The doctor didn't like Carol's blood thickness again and ordered her to stay-put another day. Again, there's nothing really wrong- the blood thinners have done too good-a-job. I think he's just being extra cautious- If something happened, it would be harder to stop bleeding if it occurred.
The only thing to report is that she continues to improve, she's in good spirits and she's tired of being in the hospital.
Thanks again for looking. Until next time...
Monday, March 25, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Visitation Idea
Hey folks,
I've got an idea that will allow us to visit Carol without it being so tiring for her. Many of you have asked that I let you know when it's ok to visit Carol. Really, she's still quite sick but I also think she's getting weary of her situation and her spirits are lower than they have been. I think it would raise her spirits to see some of you. Here's an idea that would allow her to see her friends, but it wouldn't be so tiresome:
How 'bout everybody, who would like to, come by the hospital at say.... 4pm. We can meet someplace downstairs (either the lobby or the cafeteria) then we could go up to visit her two-by-two. This would allow us to see her, she could see us, but she wouldn't be so taxed.
Please let me know what you think via the comments here and say what time you'd like to meet. 3pm would be a bad time because the nurses will be giving reports at that time (for about 30 minutes). Other than that, we just have to see what time works best for everybody.
Watchya think?
I've got an idea that will allow us to visit Carol without it being so tiring for her. Many of you have asked that I let you know when it's ok to visit Carol. Really, she's still quite sick but I also think she's getting weary of her situation and her spirits are lower than they have been. I think it would raise her spirits to see some of you. Here's an idea that would allow her to see her friends, but it wouldn't be so tiresome:
How 'bout everybody, who would like to, come by the hospital at say.... 4pm. We can meet someplace downstairs (either the lobby or the cafeteria) then we could go up to visit her two-by-two. This would allow us to see her, she could see us, but she wouldn't be so taxed.
Please let me know what you think via the comments here and say what time you'd like to meet. 3pm would be a bad time because the nurses will be giving reports at that time (for about 30 minutes). Other than that, we just have to see what time works best for everybody.
Watchya think?
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Sorry for skipping a day-
Carol is slowly getting better. She has been on a medication for a long time that retards her healing ability, so this will take longer than most other folks. Just the same, I notice little differences in the way she moves, how quickly she responds to questions, appreciation for my attempts at humor (that's a sad story folks), and every night she has just a little more energy at 9pm than the night before. It is slow, but things are moving forward and she's in great spirits- especially considering what's she's been through.
Today they've been doing some things to prepare her for a revision/down-sizing of her tracheotomy. They haven't really explained this process but I gather that it's the first step toward eventually doing away with the trache. Maybe I can explain this better tomorrow.
Until then...
Carol is slowly getting better. She has been on a medication for a long time that retards her healing ability, so this will take longer than most other folks. Just the same, I notice little differences in the way she moves, how quickly she responds to questions, appreciation for my attempts at humor (that's a sad story folks), and every night she has just a little more energy at 9pm than the night before. It is slow, but things are moving forward and she's in great spirits- especially considering what's she's been through.
Today they've been doing some things to prepare her for a revision/down-sizing of her tracheotomy. They haven't really explained this process but I gather that it's the first step toward eventually doing away with the trache. Maybe I can explain this better tomorrow.
Until then...
Monday, March 11, 2013
Good News!! Carol was transferred to a "regular" room. Her condition is about the same, but they feel that she's stable and doesn't really need the constant attention offered in the "Step Down" unit. While technically she can receive visitors, I think it would be better if we let her rest and heal a bit more before doing that. ...anyway, she still has the tracheotomy, so she can't talk yet. I would guess it will be at least a week before she'll be able to have visitors (or want to).
She is getting better though: she's joking around and, I'm sorry to say, she seems to be suffering from my sense of humor (poor girl). She is amusing herself by making a list of foods she will want when she's able to eat again. Among the the more interesting: Spaghetti with (Kenny's) red sauce, Devil's Food Cake- with white frosting and Thai Coconut Soup. Sometimes she invites people to suggest additions to the list; might any of you have any suggestions?
That will do it for today. I believe the speech therapist will be visiting to test her swallowing today; hopefully they'll conclude that they can install a valve that will allow her to talk and eventually eat. [Where's that List?]
She is getting better though: she's joking around and, I'm sorry to say, she seems to be suffering from my sense of humor (poor girl). She is amusing herself by making a list of foods she will want when she's able to eat again. Among the the more interesting: Spaghetti with (Kenny's) red sauce, Devil's Food Cake- with white frosting and Thai Coconut Soup. Sometimes she invites people to suggest additions to the list; might any of you have any suggestions?
That will do it for today. I believe the speech therapist will be visiting to test her swallowing today; hopefully they'll conclude that they can install a valve that will allow her to talk and eventually eat. [Where's that List?]
