(JILL)
After the halo was put on we were at a high point. Tonight is a low point. I think mainly due to lack of sleep and mildly worse news than expected.
My mom will not be taken off the ventilator tonight. Of course, I hadn't realized how high my hopes had gotten until it didn't happen. Dr. Carter (intensivist?) came by (I hid behind Mom's bed after visiting hours were over), so then he had to talk to me! He was awesome. Mom had weaning parameters done this afternoon: forceful exhale, forceful inhale, cough reflex, etc. Her results were very poor, which is exactly what Dr. Cach had thought yesterday. Dr. Carter says 2 or 4 days on the ventilator will not make a difference in Mom's long term health. One good thing is that she will breathe on her own during the day (like she did the second half of today) and they will put her back on the machine at night to rest up. Each morning she will have another trial of weaning parameters until she's strong enough to get off the tube. For the parameter tests, they lower her sedative so she is wide-eyed and tries her best. I read her some short stories tonight, even though I think she was asleep, until I came to one about a car wreck....SKIP.... Mom's O2 level is up to 100 so that is better than it has been. And her blood pressure is lower, but Dr. Carter said that could be because of her position on the bed the machine wasn't registering it properly.
Due to the halo, Mom will most likely have headaches until she gets used to the weight of the metal around her head.
Also, Dad and Amy have not found Rita yet. They found the crash site and, hooray, Dad's stapler, which had been thrown into the sagebrush! Everyone is very nice in Challis. We found out today they have a dog catcher, who they will give Rita's description to. They will be hanging lost posters up around town and the highway. I hope to hear from them tonight. There is no cell coverage in Challis. We found out that we had written down the wrong mile marker, so when we drove down on Thursday night Barry and I were not looking for Rita in the right place.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Thanks for all of the updates. I'm following along carefully. Give everyone a finger hug!
Bridget
Dear Janet & Brian,
Thinking of you and all your family all day today! I hope our warm wishes will help.
It was a beautiful day. In the morning I sat on the patio in hopes of making some Vitamin D. Well, it's a good excuse for sitting in the sun with the cat!
Later, Reed and I looked at dishwashers, and ordered a new one, a Kitchen Aide. The old one is definitely kapoot. Reed is the main dish washer, the one most concerned with the cleanliness of the dishes, so I let him pick.
Tomorrow my mother and I plan to attend a River Cats ball game at Raley Field. We had so much fun the last time. I am already salivating about having a hot dog and garlic fries. When you get back and Janet is all well, let's all go to a game!
Love, Lesley
Hello Hansens -
You have been in our thoughts and prayers since we heard the news. Thanks for the blog updates. My grandma was recently in a halo, so I understand the various issues that come with that. I said a special prayer to St. Francis of Assisi - patron saint of animals - to find little Rita.
All our love,
Maureen and Drew
Jill I love the fact that you hid behind your Mom's bed to be able to talk to her doctor. Keep up the good work! Those doctors are hard to catch.
Thanks for the updates. We are keeping are fingers crossed that Rita will turn up soon.
Give a hug to your Mom and Dad. Keep in mind that your Mom is one tough cookie! I bet she is worried about how you and Amy are handling this.
Jill, kiss those cute kids of yours for me.
All the Pikes are thinking about you guys. Some of us are better with computers than others but we are all thinking about you.
Love,
Leslie
I read my transcript for an hour this morning and then fell asleep for 2 hours!
Post a Comment