Sunday Update

This is Mike filling in for Michelle. Sue continues to improve, she is now completely off all of the blood pressure stabilizers. Her BP is in a very good range and holding. The plan is for this to continue for about a day or so and then they will stop the continuous dialysis and begin a periodic treatment program. The wonderful thing about this next step is that the staff will be able to begin a physical therepy program and begin to gain strength. Sue is still being fed through a line, I can't remember if intravenous or through the tube in her nose - likely have another more extensive swallowing test after the holiday and then begin to eat and drink orally. Sue is very alert and does her best to talk but her voice is still weak and her throat dry if you can imagine. She is in fairly good spirits, but naturally frustrated with being stuck in bed. Her wit and sense of humor (and oh yes at times sarcasm) is helping to pass the time.

It is a beautiful day here, I went to church this AM, two weeks for me in a row now after many years of not going. I like the folk band and casual atmosphere at the early service. I am doing my best to trust in God and let him do his thing with Sue. I recognize this is a miracle of sorts and that only God and Sue's inner strength have gotten us to this point.

Sara and Tony have been just great and lots of support and they plan to return home on Tues. We will miss them. Tony and Brian did the mulching in the yard, and Michelle did some planting, so our project of sorts is now done, something midstream when Sue was first admitted. I am grateful to all the many different hands that helped get it all complete. Sue wants to see pictures of the new patios and driveway. Marc is on the way now with a dozen or so photos on his laptop. Michelle and Brian are doing well and its great to have them around all the time.

Love, Mike (for Michelle)

Thursday Update

Well it's Thursday and honestly, I'm not really sure how that happened. Sometimes the days seem long and sometimes they just fly by and all run together.

Yesterday I went into work for a little bit and I picked a good day to do it because Mom spent a lot of the day sleeping and we had a pretty busy day at the shop/office too. She told the nurse that she had an upset stomach in the morning and what they gave her made her tired and she spent most of the day sleeping, which I'm sure is a good thing right now. Last night, Marc got a big grin out of her while we were visiting and it gave us all a good laugh.

Everything continues to progress slowly in a positive direction. Mom's blood pressure has begun to hold its own and the nurses have been backing her off blood pressure medication. When she first went in, she was on three, and they have gotten her down to one and they are reducing how much they are giving her each day. The doctors tell us that once she can maintain her blood pressure they will be able to take her off the continuous dialysis and start her on a daily or every other day treatment until the kidney function returns to normal.

Sara and Tony have been holding down the fort at home...keeping things clean, getting dinner ready, running out to our beloved Wegman's to pick up some groceries. It's been a huge help and it's a relief for Dad, Brian, and I to have them pitching in. (Tony has been performing hard labor for most of his time here, so he may be a little sorry he came!)

Keep the prayers, good vibes, and positive thoughts coming our way! Hugs and kisses to you all...

Yesterday Was A Great Day!

Yesterday was a great day...even the doctor said so! Mom was awake enough yesterday morning for the respirator to be removed. Later in the day, the feeding tube that was giving her what I can only assume was one delicious "milkshake" full of good stuff was also removed. With that, Mom started trying to talk to us. My girlfriend Amy came up from Dover, DE to offer some support for us, so her and I spent the morning getting things done around the house and then went and enjoyed lunch. Dad called to let me know the respirator was out and said that Mom instantly became more aware.

By the time I got to the hospital just after lunch yesterday, Mom was a little tired out from talking to Aunt Nancy and Dad through the morning, but she was very responsive and was answering questions and trying to talk. Although it's a little hard to understand her, we're getting the basic idea...and really just enjoying her being awake. Sometimes we ask her to repeat what she said and if we don't get it after a few times she just shrugs her shoulders and looks at us like we're insane! It's nice to see her getting back to herself!

After dinner, Dad, Aunt Nancy, Marc, and I went back to the hospital to see Mom and say goodnight. After spending a few minutes with her, she told me she needed to get out of bed and when I asked why, her answer was simply because she had things to do at the house. Ha! I then told her not to worry, she was going to hang out there for a while, let the nurses and doctors get her better - in the meantime, I was staying at the house and it was clean, everyone had clean towels, and good meals. Then she rolled her eyes at me! I couldn't believe it! (Guess I'll never do it all as well as she does, but that was the best eye roll I ever received from my mother!)

Aunt Nancy has been so amazing while she's been here this last week and we are very grateful for her coming out to be with us during this time; we are really going to miss her when she leaves today (we're also going to miss her broccoli which always seems to be perfect!). She and Ruckus became fast friends and I'm sure he's going to miss their daily walks through the neighborhood. Thank you Aunt Nancy for everything...the support you've provided, both emotionally, and in the household. Let's get you out to Jersey on better terms next time. Love you!

Today also finds us welcoming Dad's sister Sara and her husband Tony. I haven't seen them in quite some time, so I'm pretty excited to have them staying with us. I think Dad is excited to have Tony here so that he, Brian, and Marc have an extra set of hands in all of the mini-projects going on around the house (imagine what the four of them can accomplish!). Since Mom has been at the hospital, the new patio area out back has been completely finished and the new driveway and walkway have been poured out front (forgot to mention to you all that the house has been a construction zone all week!). The flower beds are all coming around and are ready for flowers. Lucky for Mom she'll just get to enjoy it all!

Keep the prayers, good vibes, and positive thoughts coming our way! Hugs and kisses to you all...

