Happy Thanksgivingukah
Drawing by Pauline Moreno
Day 29
Day 29
Day 28
Cindy started the day off with Physical and Speech Therapies. She worked really hard at both and is getting stronger. The Pulmonary doctor started to wean her off the trachea after giving her a rest for the last two days. This afternoon, Cindy was moved out of ICU into a regular room. She also started Occupational Therapy.
HAPPY CHANUKAH!!!!
Check out the Memory Lane – Pictures and Memory Lane – Stories pages on the right side of the blog. There is also a new page called Talkies. You can create a You Tube video and send me the link at debra.lobel@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to send stories and pictures to debra.lobel@gmail.com.
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Day 27
Debbie met Cindy at Kindred – the Long Term Care facility as she arrived there in an ambulance. Debbie was on the phone with their Aunt Sandy who was able to talk to Cindy when she was being wheeled into the hospital. She was poked and prodded when she was admitted to her room just to get baseline stats.
Cindy has settled into Kindred wonderfully. The staff are great. They are very caring and gentle. Cindy started Physical Therapy at bedside today and also had Speech Therapy. The Speech Therapist showed her how to use a special device that she can use for talking. It makes her sound like a robot.
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| Image from http://bme240.eng.uci.edu/students/06s/paytonl/CurrentTherapies.html |
Check out the Memory Lane – Pictures and Memory Lane – Stories pages on the right side of the blog. There is also a new page called Talkies. You can create a You Tube video and send me the link at debra.lobel@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to send stories and pictures to debra.lobel@gmail.com.
You can also leave a comment at the end of the post.
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Day 26
Cindy is being transferred from John Muir Hospital to Kindred Hospital. Kindred is a Long Term Acute Care hospital where they will continue to wean Cindy off of the trachea and continue helping her with her recovery.
This is a BIG STEP!!!
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| Kindred Hospital |
Check out the Memory Lane – Pictures and Memory Lane – Stories pages on the right side of the blog. There is also a new page called Talkies. You can create a You Tube video and send me the link at debra.lobel@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to send stories and pictures to debra.lobel@gmail.com.
You can also leave a comment at the end of the post.
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If you need help navigating around the blog, please find someone under the age of 25 (the new 30 for all you Baby Boomers) to help you.
Day 25
Today is a resting day. The staff has decided that Cindy’s goal for the next two days is to be comfortable and in less pain. That means that she is not breathing on her own as much as she had been. The breathing machine is helping her with her breathing again Breathing on her can be very tiring and she needs a little break.
Cindy’s temperment is very good. She likes joking around and is becoming very social. She is able to write a little and finding other ways to communicate. When people visit her, she makes sure that everyone knows each other. Since Cindy can’t help anyone, she tries to match everyone’s skill with other people’s needs.
Tomorrow, Rita, Mary and Debbie are going to check out a Long Term Care facility.
Check out the Memory Lane – Pictures and Memory Lane – Stories pages on the right side of the blog. There is also a new page called Talkies. You can create a You Tube video and send me the link at debra.lobel@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to send stories and pictures to debra.lobel@gmail.com.
You can also leave a comment at the end of the post.
If you want to be notified when the daily post is ready, please subscribe by entering your email address in the box under where it says:
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If you need help navigating around the blog, please find someone under the age of 25 (the new 30 for all you Baby Boomers) to help you.
Day 24
WEVE MOVED from the ICU to the Neuroscience Stepdown. Cindy was stable enough to move out of the ICU. This is great news. She continues to be weaned off the Ventilator machine.
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| ICU Corridor |
Corridor to Neurosciences Stepdown
Check out the Memory Lane – Pictures and Memory Lane – Stories pages on the right side of the blog. There is also a new page called Talkies. You can create a You Tube video and send me the link at debra.lobel@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to send stories and pictures to debra.lobel@gmail.com.
You can also leave a comment at the end of the post.
If you want to be notified when the daily post is ready, please subscribe by entering your email address in the box under where it says:
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If you need help navigating around the blog, please find someone under the age of 25 (the new 30 for all you Baby Boomers) to help you.
Day 23
Cindy continues to improve. his morning she was anxious and curious as to what happened and what was going to happen. I explained to her the overall sequence of events over the last few weeks and the plan for the future. She is stable and is still getting weaned from the breathing machine.
Rita and Debbie usually take a 3 mile walk on the Ironhorse trail at 3 PM everyday while the ICU staff does their reports and no visitors are allowed in ICU. We haven’t been able to take our wals because we’ve been having rain and heavy winds for the last few days. Today is much nicer and we have lue skies, so we’re going for our walk today.
