From October 25 through October 30
"She is not out of the woods yet."
"Your mom is very very sick."
"There will be more tears ahead. She will get worse before she gets better."
"She is critical, but stable for now. That can change at any point."
I cannot express how many people said these things to us, or how many times. Doctors, nurses, and social workers all said the same thing. They told us to expect Pnuemonia since all ventilator patients get it. The told us other systems could fail. They told us that with foreign objects in the body (central line, vent tube, catheter, NG tube, Swan Ganz, etc) came the risk of infection. They said that even a cold could set her back weeks since she had no reserve to help her.
They told us this was going to be a long recovery. The doctors advised that she would spend a few more weeks in the ICU, then she would go to a place called Select Specialty Hospital and then probably a nursing home/rehab center before coming home.
Overall, she stayed stable this week. Her temperature was between 98 and 99 (while normal for her is ~96, the doctors call this normal). Her BP was about 155/55, which is where they wanted it to be. Her creatinine moved from 4.1 to 3.4, which is a good sign. Her urine output continued to climb slowly. Her Ph level improved. Her lung pressue went down to 55, still high, but better. They removed the Swan Ganz on Sunday. They removed the staples from her incision.
They started to lower some of her sedation. She would open her eyes a bit, but it did not appear that she recognized us. And if she woke up too much, she would bite at the ventilator tube and get aggitated. It was a trial and error process to try to find the right balance.
This week, Grace and Chris went to the hospital every day and I went to work. Since Mom was doing so well, Chris flew home Thursday night.
October 31
This was a big day for Mom. She was scheduled for her tracyostomy at 3:00. I had to work a few hours, and we went to the hospital. We had to wait a while, and got in just before 3:00. However, there was an emergency, so the surgeon was late. They took her back to the OR at about 4:45. It took about an hour, but since that meant she returned to her room at just about shift change time, we had to wait until 8:00 to see her.
Prior to the surgery, her breathing rate was high and she was anxious. This did not change after the surgery.
November 1 through November 11
Grace went home Saturday morning.
For the next, Mom took baby steps towards getting better and remained stable. No Pnuemonia - YAY! No more infections. Her creatinine continued to drop slowly to about 2.3.
Some days she would open her eyes, and soime days she would even nod or shake her head or follow commands. Some days you couldn't rouse her at all. We learned a new medical term, the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). On the scale (1-15), Mom scored between a 7 and 11 during this week.
Even after all of this time with her being stable, I was still being cautioned that she was not out of the woods. However, it was time for her to move on. Monday morning, the doctor wrote the order for her to move to the step down unit. It was Tuesday night before a bed opened up, and she moved again, this time to room 433.
"She is not out of the woods yet."
"Your mom is very very sick."
"There will be more tears ahead. She will get worse before she gets better."
"She is critical, but stable for now. That can change at any point."
I cannot express how many people said these things to us, or how many times. Doctors, nurses, and social workers all said the same thing. They told us to expect Pnuemonia since all ventilator patients get it. The told us other systems could fail. They told us that with foreign objects in the body (central line, vent tube, catheter, NG tube, Swan Ganz, etc) came the risk of infection. They said that even a cold could set her back weeks since she had no reserve to help her.
They told us this was going to be a long recovery. The doctors advised that she would spend a few more weeks in the ICU, then she would go to a place called Select Specialty Hospital and then probably a nursing home/rehab center before coming home.
Overall, she stayed stable this week. Her temperature was between 98 and 99 (while normal for her is ~96, the doctors call this normal). Her BP was about 155/55, which is where they wanted it to be. Her creatinine moved from 4.1 to 3.4, which is a good sign. Her urine output continued to climb slowly. Her Ph level improved. Her lung pressue went down to 55, still high, but better. They removed the Swan Ganz on Sunday. They removed the staples from her incision.
They started to lower some of her sedation. She would open her eyes a bit, but it did not appear that she recognized us. And if she woke up too much, she would bite at the ventilator tube and get aggitated. It was a trial and error process to try to find the right balance.
This week, Grace and Chris went to the hospital every day and I went to work. Since Mom was doing so well, Chris flew home Thursday night.
October 31
This was a big day for Mom. She was scheduled for her tracyostomy at 3:00. I had to work a few hours, and we went to the hospital. We had to wait a while, and got in just before 3:00. However, there was an emergency, so the surgeon was late. They took her back to the OR at about 4:45. It took about an hour, but since that meant she returned to her room at just about shift change time, we had to wait until 8:00 to see her.
Prior to the surgery, her breathing rate was high and she was anxious. This did not change after the surgery.
November 1 through November 11
Grace went home Saturday morning.
For the next, Mom took baby steps towards getting better and remained stable. No Pnuemonia - YAY! No more infections. Her creatinine continued to drop slowly to about 2.3.
Some days she would open her eyes, and soime days she would even nod or shake her head or follow commands. Some days you couldn't rouse her at all. We learned a new medical term, the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). On the scale (1-15), Mom scored between a 7 and 11 during this week.
Even after all of this time with her being stable, I was still being cautioned that she was not out of the woods. However, it was time for her to move on. Monday morning, the doctor wrote the order for her to move to the step down unit. It was Tuesday night before a bed opened up, and she moved again, this time to room 433.
.
Postnote - the picture is from our trip to Juneau, Alaska.
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