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Not much to report today- there is less activity in hospitals on weekends. Although, they had Carol sit in a chair for about two hours and seemed slightly excited about it; Carol didn't. ...Not that she disliked it and she said it didn't hurt; I think she didn't see the benefit. Maybe it's just to get the insides used to being in their proper positions. ...? I wasn't there when they put her in the chair but I can report that it was quite the [amusing] process getting her back into bed: It involved the use of a hoist and Carol resting in a canvas blanket. Maybe I can distort the faces of the nurses in a video I took and provide a link to a YouTube video of it.(?) Would anybody like that? I'd have to get Carol's permission, but otherwise, I could do it if anybody's interested.
I don't know if I should share this but: A nurse let me watch her care for Carol's stomach incision. Very interesting stuff... and if any of you ever get the chance to watch such a thing...don't. It stays with you.
Ok... That's enough wisdom to share for one day. Carol sends her love and I do too.
Until tomorrow...
I don't know if I should share this but: A nurse let me watch her care for Carol's stomach incision. Very interesting stuff... and if any of you ever get the chance to watch such a thing...don't. It stays with you.
Ok... That's enough wisdom to share for one day. Carol sends her love and I do too.
Until tomorrow...
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Carol seems to be more energetic today. ...Eyes wide, quick to respond, pretty animated I'd say! She "talks" by writing the shapes of letters on our hand/arm and she's doing that to communicate more mundane thoughts. Used to be simple "Pillow down" sorts of messages and last night is was "Thank Debbie for getting the Bob Dylan tickets for me" and "Bring me some Devil's Food Cake tomorrow". ...Remember that she has a tracheotomy. Doncha just wanna kiss her right on the cheek?!
Friday, March 8, 2013
We are now up-to-date with these posts and I will start the daily updates, answering questions and broadcasting the messages she'd like me to pass along.
I'd like to thank all of you for your concern, prayers, offers to help, cards, flowers and general well-wishes extended to Carol and me over these past several weeks. I know that I haven't expressed the appreciation I have for the kindnesses offered and expressed by many of you, but believe me, I have felt it and I most sincerely thank you now.
Carol has been moved out of ICU and is now in what they call a "step down" unit. They say that patients typically stay on there for 2 to 4 days. After that she will go to a "regular" room where she will be able to have visitors but let's all agree to ease into that- She's still gonna be a sick girl.
I'd like to thank all of you for your concern, prayers, offers to help, cards, flowers and general well-wishes extended to Carol and me over these past several weeks. I know that I haven't expressed the appreciation I have for the kindnesses offered and expressed by many of you, but believe me, I have felt it and I most sincerely thank you now.
Carol has been moved out of ICU and is now in what they call a "step down" unit. They say that patients typically stay on there for 2 to 4 days. After that she will go to a "regular" room where she will be able to have visitors but let's all agree to ease into that- She's still gonna be a sick girl.
The angiogram was performed Wednesday and they discovered that her heart and lungs were "back to normal". It turned out that the heart's enlargement and the "heart failure" (a medical misnomer) was due to the stress from the colon perforation and the surgery. They did find some arterial blockage but it wasn't much and they said that it could be addressed with medication.
She's movin' forward!
She's movin' forward!
November-December... New Pain Gets Worse
As stated in the Blog's outline, Carol's odyssey started in earnest early-to-mid-November. She found it increasingly painful to walk. Steroid injections around the sacroiliac joint (SI Joint) seemed to help so they performed a procedure where they used x-ray to guide "focused doses" of the steroid into the joint. I believe that was on the 18th of December.
It took a couple of weeks but the procedure seemed to be helping. During this time she wasn't able to walk and she spent a good bit of time sitting on the edge of a chair which is probably the reason for the next problem: The last five or six days of December she got very short of breath toward the end of the day. She went to the doctor a couple of times but they couldn't find a reason for this. About 2 AM on January 2nd I took her to the ER of Christiana Hospital where they discovered that she had a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in her lung[s]).
She spent about a week and a half in the hospital for that. During that stay she opted for a stint in a rehab facility for her hip/pelvis/SI joint. She didn't gain a whole lot of improvement there but she did discover that she could walk with a specialized walker. It wasn't much of a silver lining but she could get some exercise and that would hopefully prevent another blood clot.
About six days after she got out of rehab I checked her temperature; it was 102.4. I took her to the emergency room. Because she took a pain pill that had Tylenol in it before we left the house, her temperature was just under 100 when we got to the hospital. They ran some tests and checked her over pretty good but didn't find a reason for the elevated temperature. They told her to come back if she felt worse and to make an appointment with her general practitioner (Dr. John O'Neil). That was early (very early) on a Tuesday. We got an appointment with Dr. O'Neil for Friday. He looked Carol over, found nothing, ordered some tests, listed several things that may have caused the spike in temperature, listed a set of things to watch out for, told us to keep a close eye on her temperature and told us to go to the ER if she had a change in her condition (the only symptom she had was the elevated temperature of Tuesday morning and a continued low-grade temperature). This was about 4 PM Friday, February 22nd.
