Outrageous Malfunction

Saturday, June 7, 2008 11:34:00 PM:

When I arrived, this morning, she was sitting in The Chair, and looked wonderful. She wasn’t distressed and just smiled when I walked into her room. I told her how proud I am of her and that she is beautiful and that I love her. I sat next to her for an hour and a half before the nurses came in to return her to bed. She was tired and welcomed the bed. While she slept, I noticed her trach had stopped bleeding, it was clear all day. Most excellent!

Her day nurse for the weekend is Tom, and he is great with her. He is very gentle with Trudi and uses words like, sweetheart, darling, and honey, and has a great bedside manner. He is a big guy and uses the proper equipment to move her, and she is much less stressed with him caring for her. I’m impressed with the nursing staff, they care for their patients. Some of the therapists could learn a lesson from these nurses about patient’s needs and feelings. I’m feeling more comfortable as each day passes, but won’t let down my guard until the trach is out and her skull is put back together and she is eating and drinking on her own.

After returning to bed, she slept for about an hour and woke up just before the respiratory tech came in to clean her trach and give her a breathing treatment. It’s a vapor that dilates her bronchial tubes. It helps her cough up the mucus in her lungs. After the breathing treatment, the tech suctions her and gets the fluid out of her lungs. Suction causes gagging and coughing when inserted into her trach and down to were the bronchial tubes forks to each lung, and that is as deep as they go, so Trudi is coughing it up when being suctioned. It’s a heart breaker, but a necessity that is good for her lungs, even though it pains me to see her go through it. At times she will request suction, because it makes her breathe better, afterwards.

After lunch, we sat and looked at each other talking about our future, even though she may not remember our conversation, we’ll talk about them over and over. I gave her another workout with her left arm and leg, and she’s moving it each time, a little more. I noticed while she slept, her left foot moving back and forth, a time or two. It was the same movement she does with her right foot, just moving it back and forth because she may be uncomfortable or fidgety.

After she woke, we were talking and she told me she was banging on Heaven’s door and it wouldn’t open, and her daughter came to her to tell her it’s all love and joy, and that it will be okay for Trudi. Hey, this is what she is telling me, and I can’t doubt her. That’s during her days after her head surgery and brain swelling, when heroic measures where taken to save her life. She was that close, and I remember the doctors telling me, minute by minute. And see and hear her now, alive and alert. Glory to God.

Later in the afternoon, the respiratory tech came back in and saw she was trying to speak, so she asked Trudi if she would like to try the speaking valve, and Trudi nodded, yes. So the tech put it on her trach. The tech asked her to say her name as loud as she could, and she did. The speaking valve is about an inch long and looks like a short piece of tubing with a valve inside the tube. It just slips over the trach and lets air are to be sucked in, but closes during exhaling, causing the air to pass through the nose and mouth, as usual. If she coughs very hard it will be blown off and allow Trudi to cough, freely. It’s about the diameter of a dime and is very simple.

Trudi was speaking and talking about things that may be years old or about things that may not have any relevance to me, like the snake on the ceiling and getting a map so she can go pick up her daughter, Liz, in Seattle. That’s been 10 years ago. Her brain must be sorting information and trying to make order out of chaos. I can’t imagine how this must really short circuit the brain for a while. She is advancing at a pace uncommon to most patients in similar circumstances. They are all quite surprised at her progress in such a short time. And I tell them, it’s the power of prayer, at work. Believe it!

I do, and know that by the grace of God, Christ holds her in His healing hands. This was another joyous day, and she’s speaking. It doesn’t matter what she is speaking about, she can answer most questions and communicate. A miracle within a miracle. The tech says her normal voice will return when the trach is removed. The breathing machine is history, and the trach will be next.

All of the ICU staff was in her room, amazed at her progress, surprised she went on the speaking valve so quick. That’s my wife, Trudi. She will continue to amaze all of us with the power of God working for her. Please continue praying for her, she has a ways to go, and we are both feeling the energy from them. This was another day of joy and happiness and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

Thank God for all of you, and …

May God Bless You All.

Bob

Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:55:42 PM:

What a day! I arrived at 10:00 am, a little later than I wanted to, but she was sleeping well, and I didn’t disturb her. I sat and just watched her. And when the nurse came in to give her a blood thinner shot, she woke for a few minutes, but was still sleepy, so she resting a bit longer. I sat and watched her.

When she finally became awake enough to realize I’m in the room with her, she smiles and signals for me to come to her. When I do, I tell her how wonderful she looks, today, and how beautiful she is, and that I love her. These last few mornings have been pure joy, seeing her smile when I enter her room, and knowing that her smile is nothing but magnificent.

