Wife's in the hospital

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all of my best... cant tell you how helpful a positive disposition can be in times like these
 
Today was been a hit and miss day. She vomited earlier, which, when there's a tube in your mouth, isn't a good thing. Nurse was just walking in the door, as I was standing up to see what was going on. Immediately the room was full, four nurses, about 1/2 dozen doctors on rounds. Had to catch myself from rushing to Sarah's aid... natural instinct. Not much I could do in a situation like that when there's so many trained and experienced people in the room, so I made myself very small, leaning on the window sill.

The ICU director made the comment of, "Sarah's wanting to be difficult..." All I could do was smile. Of course, she is! Something like this can't be easy, otherwise she wouldn't be Sarah! :D

Since then, she's spiked a pretty severe fever. Jury's still out what could be causing it, the cultures take time to grow, so it could be a day or two before we know if there's an infection. White count went up a bit, but not much. They immediately hung a new bag of antibiotics.

MRI's were done last night. Neuro-surgeon came by today to explain what he saw. Swelling's coming down on the stem - good thing. The blood is still in the area of the tumor - not so good thing. She had two extra-ventricular drains (EVD) to help with the blood. She popped one out the other day and the second one clogged. They replaced the clogged one tonight. So far it's drained a lot. If it becomes clogged again, then they're talking about putting in a permanent shunt. She had two put in during the original biopsy, but one was clogged and taken out during the tumor removal. Chances are the second one is clogged, too.

The MRI also showed what appears to be permanent damage on the occipital lobe. Nothing extensive. The neuro-surgeon believes she'll loose a bit of peripheral vision on her right side.
 
Thank you for the update and stay strong more prayers for you,Sara and family
 
Another little set back today. Turns out the lower part of her right lung was collapsed thanks the pneumonia. Doc stuck a suction tube in with a camera to - as the doc put - "Hoover her out." Then they took a saline solution, washed out the lung and vacuumed that out, too.

Seems to have helped. Over the past week or so her heart rate has been in the 50's and 60's at rest. After this her heart rate has been in the 70's and 80's.

Looks like the new EVD is doing it's job, too. A lot more drainage going on today from the area the tumor was compared to the last couple of days.

Here's hoping we can get her body over the hump from this and allow her brain to start healing properly. She's in a fairly new unit, neuro-ICU, and it's run by the docs who are used to running the burn/trauma unit right next door. They aren't used to having to set their treatment plan based off the treatment plan of another doctor. As her attending, the neuro-surgeon is the one setting the treatment plan.

One of the "complaints" that her neuro-surgeon has is trying to convince the burn/trauma doctors that the body is all one unit, that the setbacks with the body are having an effect on the healing of the brain.
 
Thank goodness you have the patience to deal with the doctors and all of the behind the scenes crap... It's definitely not easy!

While I've never been through anything so major, I have been there too many times. My wife has had 11 surgeries and a heart attack scare in the 20+ years we've been together.

Hang in there. Hopefully she'll be back home with you very soon!
 
ab7fh said:
Thank goodness you have the patience to deal with the doctors and all of the behind the scenes crap... It's definitely not easy!
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Rick, it's not just patience, but I've had to lay down the law a couple of times with both doctors. They've suggested a few things to me as options, like putting in an arterial screen to protect her lungs from more clots, it was given to me as an option. They then put it in her chart to be done. I wasn't happy. Um, when did we go from it's an option, to ordering it, without talking to me at all in the meantime. They both got their asses handed to them for that. Ya think that's information I'd like to have, maybe, just maybe, when they decided the need for it, instead of finding out from a nurse who told me about it two days after it was charted?

And then the ICU doctor put the procedure on hold without me knowing? Because he wanted to "talk" to me about continuing treatment instead of turning off the machines? I know my wife, I know the discussions we have about this situation over the years, I know what her living will says.

Sometimes, just sometimes, the doctors need a reminder, that, yes, they have the medical knowledge, but they don't have the knowledge I have of Sarah. And I'm not afraid to remind of that.
 
Sometimes, just sometimes, the doctors need a reminder, that, yes, they have the medical knowledge, but they don't have the knowledge I have of Sarah. And I'm not afraid to remind of that.
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I hear ya.

Sarah has a great advocate. Keep it up:thumbup:
 
I okay'ed the trake going in today. Made a huge improvement with her breathing.

Neuro came in this morning and tried to start weening her off the EVD. Didn't work so well. They had to put it back where it was. In the process, though, they noticed a few things they wanted to re-evaluate and sent her down for CT's. There's some debate over the CT's themselves. Seems there might be some expansion in the area where the tumor was, but it also seems she might have had her head tilted, which would expand the image.

Not much activity out of her today. She's rigid posturing again, with little to no spontaneous movement. Her toes aren't even dancing today like they have in the past couple of day.

Fever is still high. She's been under the cooling blanket all day. If they take it off she spikes back up to 104. Tylenol seems to be helping.
 
Sending our prayers your way. By the grace of herself, you, and god let her pull through this! We're all pulling for her!
 
Sending loads of prayers! I'm new, so a lot of you don't know me yet. 65LoveAffair may have a few choice words for me sometimes because I can be blunt. But good for you Rob! Stand up to the Doctors! Being chronically I'll most of my life, I've ran into to many of them that start to get a God complex after a while. You know Sarah, you know her wishes. They are hired care, you are 'there for life' care. Do whatever you have to do. You know everyone is here for you. If you need to scream, rant, bounce anything off of us. I think everyone will agree that's an abbreviated list. Sending prayers, and positive thoughts to your family!
 
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