DetMatt1
Well-Known Member
My God, I can't even imagine! Stay strong and I'll keep praying.
Wife's been in the hospital
- Thread starter ramenth
- Start date
ramenth
Well-Known Member
Today's been a hit and miss today. Earlier today she vomited, which isn't a good thing when there's a tube in her throat. I was standing up to see what was going when the nurse was just walking the room. In seconds the room was full of more nurses and about half a dozen doctors. My natural instinct to run to Sarah's aid had to be squashed in a hurry, especially since she had all the help she needed. So, I made myself very small, leaning on the window sill.
The director of ICU made that comment to me that "Sarah was being difficult..." I just smiled. Of course, she is! She wouldn't be Sarah if she made things like this easy! lol
What has us concerned, though, is that almost immediately afterwards is she spiked a 104 fever. They have a cooling blanket on her to keep her cool and to keep it from running away. It's come down a tick, but not much. Antibiotics were hung immediately and cultures were taken. But it takes a while for the cultures to grow so we might not know if there's an infection for a couple of days.
She had a series of MRI's last night. Neuro-surgeon came by to talk to me about them. The swelling is coming down on the brain stem. That's a good thing. The swelling and the draining on the area where the tumor was, not so much. So, not much of a good thing. She has what's called extra-ventricular drains (EVD's) in the area where the tumor was. She popped one EVD out last week at some point and the other one got clogged. Tonight they replaced the clogged one. If that doesn't work to help the draining and the swelling in that area they'll have to put in a permanent shunt. She already had two shunts put in during the original biopsy. One was taken out during the tumor removal because it was clogged. Chances are the other one is the same way. The surgeon is hoping that he won't have to go that route, understandably, since it means putting her back on the table and going in again.
There's been some damage there's clearly defined now. One of her occipital lobes shows what appears to be some permanent damage that will have an effect on her vision. She'll have diminished peripheral on her right side.
The director of ICU made that comment to me that "Sarah was being difficult..." I just smiled. Of course, she is! She wouldn't be Sarah if she made things like this easy! lol
What has us concerned, though, is that almost immediately afterwards is she spiked a 104 fever. They have a cooling blanket on her to keep her cool and to keep it from running away. It's come down a tick, but not much. Antibiotics were hung immediately and cultures were taken. But it takes a while for the cultures to grow so we might not know if there's an infection for a couple of days.
She had a series of MRI's last night. Neuro-surgeon came by to talk to me about them. The swelling is coming down on the brain stem. That's a good thing. The swelling and the draining on the area where the tumor was, not so much. So, not much of a good thing. She has what's called extra-ventricular drains (EVD's) in the area where the tumor was. She popped one EVD out last week at some point and the other one got clogged. Tonight they replaced the clogged one. If that doesn't work to help the draining and the swelling in that area they'll have to put in a permanent shunt. She already had two shunts put in during the original biopsy. One was taken out during the tumor removal because it was clogged. Chances are the other one is the same way. The surgeon is hoping that he won't have to go that route, understandably, since it means putting her back on the table and going in again.
There's been some damage there's clearly defined now. One of her occipital lobes shows what appears to be some permanent damage that will have an effect on her vision. She'll have diminished peripheral on her right side.
VeteranCosmicRocker
Well-Known Member
I cannot imagine your angst. Hopefully our prayers can will you the strength you need, and most importantly, widen that ledge for Sarah to the width of a football field. May all the prayers enable all the small victories into one great one. The darkest hours are just before dawn... and we pray that God will have the light of dawn soon for the both of you, for her recovery.
btceng
Well-Known Member
Very well said. Still with you guys.
ramenth
Well-Known Member
Okay'ed the trake to go into today. Did a world of good for her breathing. She's now taking some nice deep breaths. Over the course of the next couple of days the hope to bring the vent setting down.
Her fever is still pretty high. They have the cooling blanket on her and she's been on Tylenol now for almost a week. The cooling blanket comes off or the Tylenol wears off and her temp goes up again.
They tried to ween her EVD today, but it didn't work. They had to set it back where it was and send her down for a CT to check if everything is still okay. There's some debate from the pics. They think there might be some expansion in one of the areas, but they aren't sure if head was tilted or not, distorting the images.
She's back to rigid posturing, very little flex going on with her movements and her toes haven't been dancing quite as much as they have been the past few days.
We're gonna chalk this up to a bad day and see what tomorrow brings.
Her fever is still pretty high. They have the cooling blanket on her and she's been on Tylenol now for almost a week. The cooling blanket comes off or the Tylenol wears off and her temp goes up again.
They tried to ween her EVD today, but it didn't work. They had to set it back where it was and send her down for a CT to check if everything is still okay. There's some debate from the pics. They think there might be some expansion in one of the areas, but they aren't sure if head was tilted or not, distorting the images.
She's back to rigid posturing, very little flex going on with her movements and her toes haven't been dancing quite as much as they have been the past few days.
We're gonna chalk this up to a bad day and see what tomorrow brings.
