Friday, May 22
Friday morning we were delighted to learn that her kidneys had started up again. Joy: "Yeah, we were! We felt like she might not die when her kidneys started working." The next few days the progress was veeery subtle - just gradually reducing the amount of support the machines were giving her and letting her body take on more and more of its customary functions.
The pacemaker was doing every beat yesterday, now her heart is beating on its own with the pacemaker as a backup. Her breathing was improving with perfect CO2 levels, so they regularly reduced the amount of oxygen they were supporting her with. Her blood pressure was stable. The staff was finally ready to say that she would be in the hospital for another week, even in a good scenario. (She did finally get out June 12, so, yeah.) We were even more delighted to see Mom responsive, nodding slightly in response.
Nurse Shannon was giving us wonderfully detailed information about just what was going wrong with her heart still and was amazed that we were able to follow along. As Pop explained how Mom's sons were both PhDs and he was a lawyer, the nurse turned to Mom and said, "You're from a family of nerds!" *Nod nod* Her eyes didn't open much, but her face was expressive.
1:20pm - The ventillator tube came out and they installed her CPAP mask.
I read scriptures over the phone in the evening with my family, and I got a chance to hear Mom's first whispered words of "I love you."
Joy: I bet that was really nice. That was worth the price of the ticket!
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Sat
The hope was to remove the temporary pacemaker today, and by the early afternoon they had!
12:30 pm - I heard Mom whisper I love you last night, but Pop had only been reading lips. He just heard her say Hello. She also quirked her mouth in the direction of a smile a couple times.
We were "entertained" by a fire alarm drill. They closed the doors and didn't evacuate anyone and life went on as usual. But it did get us wondering just how to evacuate an entire floor of ICU patients. Joy joked about a massive helicopter to just lift the top floor off the hospital to take everyone to safety.
By the evening, I said that Mom wakes when someone wakes her, but she doesn't stay awake very long. They didn't have her move much. Fever and pneumonia are both down. They started talking about when the pacemaker would get installed (Tue?) and that she might move out of ICU soon (Mon?).
Pop has quipped a time or two, but with more and more reason: "Every day and every way, Julene is getting better and better" and they removed a couple more tubes. They even had the bed sit Mom up for a bit.
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Sun
After attending church, I texted the family: "Wonder of wonders, Mom is propped up in a pair of chairs and we can hear her talk with voice! She has been lucid the last ten minutes, talking. She says she doesn't remember anything from the last few days. Cardiologist: for clarity, we don't know why this happened. We can't say we fixed anything, but the defib-pacemaker would prevent it." She was speaking loud enough for Pop to hear on the other side of the room while she was facing away.
4pm - When Mom says she's thirsty, the nurse comes with a "lollipop" - a swab on a stick - and she wets it and then rubs it all over her mouth to clean it and spread the water around a little bit. Our nurse today (the only one we weren't thrilled and delighted with) takes a good 20+ minutes to come when called, so Pop grabbed one of the lollipops just now, wet it, and gave the hyssop unto mother. Mom clamped her mouth shut on it and Would Not give it back. It was puppy time! That was a very happy moment.
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Mon
We visited Mom one more time before I flew back home. Mom's kidneys were functioning well, but her migraine was going to be terrible for the next week. Preparing her for heart surgery, they couldn't give her the usual migraine drugs.
The disturbing part was that just before we left, the nurse came in to talk to Mom, and Mom couldn't remember where she was. She guessed she was at home. Her favorite word as she heard about the heart attack and being at the hospital was "inconceivable" - which is a great word for someone who can't remember the last week!
I was so thankful I had been able to be at Mom's side these last several days and see her recovering so much. To go from nearly completely unresponsive to actual vocal talking, some moving around, and hearing and seeing the progress in other ways was a great relief to my soul. I know when I left, Pop was feeling much stronger than when I arrived.
My flights home got delayed as well. The trip from SB to Phoenix was just fine. For some reason (tornado weather west of Dallas?) they weren't letting Dallas flights leave Phoenix, so my trip kept getting delayed a bit longer and a bit longer. Pop got me a good hotel for a difficult night; I returned to the airport at 5:30am and our 7:30am flight made it out on time.
Mom's cognition improved throughout the day. A speech therapist arrived to help her swallow ice chips. Ice chips soon became a favorite for Mom, and Pop got an ice chip maker to keep in her hospital room.
8:30pm - Pop: "I'm about to go home for the night. Jewel was with me almost all day today, a huge improvement over her zoning out much of the day." She could remember that they had started a book together over the last couple days, so they were able to make real progress on it.
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Tue morning, Mom moved her left arm, which she hadn't done the entire time I was there. She could also turn her head. She progressed from ice chips to water to apple sauce and was able to keep it all down.
I landed in Dallas. Hyrum dropped Joy off at work, then drove out to pick me up from the airport. We stopped by the bike shop in Granbury on the way because one of my tires was completely flat. It's been more than two weeks now and I haven't heard back about a replacement tire. It was good to be home again.
Wed - Mom's fever was over 101 during the night. Her heart beat steadily though the rhythm keeps changing. Around noon they talked about moving her to the telemetry floor, which is a level between the intensive care unit and a regular hospital bed. It gives the nurses more info about her heart rate, but less one on one attention. The move was postponed again. She started enjoying oatmeal.
Thur (May 28 = our 21st anniversary) - The fever didn't come down early enough to install the pacemaker yet, so the new plan is Monday. It did come down enough that she finally got out of ICU after 10 days there to telemetry.
Fri the fever left.
Sat 11am - "Grandma says hi! She is kind of sitting up on her own. She finally graduated to being able to have a smoothie, what she's really wanted for days." There was also real progress on motion.
Sunday's good news was that she wanted her phone so she could listen to music, which helps her sleep. Pop had tried bringing her glasses, but Mom didn't want to open her eyes long enough to need them.
Monday, June 1 3:22pm - "Almost exactly two weeks ago, Grandma went down. Today, just now, she stood up!" Three times, thanks to the help of a pair of physical therapists.
Tuesday the new pacemaker went in and she is doing great! Now that's done, they can give her a lot more pain meds. The main issue moved to helping her get enough to eat so they could send her to a rehab facility.
Thursday they removed the feeding tube and Grandma had a little steak for lunch - her first real meat in 2.5 weeks.
Friday she walked to a chair with assistance. They anticipate 3-4 weeks in rehab before heading home, and even then she will need real assistance.
Tuesday June 9 - Doctors determined a wound on her arm (we suspect problems trying to insert a needle at some point on her arrival) will require a surgeon to remove the dead skin. It's been getting worse and looks really nasty. "Consensus is that Grandma's next destination will be a skilled nursing facility rather than rehab. She truly isn't up to the three hours of therapy a day. She gets exhausted so easily. Rehab therapy can still be done there. It will just take longer."
Just after Hyrum was set apart as a missionary, the whole clan joined on a Zoom call to pray together for Mom. That and our regularly scheduled conversation with Mom on Monday evening were a great comfort to her as well as to us. It was so very good to have a real conversation with her again!
Wed the surgeon decided she didn't need surgery for her arm.
Thursday or Friday she was finally discharged from the hospital to a nursing facility. And that's where she is as of June 14.
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