Sunday afternoon

Things are up and down still. Bad news is Mom has pneumonia. Good news is that it is probably due to aspiration at the crash, rather than a nasty bug picked up from the hospital. They are culturing it to determine what bugs are causing the infection so they use the appropriate antibiotic. There is both mucus in her lungs and fluid from her abdomen pushing on her lungs. She failed her weaning parameters again this morning so she is still on the ventilator. Today she is taking her own breaths, as she did yesterday afternoon.

Dad and Amy looked for Rita again this morning with no luck. They--and Sylvia--got here this afternoon. Amy is with Mom right now and Dad is checking in to their cat-friendly hotel. Derek and Anna can't wait to go play with Syl.

Her unresponsiveness was the biggest concern this morning. She went in for another brain scan. Dr. Whatmore (ICU director, I think) said that any time a person has a neck injury like this they have had some sort of trauma to the brain also. BUT, the scan was still clear--very good news! And, although I read her emails and talked to her all morning, it wasn't until my dad walked through the door and talked to her that her eyes flew open and she began to be restless in bed. She is still not responding directly to questions, but Dr. W thought that could due to the pneumonia, fever, and meds making her confused. She was very agitated in bed, but by moving her good arm and leg that will reduce the swelling, help circulation, and help muscle tone. Some of you probably know how much she hates to be confined or restricted. Her entire right side is bandaged or casted, she can't turn her head, she has the halo-turtle shell and her good arm is tied down so she doesn't rip her tube out. Guess that would explain why she's agitated!! Dr. W said she will be on the ventilator for 3-4 more days. I think that is due to the pneumonia, but their biggest worry is re-intubating her if they take it out too soon. With the halo her neck is totally immobilized and intubating is easiest if they can lift the chin, etc.

The line in her arm where they take blood samples came/fell out this morning. This meant they would have to stick her every time they wanted a sample. Well, mom told them what she thought of that, waving her arm around when they were trying to get a sample this afternoon. So they brought in an anesthesiologist who numbed her arm, then they got a new line in. Yay!

We will be staying in two different hotels. Dad, Amy and Sylvia are at:
Amy and Brian Hansen
Best Western-Driftwood
575 River Parkway
Idaho Falls, ID 83402
208-523-2242 Room 48

Jill, Derek, and Anna (and Barri, but he will only be here one more night) are at:
Jill and Barri Twardoski
Hampton Inn
2500 Channing Way
Idaho Falls, ID 83404
208-529-9800 Room 234

She had built up too much fluid from when they were trying to get her blood pressure up for surgery, so they gave her something today to start getting rid of it. Of course, now the worry is that her blood pressure will go down, but so far it is staying up in a healthy range. Since she will still have the tube, they gave her a feeding tube today. She gets electrolytes and vitamins and stuff delivered straight to her small intestine. Hopefully that will help with her strength. That also means that they are pretty sure she's done with surgeries.

My mom and dad really love hearing from everyone. Your emails and phone calls have meant a lot to them. I'm sorry if we don't call everyone back right away, one example of how busy we've all been is that my dad has never even read this blog. I don't mean just today's, I mean ANY of it!!! We'll be with my mom until 6:30 and then again from 8:30 to 10:30 tonight.