1. Natalie's morning X-ray was awesome! It looked so much better than yesterday's cloudy lungs. She is starting to show some improvement in the areas I talked about yesterday, where there was atelectasis, or collapsing of the lung.
2. Her breathing has improved quite a bit in the past day. She's doing more on her own, and her sats have been near perfect, or even perfect at times!
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| 100% on her sats! Yippee! |
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| TPN - her IV nutrition - is no longer needed. Her daily bag of "Mountain Dew" costs a pretty penny, but whatever isn't used goes down the drain, literally. Ouch. |
4. Natalie's coughing up so much more mucus and secretions, thanks in part to the MetaNeb, which she has been using for the past few days. It pushes air through her breathing tube in short spurts, along with her albuterol treatment. Here you can see the MetaNeb in action:
This treatment usually results in a good amount of mucus traveling up through her breathing tube, which has also resulted in a nice X-ray today.
5. Natalie's starting to require less and less support from the ventilator. Tomorrow, the plan is to turn down her PEEP. Don't ask me what that is...it's been explained many times, but I still don't completely understand it. What I do know is that that number is 8 right now, and her doctor says most kids don't get off of the breathing tube until they're at 5. So, if she goes down one a day, maybe we can hope for Wednesday for her to get off of the ventilator? Who knows? I'll hope for that.
Now for the not-so-fantastic things about today:
1. Coughing is really difficult for Natalie, not because she can't cough, but because it's not comfortable, and most likely hurts. She's starting to fight back now, and show her spunky self to me and to the nursing staff. Backing off of her sedation and pain medication is important, because she needs to start working harder to breath and strengthen her lungs, but it's not easy seeing her struggle through her coughing fits, even though I know they will help her get off of the breathing tube. If only I could take on all of this for her...
2. Her tummy is having trouble "restarting" if you know what I mean. Morphine can slow everything down to a stand-still. We need to start seeing some progress in that area because her tummy is getting so bloated!
3. This afternoon, Natalie started spiking a fever...enough for her doctor to call for blood and sputum (mucus) samples. She has a breathing tube in her lungs, and two separate lines in her veins (the PICC line in her arm and the central line in her leg). All three are invasive, which means they are susceptible to infection. It's likely that she has grown a bacterial pneumonia from having the breathing tube in for over a week now. If it is, they'll culture it and find out which antibiotic will work best to fight it off. (No results just yet.)
So that's the latest report on the little lady. Now for the other things going on around the place.
This morning, I took a little walk outside of the hospital. It's beautiful outside. The crisp morning air almost made me cry. It smelled so good and felt so good. I took a huge deep breath in and imagined I was taking it in for Natalie. I closed my eyes and imagined the day when she can breathe freely, and breathe something other than hospital air. I want to wheel her outside and let her feel the sunshine on her face again. Natalie is blind, but can see light and dark and shadows. When the sun hits her face, she looks up and often smiles.
I walked down the street to attend the Catholic church a block from the hospital. I thought it was called St. Anthony, but apparently it's St. Mary's.
Therefore, the Mass times I had Googled ended up being wrong, and there was not a 9:00 a.m. option. I was 40 minutes late for the 8:00 Mass, proving that I'm late for Mass, even without my children. (I ended up driving to St. Anthony and arriving a couple of minutes late, of course!)
Many people ask how I've survived this so far. First of all, I'm not the one who is sick, so it's pretty easy for me. Also, I drink lots of coffee. However, Dunn Bros...I'm not so sure I like you.
My days here are pretty uneventful now, which is a blessing, but it also makes it pretty boring. Perry and the boys went home on Wednesday night. I wanted to get them back to their daily routines, and it was time for Perry to get back to work. I miss them so much...I feel like I haven't been a mother to Calvin and Dexter for so long.
So now mostly I just hang out and snuggle and hold Natalie's hand, or chat with the nursing staff (they're awesome!--much more to come about them in a future post).
