Nige's Surgery - Update #3

Well, it's been a long day today. I arrived at the hospital at 9:30 am just as the medical team was setting up a morphine pump. He only gets a prescribed amount every 5 minutes, no matter how many times he presses the button. No chance of overdose! :) It seems that around midnight last night the epidural stopped working and so he had an uncomfortable night.

He has slept all day, pretty much . . . well, kind of. In between pressing the button for more morphine he has been sleeping.

At 4:00 pm they wheeled him off to theatre to insert a new epidural but after six attempts they decided not to do it and just stick with morphine.

Nige has been having morphine since he was in Auckland Hospital back in November, and then with today's additional doses, he has a lot of morphine in his system. It is bringing some pain relief but it is also making him VERY sleepy and has been slowing down his breathing. Since coming back from theatre he has had an oxygen mask on and from time to time he pulls it down to have a break from the mask (I think he said it gets hot under there), and then he falls back asleep before getting the mask back over his mouth and nose. That's how sleepy he is!

He is so sleepy that he hasn't spoken much although yesterday evening when the Hendersons arrived he gave us a smile when little Daniel was standing on the chair waving hello to him, which was lovely.

I left the hospital at 10pm tonight and Nige's pain was lower than earlier in the evening and his breathing had improved.

I've so much appreciated knowing so many are praying for us. We truly are thankful for the body of Christ and the love you all are showing to us!