Check out the Memory Lane – Pictures and Memory Lane – Stories pages on the right side of the blog. There is also a new page called Talkies. You can create a You Tube video and send me the link at debra.lobel@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to send stories and pictures to debra.lobel@gmail.com.
You can also leave a comment at the end of the post.
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Day 22
Cindy continues to improve. She is still in the ICU. She has started physical therapy for bed movements. She is able to sit in a gurney chair and can tolerate it for a few hours. Because of the trachea, Cindy can’t talk yet. We’ve tried to devise alphabet charts for pointing. She can also mouth words and can make herself understandable.
Check out the Memory Lane – Pictures and Memory Lane – Stories pages on the right side of the blog. There is also a new page called Talkies. You can create a You Tube video and send me the link at debra.lobel@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to send stories and pictures to debra.lobel@gmail.com.
You can also leave a comment at the end of the post.
If you want to be notified when the daily post is ready, please subscribe by entering your email address in the box under where it says:
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If you need help navigating around the blog, please find someone under the age of 25 (the new 30 for all you Baby Boomers) to help you.
Day 21
Check out the new story in Memory Lane – Stories from Fran Cox.
Cindy slept well last night. The plan for today is to wean Cindy off the breathing machine. To do that they need to keep Cindy sedated just enough to stay awake but not agitated. She is very sensitive to sedation and pain killers. They put her to sleep. The doctor would like someone to be with her today to make sure she stays calm.
Cindy slept well last night. The plan for today is to wean Cindy off the breathing machine. To do that they need to keep Cindy sedated just enough to stay awake but not agitated. She is very sensitive to sedation and pain killers. They put her to sleep. The doctor would like someone to be with her today to make sure she stays calm.
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| Visitor Badge – You need to check in every day. It’s like being in a hotel. |
Near term goals include:
Moving Cindy out of ICU to the Stepdown
Moving Cindy to an After Care facility
An observation:
You know you’ve been at the hospital too long when:
- The people at the front desk now which room number you’re going to.
- The guards ask you how Cindy is
- The nurses know your personal history
- You know the code to the staff bathroom
- You give other visitors directions and advice
- You are tired of hospital food
- You know the people in the waiting room on a first name basis, their children’s names, their problems, why they’re here and what they’ve had for lunch.
I’ll update this blog with any new information as we get it.
Until then:
Check out the Memory Lane – Pictures and Memory Lane – Stories pages on the right side of the blog. There is also a new page called Talkies. You can create a You Tube video and send me the link at debra.lobel@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to send stories and pictures to debra.lobel@gmail.com.
You can also leave a comment at the end of the post.
If you want to be notified when the daily post is ready, please subscribe by entering your email address in the box under where it says:
Please subscribe to get the latest posts
If you need help navigating around the blog, please find someone under the age of 25 (the new 30 for all you Baby Boomers) to help you.
Day 20
Check out the new story in Memory Lane – Stories from Jeff Cohen.
Cindy struggled a little with her breathing yesterday. It was scary for those of us visiting (Rita, Mary and Debbie) but the medical team got her back into shape. With a little sedation and pain killer, Cindy was sleeping like a baby. She was stable all night. Her tracheotomy is happening at 9:30 AM (Pacific) today.
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| Image from Mayo Clinic |
Cindy got back to her room around11:30 AM Pacific today. It is now noon and Rita and I are with her. The procedure went very well. The ventilator tube is out of her mousth. There is a small tube in her neck that is MUCH smaller than the ventilator tube. Cindy is sleeping comfortably. The trachea is connected to the monitor. She is on Assist Control.
The best part of the trachea is that weaning her from being dependant from the mahine that helps her breath will be much easier. Since nothing is in her mouth, she will be able to at least mouth words. Her face even looks more relaxed.
Check out the Memory Lane – Pictures and Memory Lane – Stories pages on the right side of the blog. There is also a new page called Talkies. You can create a You Tube video and send me the link at debra.lobel@gmail.com.
And don’t forget to send stories and pictures to debra.lobel@gmail.com.
You can also leave a comment at the end of the post.
If you want to be notified when the daily post is ready, please subscribe by entering your email address in the box under where it says:
Please subscribe to get the latest posts
If you need help navigating around the blog, please find someone under the age of 25 (the new 30 for all you Baby Boomers) to help you.