I'm back! It was very hard to be away for so long and to not have daily updates!
When Harold walked in to Dorothea's room this morning she was smiling! Woo Hoo! Nice to start off the day good! :) Don and I came up to the hospital this afternoon and also found her to be smiling and in a good mood. We were both so glad to see her and thankful that this was a good day for her. We had a nice time telling her about our trip and the kids.
When we first arrived the pulmonary doctor was in and he changed the vent to the CPAP setting - that means that the machine is providing her with oxygen, but she is regulating her own rate and volume of breathing. They would be rechecking her in a few hours and making sure that she was able to keep her O2 saturation levels up, if so, then they will leave her on CPAP. Next step will be to get her on to the T-bar tube with no oxygen assistance.
As Harold mentioned yesterday, they stopped the peg tube feeding, so she is only receiving IV glucose feeding. There is a suction machine that is hooked up to her peg tube, removing gasses, mucus, whatever else settles in her stomach. For now, they are consulting and trying to decide where to go from here. In my mind, they have got to figure out what is causing her to produce this gas. We all know how painful it is to have a gassy stomach - this is the last thing she needs to be dealing with now. She can only be on the Glucose feeding for a maximum of 72 hours - and we really don't want to see her on it for that long even. She needs nutrition badly. Since I did not see her for 9 days, I can definitely tell that she has lost more mass in her upper chest area. She also seemed shaky today. I am not sure if that is because she is feeling weak from lack of food, or if there is another reason. Hopefully they will have a new solution tomorrow.
Her bladder continues to produce small amounts of urine - yeah! Hopefully those numbers will continue to increase and she can get off of dialysis. She also continues to drain fluid off of her lungs with the help of the chest drainage tubes.
She coughs pretty often, and it takes a lot out of her. Her coughs are silent since she is on the vent, but you can tell that they take so much energy out of her, and cause her pain.
Harold continues to do a great job taking care of her! He is with her every day, all day, making sure that she gets the care that she needs, and he providing much of the daily care; keeping her mouth moistened, putting lotion on her, making sure that she gets suctioned when needed, et.. Being her advocate to receive the correct medications and procedures... it is endless. It is all so important, and we are so thankful. Thank you DAD!!!!
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