Saturday, August 19, 2006

Saturday-Resting and Steady

Overnight Kathy slept well and the nurses were encouraged. No news is good news as her nurse’s say, so they will go about the normal course of business, feeding and turning. I’ve been frustrated over the last three days because Kathy has not progressed much mentally. The nurse reminds me not to get impatient because her brain is still very inflamed and even with low bacteria counts, the inflammation causes major problems. In addition her internal sodium retention is down (needs to be boosted) and her overall trauma can’t be overlooked. She tends to act in three specific ways, intense heavy sleeping, or short bursts of lucidity with good awareness and longer term consciousness with quick eye roaming and lack of concentration. Mentally I hoping she will improve tomorrow and into next week.

She is still receiving four IV’s of varying amounts of morphine, insulin, antibiotic and general fluid agent. She has four tubes running into her nose and mouth, a ventilator, feeding tube, gastric suction and mouth saliva suction. Nourishment is two bottles a day of Promate with fiber to satisfy hunger. (It looks so bad I want some) Still she looks like a poster child for the ICU.

It’s another slow weekend in the ICU and approaching 12 days of hospitalization not including Mexico. Dr. Kureshi seems satisfied with her progress and I hope to talk to him one on one Monday morning and get his thoughts on what is planned. I keep telling myself to be patient and don’t forget what she has gone through and what’s ahead.

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