Sunday

I took Brandon, Jessica, and Brooklyn up to the hospital with me this afternoon. I was hoping that she would have been feeling better than she was. Saturday and Sunday were rough days.

Dorothea's heart rate was spiking again on Saturday. The heart doctor wanted to start her on a beta blocker, but Harold informed him of what happened when they put her on a beta blocker at the other hospital. The doctor then decided to hold off a little bit She apparently had 16 "spikes" in a row, and his order was that if she had 30 in a row, then he wanted her on the beta blocker immediately. Since that time, she has kept a good heart rate and it has not been an issue.

Her left chest drainage tube was removed on Saturday. The right side normally drains quite a bit, but the drainage had virtually stopped. They did an x-ray and found that there was fluid present, but it was not draining. They flushed the line with heparin and flushed a blood clot out (this would have been in her plural sac surrounding her lung). Since the clot came out the drainage is going again and the heart has calmed down, Harold thinks the two are related.

She was experiencing "all over" pain last night for quite some time so they gave her multiple doses of pain medication. This morning she was a bit depressed... "leaking" as Harold says it... so they gave her an anti-depressant to calm her.

When we arrived this afternoon she woke up and was alert and listening to all of the conversations, but she definitely appeared to be in pain at times. When I asked her where she was hurting, she responded "all over". She enjoyed getting to see the kids and hear their stories.

Harold requested that her peg tube feeding be switched back to her original kind. He felt (and I agree) that she is looking more malnourished. The ingredients of the "new" feeding was #1 corn syrup, #2 and #3 Oils... not exactly nourishment. Other ingredients are things that she needs her enzyme medicine in order to break them down, and she cannot take her enzyme medicine because it ONLY comes in pill form. He spoke with multiple doctors regarding this issue, and they agreed to switch back to the original feeding.

She is on full vent now... I didn't ask but I am assuming she probably has been for most of the weekend. That's a bummer. She was doing so well on the pressure support (CPAP), so we were really hoping that they might be able to try the T-tube on Monday. I am definitely in no way a medical expert, but I do not think that is going to happen now. If I got any of this wrong Dad please add a comment to this post and correct me! :)

This weekend was very hard for Dorothea and Harold both. Please continue to pray for both of them daily.