Dear Friends,
Some of you may have received a blog last nite, others not. I was not able to get it to "publish". But yesterday, Eileen rested after having had an extremely agitated, oxygen hungry night, with ongoing attempts at getting out of bed. Her first stomach tube feeding was begun at 10:30 & was tolerated well. (They begin very slowly - 10 cc’s/hr - & build, making sure it is absorbed). Today she is at 30 cc’s /min & absorbing well. Dr. Cross advised radiation yesterday to hold treatment until Monday giving the antibiotics a chance to clear her rt-sided pneumonia and continuing to clear secretions & increase physical activity.
Her night was quiet but her oxygen saturation was sub-optimal despite frequent suctioning. Today she had a repeat chest film which showed that the pneumonia had spread to both lung bases along with more fluid accumulation. The day has therefore been spent concentrating on lung treatments so that the clogged lung areas will begin to open. Her rt arm/hand pain has been nicely controlled and the doctor wants to use the IV sedation only when absolutely necessary as it is a respiratory depressant as well.
Tomorrow, Brian, Philip and Brennan are driving down so she is naturally very excited. Hopefully she will get good rest during the night and continued lung clearing tomorrow. She was visited by the pastor from our old Norfolk parish, received communion and wasBlessed with the Holy Water from Lourdes sent by Betsy. We are about to go home for the night. She has enjoyed being with Tim & Jennie this evening and Kath has decided to extend her visit through Easter as well. Til tomorrow, then, Lorane . . . ,