They're talking about removing the vent from Mom's room! She walked down the hall with a walker! Things are definitely moving in the right direction. Not to be a pessimist but let's not get our hopes up too high based on the fact that history repeats itself. Pray that there are no more back steps in her recovery this time.
I continue to be impressed with the quality of care and staff at Select, a hospital within a hospital, located within Hurley Hospital.
I can't help but wonder what the next step will be in her recovery process.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sept 17 - Select
A lot has happened since I was preparing to go on vacation last week. When I left, Hurley was asking me what I wanted to do with Mom since she was having trouble getting off the vent: send her home for Dad to take care of her or put her in a home. She had just stopped having temps and they were again questioning the strength of her heart.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised when I returned. Mom had a heart catheter (a scope, really) that showed that her heart is strong with minor artery blockages -- nothing for concern. She was moved to Select, a hospital within a hospital. She's now in room 1170. Select has a slower paced rehab center and specializes in working with patients on or just off of the vent.
Select seems to me to be far superior to Hurley. The staff is much more attentive, professional, and caring. So far, communication is much, much better, too!
They changed her trech yesterday to a smaller one with a valve on it so she can again talk! They were talking about testing her swallow reflexes today to see if she'd be able to start eating food again and get that dang feeding tube out of her mouth. We decided that if she couldn't, she'd switch to the direct-to-stomach feeding tube since she's sick and tired of that tube up her nose. The popular belief is that stomach tubes aren't permanent like some people think.
Well, that's all for now. I'm happy not to have a litany of information to have to report because when that's the case it's all bad!
Well, I was pleasantly surprised when I returned. Mom had a heart catheter (a scope, really) that showed that her heart is strong with minor artery blockages -- nothing for concern. She was moved to Select, a hospital within a hospital. She's now in room 1170. Select has a slower paced rehab center and specializes in working with patients on or just off of the vent.
Select seems to me to be far superior to Hurley. The staff is much more attentive, professional, and caring. So far, communication is much, much better, too!
They changed her trech yesterday to a smaller one with a valve on it so she can again talk! They were talking about testing her swallow reflexes today to see if she'd be able to start eating food again and get that dang feeding tube out of her mouth. We decided that if she couldn't, she'd switch to the direct-to-stomach feeding tube since she's sick and tired of that tube up her nose. The popular belief is that stomach tubes aren't permanent like some people think.
Well, that's all for now. I'm happy not to have a litany of information to have to report because when that's the case it's all bad!
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Sept 4 - Hurley ICU
We now have Mom under the care of Dr. Peddyreddy, Dad's doctor. Part of my problem with Hurley is that the docs won't communicate with me, period. They may be good at what they do but I could have no way of knowing that without any communication.
Dr. Amlani, Dad's heart doc who gave a second opinion on Mom's heart condition, really stepped up to the plate. He listened to my "customer service" concerns, suggested Dr. Peddyreddy take over as primary, called Dr. Peddyreddy's office for us, and wham! someone from Dr P's office visited Mom that day! I think Dr. A put it best... to the staff docs at Hurley, Mom is just a patient that moved to their department from PT. Since Mom's doc (Dr. Kinra) hasn't shown any interest in her coupled with the fact that she has a new nurse everyday, Mom never really had a medical advocate. (Dr. Kinra never bothered to follow Mom once she left McLaren. That is a generous statement since Dr. Kinra didn't really follow her in McLaren, either. She'd call me for updates!) Dr. P's office has visited Mom everyday since. Dr. P is out of the country but will return to make the visits himself next week, I think.
I visited Mom last Fri, Sat, and Sun. She was doing pretty much the same on those days. She's on a diuretic to keep her fluids down which has helped her heart. Her heart is testing fine except the one level that keeps track of inflammation was showing as too high so this diuretic has helped with that. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if this is a temporary condition or something we need to be concerned with over the long run. This heart inflammation could be making it difficult for Mom to ween off the vent.
Mom hasn't had a temp in days.
Mom's having trouble weening off the vent. The mode that normally was no big deal for her when she was stable and all the planets were aligned is giving her troubles. She could only tolerate it for 3 hours the other day.
Hurley finally took her off the sedative that had caused her to hallucinate in a negative way at McLaren. A couple of us had to jump up and down and waive our arms and shout a lot to get her off this med. Amazing how they didn't know this.
I complained to the nurse manager, Chrystal, that Mom has a nurse that has never had her before the vast majority of the time. How can she be well cared for in ICU if her nurse never knows her? I got immediate results. Mom had the same nurse Fri - Sun. Let's just see if this wonderful event repeats itself.
We think my daughter has the chicken pox. That will impede my ability to go visit Mom this week. We were supposed to take our rescheduled vacation, the one that we post-poned at 4th of July because of Mom's illness, next week. Now, with Grace having the chicken pox, we may have to cancel all together. Wouldn't you know it?
Mom went into the hospital the day after Memorial Day. Well, it's the day after labor day. Poor thing, she missed summer all together!
Dr. Amlani, Dad's heart doc who gave a second opinion on Mom's heart condition, really stepped up to the plate. He listened to my "customer service" concerns, suggested Dr. Peddyreddy take over as primary, called Dr. Peddyreddy's office for us, and wham! someone from Dr P's office visited Mom that day! I think Dr. A put it best... to the staff docs at Hurley, Mom is just a patient that moved to their department from PT. Since Mom's doc (Dr. Kinra) hasn't shown any interest in her coupled with the fact that she has a new nurse everyday, Mom never really had a medical advocate. (Dr. Kinra never bothered to follow Mom once she left McLaren. That is a generous statement since Dr. Kinra didn't really follow her in McLaren, either. She'd call me for updates!) Dr. P's office has visited Mom everyday since. Dr. P is out of the country but will return to make the visits himself next week, I think.
I visited Mom last Fri, Sat, and Sun. She was doing pretty much the same on those days. She's on a diuretic to keep her fluids down which has helped her heart. Her heart is testing fine except the one level that keeps track of inflammation was showing as too high so this diuretic has helped with that. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if this is a temporary condition or something we need to be concerned with over the long run. This heart inflammation could be making it difficult for Mom to ween off the vent.
Mom hasn't had a temp in days.
Mom's having trouble weening off the vent. The mode that normally was no big deal for her when she was stable and all the planets were aligned is giving her troubles. She could only tolerate it for 3 hours the other day.
Hurley finally took her off the sedative that had caused her to hallucinate in a negative way at McLaren. A couple of us had to jump up and down and waive our arms and shout a lot to get her off this med. Amazing how they didn't know this.
I complained to the nurse manager, Chrystal, that Mom has a nurse that has never had her before the vast majority of the time. How can she be well cared for in ICU if her nurse never knows her? I got immediate results. Mom had the same nurse Fri - Sun. Let's just see if this wonderful event repeats itself.
We think my daughter has the chicken pox. That will impede my ability to go visit Mom this week. We were supposed to take our rescheduled vacation, the one that we post-poned at 4th of July because of Mom's illness, next week. Now, with Grace having the chicken pox, we may have to cancel all together. Wouldn't you know it?
Mom went into the hospital the day after Memorial Day. Well, it's the day after labor day. Poor thing, she missed summer all together!
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