Busy week

Mom is settling in to Pacific Specialties. It's been a bumpy week. On Wednesday, 5/25, she lethargic and unable to wake up. Her roommate noticed that her breathing was short and shallow and went to get the nurse and RT, who turned up the ventilator to help her breathe normally. Tests showed she had unusually high levels of carbon dioxide. By mid-afternoon, although the levels dropped, they took her over to ER at Portland Adventist to be safe. She was there until late Wednesday night. On Thursday she was much more alert, although she was still sleeping more than normal. By Friday, she was doing really well again and went through her normal physical and occupational therapies (and even sat up in bed and stood up with assistance).

On Sunday night she started complained about her ear hurting and today they determined it to be some sort of infection "in the soft tissue near her ear." They've administered antibiotics. We'll be watching it closely. Mom seems to be pretty tired today.

We had a wonderful visit with relatives this weekend. Mom was very happy to be able to spend time with her sister and nephew and niece (Myra, David, Susanne). It's always nice to see them. My mother-in-law and her husband were also visiting and we had a great time with them.

Pacific Specialties Rehab

Mom is moving to the new hospital today:

Pacific Specialty & Rehabilitative Care

1015 North Garrison Road

Vancouver, WA 98664

Phone (360) 694-7501

She had a gastronomy tube put in on Friday at Portland Adventist Hospital. The tube migrated and they had to go into OR and fix it. She was in a lot of pain on Friday night, but much better on Saturday and pretty darn good by Sunday. She even got some PT while she was there (sat up on the edge of the bed). Since she's on a vent, she had to stay in the ICU, therefore her care was stellar this weekend.

We have lots of family coming to visit this weekend: Myra, David, & Susanne Krauland (Mom's sister, nephew and niece), as well as my in-laws, Jane & William Brown. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone. It will be a wonderfully busy weekend.

new hospital

Mom is going to be moved to a new hospital: Pacific Specialties and Rehab in Vancouver, WA. The move could happen as early as tomorrow. Although it's definitely being driven by insurance, we've all come to the conclusion that it's a good change for Mom. They anticipate that she'll be on the vent for another 4-6 weeks, so while she's at Pac Spec she'll get lots of good PT and OT to build up her overall strength. When she is closer to getting off the vent, the plan is to move her back to Vibra which is an aggressive weaning facility.

Pac Spec also has good respiratory support team, with pulmonologists and respiratory therapists always checking on her.

Mom stood up and did a little walking yesterday, with support on each side. The OT is very pleased with how hard she works during their sessions and made a point to mention how strong her legs are getting and how much she's trying to move her legs on her own. She is one of their favorite patients because she works so hard and has had so much progress.

Yesterday Mom spent one hour off the vent, breathing completely on her own.
She seems very strong and looks great.

Today is Mom and Dad's 58th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, Dad is bringing some extra flowers and some cupcakes for the staff there at the hospital.

When I visited Mom yesterday, the nurse and respiratory therapist were very excited about how well she's doing. She just keeps getting stronger and stronger. The respirator is now doing the most minimal amount of work, leaving Mom to do all the work. She seemed a little tired, which makes sense as her body is getting used to the new work load. I'm going to visit her tonight and make sure she's not too tired/lethargic.

They are talking about putting her on a trach collar next. She'll be doing all the breathing, but the tubes will be giving her moist air. Another patient there at the hospital had one on and she was able to talk a little while wearing it. It would be great if she can do a little talking!

She had a Thoracentesis done on Friday (removed some fluid that had accumulated around her lungs). It went smoothly and she could tell the difference immediately. They did the procedure at another hospital, so Mom got to get out of her room and go for an ambulance ride. We'll hear the lab results today, but we're not too concerned since this is common with vent patients.

Mom seems to be over the lethargy and back to improving and getting stronger. Unfortunately, she has regressed quite a bit in terms of being weaned from the ventilator. She's almost starting over at step one again. The vent is now set at 8 but she's at about 21 - which means she's still able to do a lot of the work herself again. By contrast, last week she was doing all the breathing on her own (machine at 0 and her rate at about 20-21) and was kept on the vent just to help her with the volume of air going into her lungs.

She is watching a little bit of TV now and then. She's finally interested in some audio books and music. She's recovered enough to be more alert, but that means she gets bored easily and it's hard to find things to occupy her time. I may bring in some knitting and see if she has enough dexterity.

I had a great visit with her last night. She's getting better at handwriting which is making communication a lot smoother.

very tired

Mom has been very lethargic the last three days. They did a chest x-ray and ran a plethora of tests, but so far haven't found anything (at least as far as I know). I visited her briefly earlier today. She was more alert and seems to be getting better, but she's still more tired than I've seen her in weeks.