Some have asked me to identify the "players" in the Gilman family who I write about each day. Mom (Dotty) is married to Jean (dad) and they have 4 children Kathy (me), Terry, Anthony and Claudia (in age order). Kathy's son is Lenny. Claudia is married to John and their children are Jean and Ava. Anthony is married to Con and their children are Anthony Michael and Samantha (Sam, Sammy).
Mom was tired today. The woman who cleans mom's room commented again on how well mom looks and how alert and healthy. She said she just looks like she just isn't ready to fully wake up yet. Mom moved around as usual, but not as much. Dad, JoAnn and I visited with her and did her physical, aroma, and auditory therapies. I noticed that, over the last 2 or 3 days, her hands were shaking at one point during our visits. I asked the nurse about it and he is going to ask the doctor to look at her. Preliminarily, the nurse said it could be due to any one of a number of reasons...one of which could be the need to adjust her medication dosage (dilantin). Pray that this is nothing.
Also, JoAnn and I spoke to one of the respiratory therapists last night who told us that there are actually 3 levels of respiratory therapy before coming off the vent. Mom is still on level one but is doing well there. The general consensus is that she will eventually be off the vent, based on her CO2 levels and other levels they monitor (like how many breaths she takes on her own, how wide she expands her lungs when she breaths...). The vent that she is on provides her with air to her lungs through a specific pressure. Once in her lungs, mom then has to work to respirate---or mix the gases of oxygen with the gases of CO2 (passing one into the blood stream and expelling the other through exhales). It began to look like a lot of math to me---not my natural, God-given forte without the help and practice of a good teacher. The vent controls the air going into her lungs but allows her to breath on her own too. It also monitors the number of breaths per minute it gives to mom and how many she breaths alone, as well as the volume and pressure of air that is delivered into her lungs, her oxygen level, and the amount of air that is maintained in her lungs to keep them open. Basically, ventilation (the ventilator she is on) is the movement of air in the lungs. Respiration is the exchange of gases once the air is there in the lungs. Pray that mom continues to improve and breath on her own more each day or all at once.
Tonight, Dad, Aunt Carol (one of mom's best friends---they know each other 67 years!!), and Claudia visited mom. Claudia said that mom was alert tonight for a while and opened her eyes for 4 minutes and then 6 minutes!!! (She didn't open them at all during the day). But then, she became tired and sleepy.
I found myself again wishing that she wasn't so sleepy these last few days...but then I shift my focus off myself and back on her and remember that, right now, it's all about loving her and making as many minutes of the day be pleasant and productive for her because love is all about what can be done for another.
Keep praying...xxxooo
"Love...is not self-seeking...it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
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