It was ‘get off the ventilator’ trial day number two for Amanda. She failed yesterday. So, after a fairly good nights sleep (considering you are in a hospital and they wake you for everything all night long) they turned off her vent machine at 7am and the trial began.

Now to help you understand what this all involves – a vent machine forces air and oxygen through a tube that goes in your mouth and down your windpipe and into your lungs. It pushes air in and breathes for you. A person can’t talk, swallow, or breathe through their nose while this is happening. In addition, there is usually a second tube in your mouth that goes down to your stomach so they can feed you something while the other machine breathes for you and you can’t swallow or do much of anything. When they turned off Amanda’s machine, she had to breathe on her own while these two tube were in her mouth and constantly toying with her gag reflex at the back of her throat. She had to mouth breath through the tubes and do all the air exchange in her lungs. For 2 hours.

Poor thing. She lay so very still in that bed and just tried to stay calm and breathed in, then out, breathed in, then out while suppressing the dire urge to cough and choke. At times, she did start gagging and she would lurch in a silent coughing fit while her face turned all red and tears trickled down her face. Then she would settle down and work on breathing … again. We turned the tv on as a distraction and that helped. And finally 2 hours went by.

At the end of the 2 hours, they turned the machine back on and had to have blood taken immediately because they could measure the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in her blood to determine if she was effectively breathing on her own without a machine to help. Well, they couldn’t get any blood out of her. She is so bloated right now and most of her veins have already been used and withered. A half hour went by and I said to the nurse – “They didn’t get blood and she’s back on the vent so even if someone could get blood now, it would not reflect how she did when SHE was breathing and not the machine.” “You’re right,” she said. After a call to the doctor at 11am, they had to turn off the vent AGAIN for Amanda to try AGAIN – this time for just half an hour and THEN they would do the blood draw. The vent got turned off for a second time and Amanda breathed … and breathed … and breathed … and then they said “Get some blood!” For the next 3 hours she was poked by about 5 different people and in more places than I could keep track of. The whole time Amanda lay there and calmly breathed and breathed and breathed (she had to breath without the machine for the accurate blood test results – all with 2 tubes down her throat). Somewhere in the middle of that time one person DID get a splash of blood in the syringe and sent it for testing but it ended up not being enough. Finally blood was collected and by 2:30 in the afternoon, we got the word that Amanda passed and the tubes could come out.

I was amazed at how beaten up my poor little Amanda was and yet so strong to stay patient while she breathed while trying not to gag and choke – and was poked over and over again for blood through the whole thing. My turn for tears.

So – she is breathing on her own with a little oxygen for support. She was sitting up in her wheelchair when I left this evening. She is a bloated little sausage with greasy sticky hair, needle pokes everywhere, a hospital gown too big, tape residue on her skin, bruises from heparin shots, and just the bravest girl I’ve ever known. She was happily catching up on messages on her phone and looking forward to some ice chips – she will get started with a clear diet for now. Her throat is sore and her speech is whispery and raspy right now. She will need lots of rest to keep breathing strong.

Thanks for your continued prayers and thoughts. Oh – and a big long-distance hug to a friend from this area who moved out west – I will only say that he plays the piano very well so if you know him – you know who I am talking about – he had this huge basket of food delivered to the hospital today (cookies, pastries, cheese, crackers, nuts, fruit). Wow. Very thoughtful. Thank you, sir. Love ya.

My time at home is now done.  I need to freshen up and return to the hospital.  It is my turn tonight.  I will also be there all day tomorrow so Ted can work.

just Laurel

Finally home after a long day at the hospital.

Well, because Amanda was up most of last night, she failed her morning attempt to get off of the ventilator.  They turned the settings down so that she could breathe on her own and she was just too whipped to keep up.  She will get another try tomorrow morning.  But the doc wanted her moving more and suggested she get up in a chair today – and Amanda vigorously shook her head “no no no” with the suggestion.  This here mom said ‘yes yes yes’ and with the help of three nurses, we got Amanda and her iv pump, feeding pump, ventilator tubes and all the other good stuff from bed to wheelchair.  Oh she looked like the cat had dragged her in.  The poor kid is bloated and has the worst case of bed head.  But she sat up in her chair for about two hours and was fairly chipper.  It used to be that when a patient was on a vent – they were stuck in bed.  The nurses were telling me that they are even walking vent patients in the halls now!

