Dorothea had a good morning and afternoon. She had one of our favorite nurses today, Candy. She worked mom's arms and legs this morning, and got her up to dangle her feet on the side of the bed. She will have Candy again tomorrow! :) and Candy is planning on trying to get her into a chair tomorrow.
Physical therapists came today also and had her dangle her feet over the side of the bed for 7-8 minutes, a few minutes of that she sat without assistance. And the big news for today is that mom brushed her teeth today! Bless her heart, that had to feel soooo good!
They have her scheduled for 8am Wednesday to have the dialysis port moved from her neck to her chest, then she will have dialysis Wednesday afternoon.
She has developed another infection in her lungs, this one is called Pseudomonas. Apparently it is a common bacteria, but her particular one is resistant to medications. Not exactly sure what that means, but no one seemed overly concerned about it. They are giving her medication to treat it, we will continue to wear a gown and gloves since she will remain in "isolation."
She has been doing really well on the oxygen shield, even overnight. The lung specialist told Harold today that they if she continues to do well this week, they will try her with a different tube on Thursday. I believe they insert a narrow tube into her existing trach tube, and she can attempt to talk around the smaller tube. Keep your fingers crossed - how wonderful it would be for Dorothea if she could fully communicate with us!
We had a meeting in the Conference room with doctors and nurses this morning so that we could all talk and listen to each other about where Dorothea is at, and what we can expect to happen. There are no time lines given of course, every person heals at a different rate. What we do know is that this will take a long time... long is a very vague word... so we will just take one day at a time. When she is ready to leave ICU, she will go to a Long Term Acute Care facility - L-TAC for short. L-TAC facilities will take patients with a trach tube OR dialysis...but not both. So, she has to get off of one or the other before this will be feasible. Once she is transferred to an L-TAC she will need to gain strength. (This has been a real challenge so far because of all the issues with feeding her - she just hasn't gotten much nutrition these past four weeks).
They do not provide rehabilitation therapy at the L-TAC though. A rehab facility would be her next stop on this journey, but they will only admit patients who are able to do 3 hours of therapy a day - in other words, till they are really ready for rehab. As you can see, this will be a long process. However, it is good to at least have an idea of what steps are involved. Harold began researching some of the L-TAC facilities in the area - there are 4 or 5 in the KC Metro area. One of the nurses suggested that we visit some of the facilities to get a feel for which one we like best, that way when she is ready to go, we will be prepared.
After we had the meeting this morning I was thinking about something that I have thought about many times in my life... what a STRONG WOMAN my mom is!!! She has dealt with so many health issues over the years, and she just keeps trudging right along. She doesn't complain about any of it, she just accepts her cross to bear, and keeps on going. Some of you may know these lyrics that give me strength and hope...
Here is part of it:
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord,
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint, You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles
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