You've established yourself quite a following. Maybe we can all find some friends among them to help us all put the pieces of your life back together.
Monday night, after Kathy's viewing, Kelli went back to the hospital to check in. You were sleeping so she decided not to bother you and just talked to your nurse. He hesitantly informed her that you had just fallen out of bed. As in, completely out of bed onto the floor. I thought I'd already told you that floor is na-sty. I'm still really confused how you managed to do that. Because both arms were tied down. The nurse never gave a clear explanation of what happened. Well, he didn't see what happened. My first guess is that someone must have forgotten to tie down one of your arms. They untie you occasionally when they have to re-adjust you in the bed (because you're a "mover"--which I have termed "wild") or if they're making you sit up or moving tubes, etc. So someone may have forgotten (BIG oversight) to tie an arm and you took your chance and untied the other arm. Or, you somehow managed to untie yourself, which wouldn't completely surprise me but it would've been hard. Once you got out of the bed, you found out real quick that I wasn't lying when I said you couldn't walk. Bummer.
Luckily (or I guess I should say unluckily) you've already hurt pretty much everything so there wasn't much damage you could do when you fell out of the bed. Reminds me, though, of one of dad's famous sayings "It's a good thing you hit your head. You could have really been hurt."
Yesterday (Tuesday) you graduated!!! Woohoo. No cap and gown, but at least you made it out of the ICU. They finally rounded up enough people to have a "sitter" in your room round the clock. Kelli and I agreed we need to take something to the ICU nurses. They did soooo much for you. I know it's their job, but still. They genuinely seemed to care. And for that we are very grateful. And we want to make sure they know that.
We all went to Kathy's funeral yesterday. Mom was singing so we chose not to tell her about the falling out of bed incident until she was done singing. As you know she gets pretty nervous before something like that and we didn't need to add one more thing to her already teetering plate. She did an amazing job. No surprise there.
After the funeral Kelli headed over to see you. Uncle Craig was there. For someone who is a
Surprisingly (not) I have another sick kid. Jaida this time. So I had to wait until tonight to come visit. I decided to bring Mya with me. Now that you're out of ICU, there's no age limit and no shift change visiting restrictions. Definitely nice.
Mya was really excited to see you. And as soon as we walked in you gave her a big wave. That was about all we got out of you. The sitter said you didn't sleep last night so you were really sleepy today but trying to stay awake so you could sleep tonight. Your eyes kept closing while we were there. But every time they opened, you gave Mya another wave. You barely acknowledged I was there. It's okay, it didn't hurt my feelings. You were really tired. And seemed a little disconnected. I think today you are much more aware of what's going on and it has to be incredibly overwhelming.
While we were there you had a little trouble breathing. They called in the respiratory nurse and she had to suction out the trach tube. Some sort of liquid was plugging things up. I didn't ask what it was. Didn't really want to know. Mya turned around while they did it. Then she asked if we could leave.
You aren't sedated anymore. And......drumroll please.....you aren't tied down!!! Sweet mercy. The sitter in the room with you is a very big boy. I guess he figures he can wrestle you down if you try to get out of bed. But you weren't trying. I said something about him being the lucky one who gets to hang out with you all day and his reply "He's actually one of the easiest people I've had to sit for. He's been great." Hmmmm.... Good sign I suppose. Let's hope that continues at home. If not we're bringing that sitter home with us.
You aren't sedated anymore. Your trach is still in but you are breathing room air (no supplemental oxygen). Your "NG" tube is out. So all that's left is your feeding tube. And the trach.
The respiratory people got you to talk today. There's some device they put in the trach that allows you to talk. Sort of like a voicebox thing. Not like the vibrator things you see on TV for the smokers or whatever. The nurse tells me this sounds like your real voice. Sounds trippy. I want to see how it works. The sitter asked you if you wanted him to get it so you could talk to me. You shook your head no. That's okay. We'll get plenty of talking time soon. You'll be getting earfuls from your mom and sisters I'm sure.
We keep asking for a time table on how much longer you'll be there. No one seems to be able to give us one. Since you don't have insurance, we don't think you'll be able to go to a rehabilitation center. Which means you'll go straight home to mom and dad's. Good thing your dad's a doctor. Although I still have no idea how we'll get you in and out of bed. Heaven knows mom and dad can't lift you. You may just be stuck in bed for quite a bit longer. Sorry about that.
So it looks like deathwatch is over. Not that I ever really thought you were going to die. Cause you don't do that. Obviously. Nor do we want you to. Just for the record.
Still not totally sure on head injuries. You know who we all are. But we still haven't really been able to talk. Time will tell I suppose.
Now we just have to figure out the immediate future. Coming home. Pain Management. Recovery. I keep reminding mom, day at a time. Easier said than done.
No comments:
Post a Comment