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 . . . ,
Friday, April 10, 2009
Holy ThursDAY -following wildly busy night
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Holy ThursDAY -following wildly busy night
As we begin Good Friday,Apparently position - flat, hyperextended - Leenie had to be in during stomach tube placement caused much congestion and accompanying oxygen hunger during the night. Kath started to leave @ midnight, shortly after Phil & I left w/ Leenie looking/sounding fine, but could not b/c suddenly the congestion, air hunger went into hi gear. Leenie looked appropriately frightened & essentially fought Kath all night. She wanted to leave, & there was no changing her mind. We called Kath's cell @ 12:30 b/c we were worried but she said she was leaving in 15 minutes. Not. By 3:30, I was afraid to call & wake Kath or ?interrupt care. Kath got in @ 5:30 after Leenie FINALLY went to sleep. "Now Eileen, you can't get out of bed. You may fall. The rule is for you to stay in bed. I wouldn't lie to you." Leenie: "Yes, you would. " delivered w/ the coldest of shoulders. And so it went until her oxygen levels finally came up after LOTS of suctioning.During the day, she was comfortable, compliant and had excellent oxygen levels with the help of the staff & big brother tending to getting those secretions out. Dr. Cross said chest x-ray shows new, lg. fluid accumulation in rt lung probably from aspirating food. She is on new IV antibiotics for that, started food/med feedings this evening through new tube & was sleeping w/ a smile after seeing Tim who drove down to surprise her around 11. She can't have radiation unless she can be flat b/c @ a raised angle, it would cause more damage to lungs & less to Henry. So, she will get stronger on tube feeds, move around more (loosen secretions) as she did today - walked w/ cane & rt arm sling from chair to bed and, hopefully, not have any lung crises & be able to be flat for 15 min in comfort for radiation, possibly as an out patient.She knows it's in God's hands, is looking forward to Easter w/ the boys and will do everything she can to get those shots @ Henry. She sports a half pony-tail "do" w/ a bright green scrungy & had a great "watermelon pink" gloss smile on today. She'll receive communion again tomorrow & hopes to walk more and raise the head of the bed less. And less. . . Lorane et al , ,
Holy ThursDAY -following wildly busy night
As we begin Good Friday,Apparently position - flat, hyperextended - Leenie had to be in during stomach tube placement caused much congestion and accompanying oxygen hunger during the night. Kath started to leave @ midnight, shortly after Phil & I left w/ Leenie looking/sounding fine, but could not b/c suddenly the congestion, air hunger went into hi gear. Leenie looked appropriately frightened & essentially fought Kath all night. She wanted to leave, & there was no changing her mind. We called Kath's cell @ 12:30 b/c we were worried but she said she was leaving in 15 minutes. Not. By 3:30, I was afraid to call & wake Kath or ?interrupt care. Kath got in @ 5:30 after Leenie FINALLY went to sleep. "Now Eileen, you can't get out of bed. You may fall. The rule is for you to stay in bed. I wouldn't lie to you." Leenie: "Yes, you would. " delivered w/ the coldest of shoulders. And so it went until her oxygen levels finally came up after LOTS of suctioning.During the day, she was comfortable, compliant and had excellent oxygen levels with the help of the staff & big brother tending to getting those secretions out. Dr. Cross said chest x-ray shows new, lg. fluid accumulation in rt lung probably from aspirating food. She is on new IV antibiotics for that, started food/med feedings this evening through new tube & was sleeping w/ a smile after seeing Tim who drove down to surprise her around 11. She can't have radiation unless she can be flat b/c @ a raised angle, it would cause more damage to lungs & less to Henry. So, she will get stronger on tube feeds, move around more (loosen secretions) as she did today - walked w/ cane & rt arm sling from chair to bed and, hopefully, not have any lung crises & be able to be flat for 15 min in comfort for radiation, possibly as an out patient.She knows it's in God's hands, is looking forward to Easter w/ the boys and will do everything she can to get those shots @ Henry. She sports a half pony-tail "do" w/ a bright green scrungy & had a great "watermelon pink" gloss smile on today. She'll receive communion again tomorrow & hopes to walk more and raise the head of the bed less. And less. . . Lorane et al , ,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)