An early morning phone call to the Intensive Care nurse provided my Christmas present.
I had spent an hour with Nancy last evening only 3 hours after the procedure that installed the balloon pump. She was alert but exhausted and while the read-outs on the monitors showed the equipment working as designed there was little to show for it from the person in the bed.
The evening shift nurse had just been briefed and taken on Nancy’s care as I arrived. She gave me a quick course in evaluating the lines and numbers on the monitors connected to the intra-aortic balloon pump and the related sensors inserted into Nancy’s heart.
At 6:30 this morning the nurse said Nancy had a good night and was talking and had just asked for some ice-chips. The screen info last night was positive and the nurse now says all those signals continued to improve and have translated into an improved Nancy.
I hope you all got nice presents too.