm happy to report that we are now home and Rick is resting. The surgery went well and his initial report of his pain level is that it went from an 8 before the block and about 4 or 5 after. FINALLY, some good news!!

I'm tired...I'm going to sleep for a week now! Love to you all!