Great news! The head respiratory therapist said that, if mom continues to do well breathing over the weekend, then they may try to take her off the vent on Monday or Tuesday. They would cap off the trach (leave it in for now) and let her breath unassisted!! The physical therapist said that once mom is off the vent, he will bring her to the gym area to work on physical therapy where there is more equipment. (Mom lifted her right leg for him a few times today but not her left one. I don’t know if she stood today or not, though mom told dad and John that she did). We will talk to the head respiratory therapist about all this. Tonight, Lenny and I went to tuck mom in around 9:30 p.m., and once again, I noticed that mom looked panicked and was clammy feeling on her arms and a bit on her forehead as well. I also noticed that her abdominal area was spasming too. She grabbed our hands and smiled when she saw us. We asked her if she was OK and she tried to tell us by saying, “My…my…” but couldn’t finish. I found one of the nurses and asked him to look at mom and to suction her as well (even though she wasn’t coughing and there wasn’t any phlegm in the trach line that was visible). He told us that mom was indeed probably having a panic attack as I thought. He said they see this alot --- what happens sometimes is that the person gets tired and is then unable to have enough energy to cough up phlegm…so it begins to feel as though they are drowning and they panic. Then, the more they panic, the more difficulty they have breathing and this begins a cycle. Since mom is on the vent, it alerts the staff that she is having difficulty and it also gives her the air she needs---so she won’t stop breathing. What was happening to mom is that, in her panic, she was breathing shallow, fast breaths (abdominal spasms). As I said, once the nurse suctioned mom, she was fine because the nurse was able to aspirate a lot of phlegm. The nurse said that, in such instances, they would either suction the person and monitor them, then if needed, they’d put the person to a higher (middle) vent setting instead of CPAP mode for an hour and monitor them. The suctioning alone worked for mom. It could be that mom will remain on the vent on CPAP mode at night for a while and have no vent during the day. We will see.
Claudia began mom’s day with her and said that mom was not in the mood to do anything with her…no leg lifts or anything. She was in a bad mood and even pretended to sleep instead of interacting with Claudia. Claudia was cheerful and did her physical therapy/range of motion. She wouldn’t choose a magazine or activity. Claudia taped a dot to dot picture on the table and mom did it for a while and then Claudia left the little magna doodle and some magazines for mom to look at. It seemed that she was only interested in reading.
Anthony and dad saw mom next. Dad said that mom was in a good mood. Anthony said that mom was sleeping when he arrived at first, but woke up and was happy and played cards with her for about 15 minutes then fell asleep again…repeated the cycle over and over.
John saw mom next and he did paper clips with her but hand over hand. Mom and John made a bracelet for mom and she put it on. They did a lot of laughing!!!! John had her laughing really hard!! They looked through magazines and talked and also read the Getting Better social story. Dad wrote things on the dry erase board and she read aloud, “I love you” “Jean” and other words. For physical therapy with John, mom fought John at first, he got stern and then she cooperated. He said that mom was counting with him during the physical therapy!!!! He said that she also did gross motor imitation---opened and closed her fist as he showed her!! They also played with the “eye popping piggy” and she loved it!! Mom’s feet and legs were very limber and she fell asleep for a “cat nap” and when she woke up, she worked again and was alert. John pushed the bottom of her feet and she pushed against his hand with her right foot. John said mom also moved her toes on command too.
I have a prayer request too. Lenny went back to the oral surgeon today and the cyst in the bone in his jaw must be removed. There are 2 nerves in the jaw that the cyst is near. The cyst is leaning on the nerve that is the sensory nerve already. The other nerve is a motoric nerve. Side effects of touching or damaging the nerve during surgery include numbness, tingling, inability to move the lower lip, and portion of the tongue…and all could be on a permanent basis. Please pray for a smooth surgical procedure with no complications for him. Thanks.
“I will quiet you with My love” Zephaniah 3:17
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