Now here’s more modern medicine for you.  It used to be that respiratory therapists did ‘percussion therapy’ on a patient that involved patting them on the chest and back in a specific way to loosen all those sticky chest secretions.  Well, now they have the ‘vest.’  After we got Amanda and all of her stuff back in bed, they wrapped the ‘vest’ around Amanda’s chest and secured it with velcro.  Then it got attached to the machine that ran the thing.  That vest inflated and started shaking Amanda around like an off-balance spinning load of laundry!  Alright, she didn’t spin, but you should have seen that girl shake!

So her x-ray today showed improvement and with all the moving around she did and her wild shake-rattle-and roll ride in the vest, let’s pray for an extubation tomorrow morning!  Oh – we need her to sleep well tonight, too, so hopefully all that activity tuckered her out – plus a dose of Benadryl for good sleepy measure.

btw – I have a sick daughter in St. Kitts, too – so a dose of prayers needed there too.

Thanks for all the care, concern, prayers, phone calls, texts, visits, and love coming from everybody.  Sorry if I don’t always respond in a timely manner, or even respond at all.  The fatigue is quite consuming.  You kind of keep going, pointing yourself in the direction you need to go, and just get things done.  You don’t stop to contemplate any of it because you might start crying and Lord knows that takes too much energy.

I am back on duty early tomorrow so Ted can work.  It’s amazing what a night’s sleep in a bed plus a morning hot shower and cup of coffee can do to reenergize a person!

Love and good health y’all.

just Laurel

I am home for a quick shower before heading back to the hospital.  It was my turn on duty last night.  For those of you who don’t know, when you are intubated and a machine is breathing for you, you can’t swallow.  Saliva builds up in your mouth and the only way out is to have it suctioned out or it drips out your mouth and down your face.  I think I was sucking or wiping drool every 15 minutes last night.  Sleep?  What’s that?   sigh

So besides the saliva mopping, there was a constant, steady stream of people in the room all night.  A hospital is not a place you go to for rest.  Vitals every hour, glucose checks, respiratory treatments, another chest x-ray.  And then there are all the blood draws.  I don’t know what they are going to do.  For those of you who know, she has a p.i.c.c. line in her right arm – but they could not thread it in the whole way and it is only half threaded.  Can’t pull blood from it.  So Amanda has this wonderful vein in her left hand that now looks like one of those fine mist garden hoses with needle holes all up and down it.  I don’t know what they are going to do when that vein finally cries ‘uncle’.

Amanda continues to try to communicate with hand signals and when we don’t get what she’s waving about, she gets all red in the face and very frustrated.  (Imagine not letting Amanda talk!  It’s been 2 days now.)  So we hold a clipboard for her and she writes what she is thinking (when she is strong enough).  She was waving wildly after the nurse did some care with her and when she was done writing on the clipboard, she had written “Thank you”.  In the middle of the night last night she waved for the clipboard and wrote “Why did this happen?”

Must get back to the hospital so Ted can get some work done – he is off to Mansfield, Ohio.  He slept at home last night, but not very well he says.  Pray for safe and awake driving for him please.  And pray we can lose some tubes today for Amanda.

just Laurel

I am home for just a few hours before I go back to the hospital to take the night vigil with Amanda.  Ted did last night and I was there all day so Ted could work.  Thanks to Clara and Florence for coming to visit and breaking up the monotony.

Amanda is better – all the blood work shows things going in the right direction.  But her pneumonia looked so bad on x-ray today (both lungs) that the doctor wanted her to spend another day on the vent (breathing machine aka ventilator) to help her lungs work most efficiently.  Still lots of I.V. antibiotics, steroids, and all kinds of meds and fluids.  Amanda is pretty bruised from needle sticks and bloated like a fat pig – I think her neck has disappeared for the time being.  But they stopped the continuous I.V. sedation they usually give to intubated patients to keep them relaxed and not fighting the breathing machine – and Amanda is fairly alert.  She shakes her head yes and no, points, can write if we give her a pencil and clipboard, and tries to talk with her own hand signals but gets frustrated when we can’t understand her.  She has been a trooper fighting that horrible gag reflex with 2 tubes down her throat, not being able to swallow, and tolerating constant drool wipes and suctioning.  Hopefully we can lose some tubes tomorrow.

Now for a report on the other daughters …. Kristen’s new job is full-time nanny to 2 children:  Owen who is two and Adelyn who is four months.  Kristen was super nanny when she got both to nap at the same time today!   haha   She’ll have those kids whipped into shape in no time – potty trained and reading novels too!

Jillian had her white coat ceremony – ah that’s Dr. Vander Yacht!   Wish we could have been there.  So very proud of both our daughters and can honestly say we have the best son-in-laws ever.

 

We are tired but doing well.  Amanda is on the mend.  We have great friends and family who love and care.

Hope all is well with you.

just Laurel