Hosp updates

I'll put these in in the order I wrote them. (couldn't always get online) By the time you get to the bottom you will see she is doing well.

Friday Morning. Moved to the ICU at 1:00AM. Now it's 7:28AM and they may move her back. Maggie falls right between acute care and intensive care on her best day. Shes medically stable - sick, but stable - but she needs more nursing care than they can provide with the patient load on the floor. I do a lot of the care myself, but I've told them they cannot rely on me 24/7. I have to sleep a little bit and I got about 4 hours last night. Not good sleep because it is constant beeps and blips all night. Bwetween the IV, the monitors and the feeding pump something was beeping all night. The monitor is measuring about five different things at once and has five different alarms depending on what needs attention. I was having dreams about being at a train station.


In addition to the pneumonia, Maggie has the "paraflu"virus. It's not influenza but a different virus. She is really struggling to breathe and the oxygen is up full blast. If the virus has crested, she will start getting better. If not and she gets worse, they may have to put her on a ventilator to help her breathe. Only time will tell that.

When we got to the ICU they gave her some Ativan which knocked her out. She hadn't slept in two days and that was a big help. They were unwilling to do that on the floor becasue they couln't monitor her close enough for an adverse reaction. Here in the ICU they are right aat her door all the time. THe sleep helped. She may be a little better this morning, but that might be wishful thinking.

Onward.

Friday PM  Maggie is droopy but improving - I think. ( I hope.) Don't let the tubes freak you out. The big one is just humidified oxygen going directly into her trach and the other is her IV and Sat monitor. It's not as bad as it looks.

She laid in the bed and played with the controls pushing the head and feet up and down

She thought moving the bed was a riot. of course instead of laughin her head of she smiled wanly, but same difference.

Saturday AM. I slept for six hours!! I went home and crashed and returned about 6:30AM. Maggie had her own nurse last night so it was easily done. I feel like a new woman.

Maggie has definitely taken a positive turn. She looks much better this morning, she's laughing and carrying on. She still needs a huge amount of oxygen, but we are getting to the point that we could do this at home. She is still in ICU - but does not need to be medically. Her care level keeps her here - but I'm sure they cannot justify this much longer.

They decided her right lung was collapsed. From the look of her today, it has likely popped open again. Today's chest xray will tell that story.

I'm going to ask the doctor to discharge us from here and skip the floor completely. Not sure she will do that. We've done it before, but that was generally following a surgery, not a sickness. It's a little different.