Yesterday, I started to get a little depressed about the situation, and my friends back home must have picked up on that, because they drove to Fargo for a surprise visit!
Just seeing them was so wonderful, but they also brought some of my favorite things: Dot's Pretzels, chocolate, and Sweet & Flour pastries, among other things. I'm so blessed to have this amazing group of friends! A few of them couldn't make it today, but I know they wished they could have been here.
So, that's all for today, but of course there is much more ahead tomorrow. Stay tuned...
This treatment usually results in a good amount of mucus traveling up through her breathing tube, which has also resulted in a nice X-ray today.
5. Natalie's starting to require less and less support from the ventilator. Tomorrow, the plan is to turn down her PEEP. Don't ask me what that is...it's been explained many times, but I still don't completely understand it. What I do know is that that number is 8 right now, and her doctor says most kids don't get off of the breathing tube until they're at 5. So, if she goes down one a day, maybe we can hope for Wednesday for her to get off of the ventilator? Who knows? I'll hope for that.
Now for the not-so-fantastic things about today:
1. Coughing is really difficult for Natalie, not because she can't cough, but because it's not comfortable, and most likely hurts. She's starting to fight back now, and show her spunky self to me and to the nursing staff. Backing off of her sedation and pain medication is important, because she needs to start working harder to breath and strengthen her lungs, but it's not easy seeing her struggle through her coughing fits, even though I know they will help her get off of the breathing tube. If only I could take on all of this for her...
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| My daily view as I lie in bed with Natalie - there may be lots of tube and tape, but all I can see is that angelic little face. |
3. This afternoon, Natalie started spiking a fever...enough for her doctor to call for blood and sputum (mucus) samples. She has a breathing tube in her lungs, and two separate lines in her veins (the PICC line in her arm and the central line in her leg). All three are invasive, which means they are susceptible to infection. It's likely that she has grown a bacterial pneumonia from having the breathing tube in for over a week now. If it is, they'll culture it and find out which antibiotic will work best to fight it off. (No results just yet.)
So that's the latest report on the little lady. Now for the other things going on around the place.
This morning, I took a little walk outside of the hospital. It's beautiful outside. The crisp morning air almost made me cry. It smelled so good and felt so good. I took a huge deep breath in and imagined I was taking it in for Natalie. I closed my eyes and imagined the day when she can breathe freely, and breathe something other than hospital air. I want to wheel her outside and let her feel the sunshine on her face again. Natalie is blind, but can see light and dark and shadows. When the sun hits her face, she looks up and often smiles.
I walked down the street to attend the Catholic church a block from the hospital. I thought it was called St. Anthony, but apparently it's St. Mary's.
 |
| A beautiful fall morning at this beautiful church down the road |
Many people ask how I've survived this so far. First of all, I'm not the one who is sick, so it's pretty easy for me. Also, I drink lots of coffee. However, Dunn Bros...I'm not so sure I like you.
My days here are pretty uneventful now, which is a blessing, but it also makes it pretty boring. Perry and the boys went home on Wednesday night. I wanted to get them back to their daily routines, and it was time for Perry to get back to work. I miss them so much...I feel like I haven't been a mother to Calvin and Dexter for so long.
So now mostly I just hang out and snuggle and hold Natalie's hand, or chat with the nursing staff (they're awesome!--much more to come about them in a future post).
Yesterday, I started to get a little depressed about the situation, and my friends back home must have picked up on that, because they drove to Fargo for a surprise visit!
 |
| My friends, Maria, Trish, Stacy, and Mandie. They're the best! |
So, that's all for today, but of course there is much more ahead tomorrow. Stay tuned...
2 comments:
May God's love and grace bring you comfort and peace.
Betty Anderson
Retired Williston State College Instructor
So glad to hear that Natalie's recovery continues, even though I know it is much slower than you would like. God is definitely watching over Natalie and her family - using highly qualified medical staff, friends who bring Sweet and Flour Treats, and family who can help with the boys. We continue to lift Natalie in our prayers for a speedy recovery.
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