Tough progress

Laura is making progress but it is a grind.  As far as progress went today was a good day.  They removed two of the four chest tubes. The front tube are related to air more than drainage and where no longer needed.  They also removed the NG tube that was placed in her stomach to assist with the removal of gases and bile.  

They did start her back on tube feeds and her body is receiving the nutrients well. Sugars are in line and all seems to be going well on that front.  They did the swallow test and she did not pass.  The test is to make sure water goes down the right pipe and she does not aspirate. She did not pass today but there are number of reasons why that could happen.  She has had multiple tubes down her thought for 4 days.  This causes numbness, irritation...etc.  She has been out cold or sedated for hours and it does take time for the body to shake that off.  They will try again tomorrow.  Once she passes she will start eating soft food and then onto more solid food in due time.

They did another bronch today and that came out great.  They will do one each day for the first week to make sure the lungs continue to look strong and clean.

She did stand up today and march in place.  She moved from the bed to the chair and sat in the chair for 20 mins.  The movement helps the pain and stiffness.  She is still in pain but the ablation and the meds are working. 

A new technique in the transplant process is the addition of ablation to numb the pain.  It does not work on all patients but it does appear to have been successful with Laura.  This enables her to recover with less medication.

Since last night was such a bad night we kept her up most of the day so that tonight she can get a great night sleep.  A sedative and some melatonin should help.  She is sleep well now.  She was having hallucinations due to other meds.  Those were changed and appears to have been the solution because she is now sleep with no issue.

Tomorrow is a big PT day. A walk out of the room. Multiple respiratory therapy sessions at 30-45 min each will help get everything moving.

Thanks to a great day with both teams on 10ICU.  We have the best of the best.


Please excuse the grammar and typos - long day.

Cheers to all.