Mom Update, Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Hello Everyone,
Just wanted to give a quick update on mom. She remains in the hospital for now.

Though she is on a respirator, the pulmonologist reports he has full confidence that she doesn't need it. She is getting another tracheotomy today at 2:00 p.m. Please pray. The trach is being put in to handle all secretions and swallowing issues for now. Since she needs to be occasionally suctioned for secretions, she needs a trach. We do not know the exact cause for this particular problem yet she may have experienced another stroke which paralyzed her vocal chords (hopefully, not...I pray that God sends a choir of His angels to sing to mom now) or she may just be too sedated to swallow efficiently. In any event, getting the tube out of her mouth is the first step toward determining what is wrong with her.

From what the doctors think, it appears that mom had been bleeding internally from the aspirin therapy she was on. This then caused a dangerously low blood count which, in turn, caused respiratory failure. The bleeding appears to be gone now (aspirin therapy stopped---but it is the lesser of 2 evils--she needs such therapy to avoid another blood clot). Once the tube is out of her throat, a test can be done on her vocal chords to see if there is paralysis. She can also get an MRI at that point as well to determine if there was another stroke.

She is not awake, largely due to sedation. When she hears our voices, she stirs and becomes agitated. She was crying the other day, which breaks my heart.

Claudia has been teaching a young person with special needs for many years now and this person has met mom on many occasions. Since part of this person's learning experience involves socialization, Claudia often brought him and mom out to lunch and other various places together. This beautiful young adult has been so concerned about mom. Last night, Claudia received several phone calls from this person and was told that in his church, he carries the cross at the beginning of mass...and he told Claudia when he makes the sign of cross after carrying the cross next time in church, it will be done for "Nonny."

There are angels all around us every day. Claudia's student is definitely one of them. Such a blessing. This has been really very hard on dad especially...his birthday is this Saturday and he will be 81. I feel so blessed to remember the wonderful backyard celebration we had with him last year at his house with mom and all our friends and family there.

Even in the midst of sorrow there are so many blessings around us. Joy is a matter of perspective.

Please continue to pray for mom and dad...for God's Grace and Mercy and ever Comforting Touch to be on us all.

Love and Prayers to you all.

Kathy

"But I'll take the hand of those who don't know the way, who can't see where they're going. I'll be a personal guide to them, directing them though unknown country. I'll be right there to show them what roads to take, make sure they don't fall into the ditch. These are the things I'll be doing for them--sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute." Isaiah 42:16 (MSG version)

Mom Update, Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Mom is still in ICU. It is very frustrating how every nurse has their own slant to things. It appears as if they are only concerned with the symptoms and not what caused this whole thing. When I was here yesterday, I was taking notes on my phone as the nurse gave his report. He became angry and said, "I'm not going to compete with a phone". I explained the confusion and said I was taking notes and showed him my note pad. He apologized but still seemed annoyed by all the questions. A nurse practitioner came in and ask about her history. I laughed and said, "ya got an hour?" I then told her an abridged version of moms story. The male nurse who was annoyed with me had a physical change come over him. You could see his whole body relax as he leaned in closer to hear her story. It is amazing the effect her story has on people.

She is getting another transfusion today. The reason for the transfusion is different depending on who you ask.   Her blood pressure seems to go from very low (50s over30s) or very high and the numbers close together (140s over 130s)???

When I ask they tell me that's not that bad and that it eventually goes up??? I have had blood pressure issues practically my whole Life and those numbers are weird. Her echocardiogram was good, so her heart muscle is strong. She was put on cpap for a little while today and the back on full assist. (all vent terms) cpap is very little help from the vent and is used to exercise her lungs. Full assist means the vent is breathing for her. Today's nurse said the transfusion was due to low electrolytes! I explained the reason yesterday nurse gave about a transfusion and she said no it's the electrolytes. Really? Let's put Gatorade in the IV? Lol! She occasionally opened her eyes

They are keeping her sedated so she will be calm while on the vent. She wakes up occasionally and cries and squirms.