Sunday Morning Quick Update/Blog Info

Good morning! Dad just called me from the hospital and said Mom is coming around quite a bit this morning, so we are very excited about that!

I am getting all of the emails that everyone is sending...it's just been hectic and I plan to get back to all of you sometime today or tomorrow. A few people have had some problems with posting comments, so I wanted to give you all a little information that (hopefully) is helpful.

You'll need to be "signed in" in order to leave a comment. If you have a Google account (gmail, picasa, even blogspot) you can use that information to sign in. There are a few other accounts that can be used as sign in (AIM - the AOL instant messenger is one). To leave a comment, click on the "comment" below each post (sometimes, this reads "3 comments" or however many comments have been posted). At the bottom of the page will be a text box that you can type your comments into; from the drop down menu below, you can select an account to use (this is where your gmail, AIM, or other account will be used) and sign in that way. You may need to create a new account, but it will only take a few moments for you to do that.

We'd love for everyone to leave a quick note for Sue because once she comes around, we can bring the blog up on her TV in her room and she'll be able to read them.

If you get really jammed up with this, send me an email and we'll work through it some more.

Today is going to be a great day...I just have a feeling!
Keep the prayers, good vibes, and positive thoughts coming our way! Hugs and kisses to you all...

Mid-day Saturdary update

Many people are asking for an update, and Michelle is a little busy so I am filling in. The past couple days have found Sue in pretty much of a holding pattern which means only that there have been no major breakthroughs. She continues to gain strength, but of course several issues remain. Sue is almost entirely breathing on her own. Cat scans of both her abdomen and head were done this morning and both showed no major concerns. The doctors are just waiting for her to become a little more alert and then they will extubate her.

I have received quite an education in medical terms over the last week, although quite frankly I could really have done well without it - if you know what I mean.

This process is agonizingly slow for all of us, but we are more hopeful as each day passes. Sue has been my best friend, lover and foundation for so long. I just miss being able to chat with her so much.

Michelle, Brian, Nancy as well as some of Michelle's friends have done a great job of holding down the fort here on Kensington Dr. I am particularly grateful to Marc (Michelle's boyfriend) who has gone way above and beyond in many, many ways. We have been trying to have a meal together each night which is good for all of us to see where we all are and just talk some. This is the best part of the day, other than visiting Sue. Looking forward to Sara and Tony's visit some time next week.

Please feel free to leave some comments so we can share them with Sue. If I could figure out how to do this update, surely you all can figure out how to post also.

Love,

Mike

Thursday Update...

Hello everyone! We received another positive report this morning from the nurses and doctors at the hospital. Sue is doing most of the breathing on her own and they are considering taking her off of the respirator as soon as today. They have stopped the sedation and are waiting for her to wake up on her own so they can see how she will do without the respirator breathing for her. They won't be able to take her off of the respirator until she starts to wake up and they told us that it could be a couple of days before all of the sedation medication is out of her system. While we were visiting with her this morning, she was moving one of her shoulders around and was bobbing her head a little bit, so to us, that is showing that the sedation is wearing off. Her vitals are all looking pretty good right now, but they are still using some medication to keep her blood pressure up.

I also wanted to let everyone know that mom's sister Nancy has come from Greensburg, PA to be with us. She came in on Monday and we are all very happy to have her with us. Aunt Nancy has been a huge help around the house and at the hospital. I know that Mom knows she's here and I know that Mom is just as appreciative as we are.

I found a quote yesterday that said "It doesn't matter how slowly you go, as long as you don't stop"...Brian found it also...and in his own words "Baby steps, Ma, baby steps."

Keep the prayers, good vibes, and positive thoughts coming our way! Hugs and kisses to you all...

Thank You!

We first would like to say thank to all of our family and friends for the enormous amount of support you all have shown us during this difficult time. We are extremely appreciative of everything that everyone has done and will never be able to show enough thanks to all of you.

As I'm sure you can imagine, we are finding it a bit overwhelming to keep up with everyone who is "Checking In On Sue" and we thought this would be the best way to keep many of you informed of her progress.

Most importantly we want to stress to everyone what the doctors have been stressing to us - this is going to be a long process, we are not going to see any major improvements, only "baby steps". While that is frustrating for us (and for many of you), we are taking great joy in the tiny improvements that we are seeing each day and doing our best not to get discouraged at the waiting. While much of this is a "two steps forward, one step back" kind of thing, the doctors feel that although slowly, Sue is heading in the right direction.

Today was a very good day - we received several reports of positive progression in small amounts in a few areas. Sue's respiratory system is slowly getting better; all of these levels are within normal ranges and the doctors have pulled back on both the amount of oxygen she is being given and the amount of work the respirator is doing for her. She has also begun to show some improvement in levels that indicate that her kidneys are also heading in a positive direction and that the dialysis is doing what it is supposed to be doing for her.

We feel very blessed to have such amazing people working at the hospital. Each and every employee of the hospital, from the nurses and doctors to the lab technicians and housekeeping staff have been truly compassionate and supportive during this time. They are all communicating very thoroughly with us and ensuring that we understand what is being done and why. We couldn't ask for anything more and want you all to know that Sue is receiving the absolute best care possible from truly wonderful people.

We may not be able to update every day, but will try our best as we know many of you are interested in Sue's progress. Keep the prayers, good vibes, and positive thoughts coming our way! Hugs and kisses to you all...