Destroyer of lines

We learned from Magnus's last stint in the hospital that he is a great destroyer of lines. This has not changed. When he went in for his surgery, they sedated him with gas and then placed two IVs (on in his hand and one in his foot) and an arterial line. The arterial line died later that same day, and they had to place a new one in his foot. On Thursday, they said that his foot IV was going bad, so I suggested that they try to put in a new one while he was still heavily sedated. They tried but the vein wasn't good. Then last night, even though he was swaddled, he managed to pull out the IV in his hand, and now they're saying the one in his foot is totally shot. He's due for a 6 a.m. dose of Lasix, so I guess he's going to have to get a new IV really soon. Poor guy.

Other than that, things are going slowly, but fine. His urine catheter was removed yesterday, and he's not puffy at all anymore. One of the nurses told me yesterday that the soonest his chest tubes can come out would be tomorrow (Sunday) because they need to be in while he has an intracardiac line, and that line can't come out until 4 days post-op? Except other people have said different things, so who knows. I haven't gotten to talk to any of his doctors since yesterday morning, which in a way is a good sign, because the less attention you get from doctors, the better you're doing!

I spent last night in the hospital and actually did manage to get some sleep. Magnus did wake up and fuss a few times, but when he did they'd give him some morphine and he'd drift back off to sleep in a few minutes.

So anyway, I'm really not looking forward to him getting this IV, and I really hope this one will last a few days! Oh yeah, his arterial line is almost shot, too, but they decided they're just going to use it as long as they can, but they're not going to replace it when it goes.

UPDATE: The nurse tried flushing the foot IV and it still worked OK, so looks like he's gotten a reprieve for now! But she says she doesn't think it'll make it through the day.