Karen Status Updates » jeff

First ‘outing’, from Karen, not Jeff.

jeff — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:57:26 +0000

Today at 3, I bundled myself up, (I’m freezing inside house under blankets, so, heading out in cold, even 30 degrees is hard for me.) We had a Dr. appt., first time out of house since being released last Fri. from hospital.

Fairly uneventful news. I dropped another 3 lbs water weight, so it’s coming off more slowly now that I’ve hit 19 lbs. just in 6 days. He increased my dosage on the diuretic and it must be working well, as I’m back to using bathroom every 30 min. or so!

I had another chest xray to see what’s going on in there & bad news is, fluid is collecting again. It’s up to about a liter, which he said may or may not need to be drained again. He said let’s give it a wk. to 10 days and see. My body could possibly absorb the fluid and with the aid of the diuretic, release it. That would be the best news for me as I hate those draining processess.

Everything else seemed to meet his satisfaction, altho my breathing/lungs/fluid is my earnest prayer request for all of you at this time. Thanking you in advance!

Heading home

jeff — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:54:38 +0000

Mel just called me. Â Mom was just released and they are heading back home. Â Everything went as smooth as can be expected. I don’t really have many more details to give but wanted to let everybody know she’s heading back home.

Room 641

jeff — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:04:08 +0000

So mom had another liter of fluids removed from her lung. Â It’s an outpatient process so dad and I were able to watch. We aren’t sure why there wasn’t the same pain as last time but there wasn’t and her breathing is much improved. Â Dr. Cooney suggested we admit her so that he can keep a closer watch on her while we work on reducing the water retention. We are now in room 641 where the service is the best I’ve seen yet. Â The room is big and spacious they are Â even bringing up a cot for dad to sleep in.

Speaking of dad he has just spent the last hour or so reminding me that the Steelers suck. Â That’s my cue to go.

Feeling better

jeff — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:20:11 +0000

My sisters fixed up mom with girl stuff(face paint and nail polish) and they moved her out of the ICU to room 836!

Update: And by face paint I mean makeup

Moving out of the ICU??

jeff — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:51:13 +0000

Just talked to the doc. Mom could be out of the ICU as soon as today and very possibly brought home tomorrow for home health care. This isn’t set in stone but would be an amazingly wonderful thing!

There is a little fluid buildup that they don’t think is a problem but are running a test to confirm it’s nothing major. That looks to be the only possible delay on gettig her out of the ICU.

Appreciate everybodies continued prayers here as we pray that the details of this latest plan are handled so that
mom can go home asap!

Catching up on DWTS

jeff — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:34:56 +0000

Mom had a great ending yesterday as Bob stated in his last post. Last night she had a couple of 2 hour naps that she felt were all night sleeping sessions. I don’t know how long it’s been since she’s made it through a 1.5 hour cycle, but that was great to hear. In fact I could just tell by looking at her that she had been able to get some sleep.

Dad brought in monitor and speakers and set her up to stream some Hulu. When I arrived this morning she was sitting in her chair getting caught up with her Dancing with the Stars. She’s claims it’s her football but really mom, it’s not even close

She’s getting an oil change right now(sheets and washing up etc.) then some rest and maybe a wheelchair ride after that. Would be good for her to move around a bit.

Rough morning

jeff — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:07:30 +0000

They ended up not doing the procedure yesterday to drain her lungs. They did the procedure this morning.Â They pulled a liter of fluid from her lungs. Â Blood was found in that fluid that is concerning. From what I’ve heard it’s typically a simple procedure and fairly pain free. She’s been in severe pain for about the last hour. She’s been given a couple of doses of pain meds and is still having some sort of an extremely sharp stabbing like pain that just stops her. Â They took X-rays and are getting ready to take her down right now for a CAT scan. Â Please continue to pray for her as they don’t quite understand why she’s in so much pain.

Teasing mom

jeff — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:49:16 +0000

So this morning mom is asking for… Â water! Â I walked in with my coffee and she calls me over and says “what’s in your coffee?” Â I say “coffee” Â and she starts licking her lips…she hates coffee!! I think she mutter “jerk!” Â as I walked away drinking my coffee.

So once we realized that she was mentally back we all started talking about how thirsty we were. Â Cruel? maybe. Â Fun? Â absolutely!

Her nurse Jesse has been great today, Â he’s making her do some things on her own to help get her strength back.

Seriously though she’s enjoying being able to talk a bit and is of course frustrated with not even being able to grab the swab out of her mouth but its good to be able to communicate with her again.

This morning’s updates

jeff — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:14:25 +0000

Mom is progressing well. Â Her kidney Â function is improving and her liver is functioning closer to a normal level. In fact the kidney doc said that she has progressed enough and been stable long enough that they(kidney specialists) don’t need to check her daily now.

Right now the main thing still just getting her off the vent. Â Yesterday’s last breathing test went the full two hours and she could have gone longer but the tests are only to measure her for up to two hours. Â They just started another test, Â after this test they will pull her Â blood gas level to help evaluate her progress for a spontaneous breathing test – this is the test that she has to pass before being removed from the vent.

Another Breathing test

jeff — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:31:40 +0000

Mom’s in the middle of another breathing test. Â She’s one hour in. Â She had a slight coughing attack in the middle but has worked through it and is continuing on. Â Slow, slow progress but progress none the less.