The intensivist (intensive care doctor) is the pulmonary doctor. There is a general doctor in charge but her intensivist is a pulmonary doctor. We had to jump through hoops to get a neurologist to see her. As of Tuesday afternoon no one has come. In their mind, the history of aneurism and stroke is insignificant. She came in with difficulty breathing so all she needs is a pulmonologist. No one seems to know why she is bleeding internally. A gastroenterologist came to see her and prescribed protonix. It is a generic stomach med that everyone gets while in the hospital to prevent reflux or ulcers.

I get the feeling that she isn't well enough to withstand the tests they have to do to find out the cause of things.

She is very swollen  and the Edema may be from excess fluid being given to her in the form of IV. (Meds saline blood) She isn't on any proteins so she will swell.

Who even knows if any of this makes sense because if I tell one of the nurses what another one says the look at me like I have three heads. She is very agitated, so please pray for peace.

Peace and Be Well,

Psalm 29:11
The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.

Claudia

Mom Update, April 8, 2013, Monday

Mom is back in the hospital. She is currently in God Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, but her nurse has said that she really cannot have many visitors because they are trying to keep her calm and less sedated as possible and the noise of people in the room can prevent her from resting and healing.


That said, mom went into respiratory failure again on Saturday in the middle of the night. She appeared to suddenly have a lot of fluid in her lungs and throat and couldn't clear her throat to breathe. She was rushed by ambulance to the hospital---it was evidently a very bad emergency situation so she needed to get to the closest hospital possible.

Right now, she is intubated (has a tube down her throat through her mouth that is attached to a vent which is helping her to rest her lungs more than helping her to breathe for right now anyway). She also has a feeding tube through her nose and into her stomach as well. She has been sedated in order for her to accept the tube down her throat---human tendency is to pull it out because panicking can cause a choking feeling.

There are no test results pointing to why this happened or what exactly happened either at this time (it is the weekend too so only emergency decisions are made). She has had a Cat Scan which showed no bleeding in the brain (no large sign of stroke---other hospitals have followed the CAT Scan with an MRI but this hospital doesn't feel this is necessary now because mom has been awake, alert and responsive before sedation). No neurologist has been assigned to her either for this reason of alertness... We plan to look into the possibility of getting one to look at her given her history. She had a doppler sonogram which also showed no blood clots in the legs. She had a chest x-ray which showed clear lungs (they did suction her first though) so no signs of viral pneumonia. Bloodwork will reveal any bacterial pneumonia if there is any---no results on that yet. She had preliminary bloodwork which showed low hemoglobin? counts so she needed a blood transfusion. There is evidence of internal bleeding somewhere but the site is unknown right now.

She has been on new antibiotics for a UTI and also meds for tremors...though the doctors didn't think her condition was caused by any of this.

She could have congestive heart failure, or another stroke, or something else...not sure what caused all this.

She did try to look at us and dad when he came to talk to her...but nurse said it agitated her and she needs rest. Dad has a bad head cold. He and I were upstate for the weekend because he needed a break and some respite.

It has been a rough journey these past few months since her second stroke in November which affected her entire left parietal lobe, the Broca and Wernicke centers of the brain too. She has had both sides of her body weakened by the strokes---her left side, which was the original weak side, is now the strong side...though she had been trying to move her right arm more and more each day. She has been unable to speak, though she comes out with a phrase or full sentence or 2 or 3 that relate to the conversation at hand, which her neurologist said is truly miraculous. She has been on pureed food since the second stroke occurred too. She had been in a rehab center from late November through late February--early March and has been home since then. Dad and Terry take care of her largely---they are quite the team to watch---truly inspirational. They sing to her while changing her and try to encourage her too. Claudia and Anthony also continue to work with her for speech, and physical and cognitive therapy. All formal therapy, except physical therapy had ceased at home and in the rehab facility due to mom's not being able to progress quickly enough. I did see progress while she was at home though....slow, really slow, but progress.

When I am able to remain "in the moment," there is still so much kindness, goodness, care, and love around, through us, all....even throughout this whole ordeal. It has been, and continues to be, good to be able to even visit mom and whisper, "I love you." For this seemingly small privilege, we are blessed. Being sick isn't God's Will for us...health is His Will...but life dishes out some awful stuff at times (for various reasons, some of which we can be responsible for while others are out of our control). I thank God He is here to minister to us and help us through all these difficult times.
Thanks so very much for all the prayers. They mean more than words can express.

"Give us this day, our daily bread." Matthew 6:11