Ten hours later she got up to use the restroom. She was experiencing abdominal pain and as I helped her get back in bed she complained of being cold. I gave her extra covers but she still felt cold and she was shivering. I placed a heating pad under her and another one on top of her. After 40 minutes I checked on her and she was still shivering. I quickly got her dressed and rushed her to the hospital. At 7:30 AM a doctor was explaining that a CAT scan revealed a perforated colon and likely drainage into the stomach cavity. Two hours after that they were performing emergency surgery. It would later be revealed that the surgeon wasn't very hopeful of a successful outcome- Carol was very sick.
She had a breathing tube in place and her breathing was assisted by a ventilator. Normally the breathing tube would be removed that Monday but they kept it inserted an extra day as a precaution to complications. About 12 hours after they removed it on Tuesday, they had to reinsert it because it was difficult for her to breathe and she wasn't getting enough oxygen into her system. They ran a CAT scan which revealed an enlarged heart, decreased blood flow to the lungs and fluid in the chest cavity. In other words she was sick in ways we didn't realize until that time. Other tests revealed blood flow obstructions to the heart and they wanted to do when angiogram the following day (Friday). This was just a couple of hours after they prepared to perform a tracheotomy to safeguard against complications in removing the breathing tube again, which they also wanted to do the following day (Friday). We canceled the tracheotomy schedule and scheduled for the angiogram which was canceled due to scheduling conflicts. In the end she received the tracheotomy on Tuesday and the angiogram was performed Wednesday, which is where we will rest this post.
It took a couple of weeks but the procedure seemed to be helping. During this time she wasn't able to walk and she spent a good bit of time sitting on the edge of a chair which is probably the reason for the next problem: The last five or six days of December she got very short of breath toward the end of the day. She went to the doctor a couple of times but they couldn't find a reason for this. About 2 AM on January 2nd I took her to the ER of Christiana Hospital where they discovered that she had a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in her lung[s]).
She spent about a week and a half in the hospital for that. During that stay she opted for a stint in a rehab facility for her hip/pelvis/SI joint. She didn't gain a whole lot of improvement there but she did discover that she could walk with a specialized walker. It wasn't much of a silver lining but she could get some exercise and that would hopefully prevent another blood clot.
About six days after she got out of rehab I checked her temperature; it was 102.4. I took her to the emergency room. Because she took a pain pill that had Tylenol in it before we left the house, her temperature was just under 100 when we got to the hospital. They ran some tests and checked her over pretty good but didn't find a reason for the elevated temperature. They told her to come back if she felt worse and to make an appointment with her general practitioner (Dr. John O'Neil). That was early (very early) on a Tuesday. We got an appointment with Dr. O'Neil for Friday. He looked Carol over, found nothing, ordered some tests, listed several things that may have caused the spike in temperature, listed a set of things to watch out for, told us to keep a close eye on her temperature and told us to go to the ER if she had a change in her condition (the only symptom she had was the elevated temperature of Tuesday morning and a continued low-grade temperature). This was about 4 PM Friday, February 22nd.
Ten hours later she got up to use the restroom. She was experiencing abdominal pain and as I helped her get back in bed she complained of being cold. I gave her extra covers but she still felt cold and she was shivering. I placed a heating pad under her and another one on top of her. After 40 minutes I checked on her and she was still shivering. I quickly got her dressed and rushed her to the hospital. At 7:30 AM a doctor was explaining that a CAT scan revealed a perforated colon and likely drainage into the stomach cavity. Two hours after that they were performing emergency surgery. It would later be revealed that the surgeon wasn't very hopeful of a successful outcome- Carol was very sick.
She had a breathing tube in place and her breathing was assisted by a ventilator. Normally the breathing tube would be removed that Monday but they kept it inserted an extra day as a precaution to complications. About 12 hours after they removed it on Tuesday, they had to reinsert it because it was difficult for her to breathe and she wasn't getting enough oxygen into her system. They ran a CAT scan which revealed an enlarged heart, decreased blood flow to the lungs and fluid in the chest cavity. In other words she was sick in ways we didn't realize until that time. Other tests revealed blood flow obstructions to the heart and they wanted to do when angiogram the following day (Friday). This was just a couple of hours after they prepared to perform a tracheotomy to safeguard against complications in removing the breathing tube again, which they also wanted to do the following day (Friday). We canceled the tracheotomy schedule and scheduled for the angiogram which was canceled due to scheduling conflicts. In the end she received the tracheotomy on Tuesday and the angiogram was performed Wednesday, which is where we will rest this post.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
First- Let me invite you to share this with anybody you think might like to follow Carol's progress. I've been giving updates to several folks, but I know I forgot some and there must be those I'm not aware of.
I'm going to post a series of messages outlining what has happened so far, then every morning I'll outline the previous day's events/news/progress. If you have any question(s), leave it/them as a comment; I'll answer them with the next morning's updates.
I'm going to post a series of messages outlining what has happened so far, then every morning I'll outline the previous day's events/news/progress. If you have any question(s), leave it/them as a comment; I'll answer them with the next morning's updates.
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