We visit, we look at each other, quietly, we hold hands, we exercise her left arm and leg, I rub her stomach, gently while she dozes into sleep. Just for a few minutes, she napped, and then woke up, again. It’s getting around 1:30 and I’m feeling hungry. So I go to lunch.

After eating pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, and steamed green beans, with chocolate cake and two cartons of milk, I return to Trudi about 2:15. Shortly after getting back from lunch, the PT and OT come in to sit her up on the edge of the bed for 10 minutes and then into a chair. The chair I was sitting in, a recliner with a high head rest, is what he put her in, and she and I sat, side by side for two hours.

During her up-time, I discovered something. When the Speech Therapist came to see her two days ago, I was paying attention to her explaining how to know when air can go around the trach. There’s a little balloon outside the trach that is deflated to allow air to pass around the trach, but if it is inflated, then there is no room around the trach for her to breath and she wouldn’t get air when blocking the opening.

I saw this while sitting next to Trudi. Hmmmm, so I asked Trudi if she would like to speak. Of course, she nodded to me. So I told her to take a breath and try to talk. She took a breath, I put my finger over the trach opening, and she talked to me. My GOSH, I heard her speak for the first time in over three weeks, and she said to me, “I have to pee.” I broke out in laughter and was crying with overwhelming happiness and joy. I didn’t care what she said, it’s another miracle before my eyes. It isn’t her voice, yet, it more of a rough voice, but will improve. I would let go of the trach so she could breath and then stop it with my finger so she could speak. What a glorious moment!

I called the nurses in to make sure it was okay for me to do this with her, and they said yes, she is amazing them with her progress. Let me back up a moment. While we sat together, she had to urinate, not realizing she has a catheter to use for that, and was feeling like she had to go, NOW.

She was wanting to go out into the hallway and find the bathroom. She kept pointing outside the door and was getting fairly insistent about it. And during this “got to pee, now” episode, is when we discovered she could talk, with assistance on the trach. She said, as a matter of fact, I have to go pee, get someone to help me. I reminded her of the catheter but she insisted I get a nurse. That’s when the nurses heard her speaking for the first time.

In order to check to see if something was wrong with the catheter, they had to get her back into bed. And about this time, Charles, the OT guy, came in and got her back into bed. After she settled into bed and resting, catching her breath, we talked more. She told me that she was very upset that no one would help her to the bathroom, just straight out and to the point.

The left brain is more logic and calculating and the such, like serial processors, great at calculations, so that makes sense the way she is expressing herself, to the point and, those are the facts as she sees them. I’m so extremely happy to have her talking, it blew me away with joy, each time we would talk as a team. This will take some getting used to, learning about Trudi from the left hemisphere of her personality. She is astounding everyone. Her doctor says, she’s doing very well and will be downgraded first of next week. Glory to God!

As soon as she could, she told me, that Charles man hurt me, and I asked her how did he hurt you? From him picking her up, it’s hurting her back, so tomorrow, I will suggest he use the Neuro Chair, that way he can just slide her onto and off the chair. He is just working to get her to use her paralyzed side when he stands her while moving her to a chair, and asking her to move her leg. She is doing it, but is painful with no muscle support as before. I will ask him not to lift her without assistants or two, and would prefer him use the proper equipment for her condition.

Trudi continues to heal and recover faster than they expected, but we know why she is healing so fast. She is laying in the hands of Christ as He answers our prayers.

More miracles tomorrow, my friends and family, so …

May God Bless You All.

TEARS OF JOY FILL THE DAY,
WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO SAY?

Goodnight, everyone.

Bob

Thursday, June 5, 2008 6:04:31 PM:

I just wanted to share the news that I heard my mom talk today! I missed a call from Bob and when I called back he said “hold on a minute” and then another, very hoarse voice said “your mother is alive”, it was her!!

Bob helped her speak by putting his finger over her tracheotomy tube after she inhales.

Bob said she was sitting in this type of wheelchair wanting to speak soo bad and finally he just said what the heck and tried it. She said “someone help me out of this chair, I have to pee.”, what a hoot.

Anyway, she made a couple of jokes, seemed quite aware, and even asked about Taylor. She seemed disoriented a little, but who cares, she’s there! She said she would come and pick me up, just to tell her when and where. And apparently she told a nurse she would give them $100 to get her out of
there.

Yayayayyyyyyyyy
I feel like I won the lottery,
Love,
liz