ICU Update 14 Dec

I glad you all enjoyed the pictures as much as we did taking them. There was a lot of laughter, hope and joy in the room yesterday. You have to enjoy the victory when you can. Not that we thought the battle was won, just that we had a victory and it was time to celebrate. I think of this like the playoffs, you can enjoy the victory but not too long because you have to get ready for the next game. So we had our first day of celebration yesterday in 19 days and it felt good. Andrea was awake from 8am to 9pm when we left. She was alert the whole day and just enjoyed having all the visitors. She was in very little pain, just a little around her neck form the surgery.

So now it is time to get our game plan together for the next battle. We have a new doctor today. I met him this morning and he seemed nice. He was more positive and was going to try adjusting Andrea's vent today in hopes we can gain some lung capacity. He said there was no real changes in her condition overall. Here is the basic plan for today:

1. Stomach - It looks like he gastric juices they have been pumping out have slowed down. They were getting up to 100cc/hour and yesterday when I checked it was 900cc in a 24 hr period. I do not know what it was over the night last night. But this is still encouraging news. The first sign that we were looking for. Today they are going to try to stop the suction and see if they won't build back up. They are wanting to see if they will pass though her digestive track it they should. So sometime late today we may have an idea if this was successful or not. They just wait a few hours and then suction her stomach, with a syringe that they put on the feeding tube. This does not hurt at all. Anyway we are hoping they are not able to suck much out. If that is the case they will try giving her some food through the tube and repeat the same checks.

2 Lungs - Yesterday her pressure in her lungs was low. The only day it was lower was last Saturday. She was down around mid 20s. It was has high as 50-60 and the best we have seen was 19-20. Right now it is in the low 40s. I was hoping the downward trend would continue. Actually I just noticed they have reduced her oxygen from 50% to 40% and that can increase the lung peak pressure. Other then that her vent is set the same right now as it was since last Thursday. Like I said the doctor is going to try adjusting it later today. I'm not sure what he plans but I'm glad he is being more aggressive. She won't get off this thing unless we start trying.

Those are the next two battles we have facing us, stomach and lungs. I'm hoping both will show signs of improving and as her lungs get better she can move more and this will help her stomach work better and both will help each other. Laying down and for 20 days can't be good for the stomach. I hoping for the perfect storm of moving and energy will get this stomach working.

Andrea has had the best of care. Her nurses love her and care for her. Rhonda, Mike, Irma, Jan, Kris and many others have been an answer to all our prayers. It goes far beyond taking care of her, there are the back rubs, hours of foot and hand massages, perfume behind Andrea's ears, lots joy, hope, sometimes the only hope we had was a kind word from the nurse. They have also been the best advocates for her healing, always looking for something they can do to get Andrea better. Please say a prayer of thanks fro them all. Pray for their strength and for their families as they work very long hours. You know they care when they stop by on their day off and bring gifts to Andrea. My dream is that Andrea and I walk back in here and bring them a gift to thank them for all they have done.