Quick post

[OregonLuvr]

Kelly your doing great with the updating with so much on your plate. I know we are all worried about your Mom and appreciate your efforts in keeping us updated. Hope all the tests come up with something definitive to treat. So much easier when you know what you are dealing with. Keeping you and David and your Mom in my thoughts.

karen

[chalet05]

Kelly, you ramble all you want.....we are happy to listen! I know what a trying time it is and how hard it is not to have answers. I'm sure many of us have had to go through similar ordeals with a loved one. Hugs and prayers!

[Liz]

Kelly, what hospital is she in? Maybe they have a website where we can send well wishes when she is up to receiving them. I hope you can get yourself checked before Monday....not good to wait. Hope you get answers tomorrow. Keeping you in my prayers.

[ellenw]

Kelly - Rest. You've done a lot for your Mom and for David, too, keeping him in the loop and reassuring him as needed. Rest. You have to put yourself first while you can. I'm new here, so you don't know me. Consider me an anonymous voice who's there to support you, so you can support Echo. Sisters, all.

[Dawn309]

Kelly, thanks for the update. I am really worried about your Mom. Remembering back, it seems to me that at one point, Chuck's CO2 levels were too high when he was on life support and they gave him nitrous to countermand that. I am sorry I cannot be more help. That month was pretty much a blur for me as I never left the hospital, but was not sleeping more than a few minutes at a time. I wish I could remember more for you about what the doctors did.

I am glad you are going to have something done about your tooth. You are right. Your Mom is going to really need you when she does get to come home. She will have to have time to regain her strength.

You both are in my prayers. I have let my family know what is going on with your Mom and we are all praying for her. Everyone enjoyed meeting her when she was here and they are all worried for her.

[Sandersmr]

Kelly - you, David and your mom continue to be in my prayers, and I'm sure the prayers of most of us reading this. And having been through long-term care of my dad, I can honestly say sometimes you just have to let it out. Please know that this is a safe place to do that.

[rvgrammy1953]

Kelly....thanks for the update....all 3 of you are in our thoughts and prayers....and I know all to well that rambling here helps alot...so ramble on, girl....

[retiredhappy]

Praying for your mom. Take care of yourself, too.

[Pooker]

I can't add anything that hasn't already been said here. In order to step up to be a caregiver, you need to first make sure the caregiver is healthy and ok. You know how flight attendants tell people to put the oxygen mask on themselves first THEN on their child? There's a reason for that. It's so the adult will be ABLE to care for the child.

Get that tooth and ear taken care of. THEN you can concentrate your whole energy on your Mom. Hang in there and reach for that keyboard any time you need encouragement. You have a lot of people here for you.

Pooker

[dayspring39]

Thank you for keeping us posted Kelly... Am praying as I send this note...
Kathleen

[Echo]

Wish I had some good/positive news to share. I hate medical jargon and I sometimes think medical ppl forget we need stuff in layman's terms. They don't know anything, that's the bottom line. At least nothing more/new. It's something in her head but until the MRI results come back... They backed off on the antibiotics to let whatever baddies in her chest grow a bit so they could get cultures. She's not back on the antibiotics and seems to be responding to them. I swear doctors need translators!

I got there about 7:45. Didn't have to wait too long and Dr. Cole came in. Maybe I should have taken notes, idk. I'm not sure if it's her brain stem or if it was something else. There's a sheath on/around it and it seems like something is making it erode. They've ruled out Guillain-Barre (had to look up the spelling on that one), which is a is a neurological disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the Peripheral Nervous System. They're saying she's paralyzed. They tried to wake her yesterday, taking her off the sedative but it was a no go. They tried again today and Dr. Cole wiped her face with a cold rag and she twitched a bit but I guess it wasn't really enough of a response to be positive. They soon booted me to the ICU waiting lounge. Said they were going to do a thorough check of her entire body just to rule out a tick. Yeah, as in those nasty lil blood suckers animals get. You'd think they'd already know having bathed her 3 times since being admitted. He'd asked me if we'd been camping recently. I told him that we basically camp permanently, in an rv. That was about 8:45. I'd brought a book and read and watched tv. Before I knew it 2 hours had passed. David texted me and told me to get my butt back in there. I spoke to another of her nurses and she said "oh, I didn't know you wanted us to come get you..." What the ?? *headdesk* Cole said they'd send for me when they were done.

I feel stupid for having sat there for 2 hours like a bump on a log but geeze whiz ppl, ya forgot me? David said they woke him from a doze at about 2:45? saying they needed to bathe her and they'd come get him when they were done. He woke up around 4 and after checking on her he hit the road, showered and went to work. I know she's sedated, I know that it's not like she's just going to wake up and ask for either of us but while we're there they could at least remember we are, right? I got crying when I first got there, just seeing her hooked up and all and again when I was leaving.

Frustrated as heck, wishing they could just figure this all out. Scared because she's so critical. I mean, yes, she's stable... yet not... I don't know how to put it right. So darn hard seeing her incapacitated like this. I'm scared. No one is ever ready to lose a parent or sibling or anyone they love. I know it was really hard for mom losing both my grandparents in the same year. With my grams, we knew it was coming, due to ovarian cancer. With my grandfather about 6 mos later, it was an motorcycle/vehicle accident during a nasty rainstorm and he was killed instantly. Mom, David and Connor are the only family I'm close to, really. Having to face the fact that we may lose mom... It's slowly sinking in. I'm trying to hold it together and stay positive, to stay strong. I'm praying and hoping with all my heart that she'll make it through this. She is tough, she is strong. It can't be her time yet. And if it's being selfish to say I'm not ready to lose her, then so be it. I don't know if they will keep trying to wake her on a daily basis or what. I figure that by sedating her she won't just wake up on her own and have any sort of bad reaction to the intubation. I will probably call and check on her tomorrow evening.

~Kelly

[mitch5252]

Wow. I'm so sorry to hear this. Don't forget there are lots of people praying for her (and you, too).

[Paulette]

Oh Kelly, my heart is breaking for you! But, you have to stay as strong as you can and be her advocate because she is not able to advocate on her own right now! Grab the head nurse and ask any and all questions! Tell her to explain it to you in laymans terms...tell her you aren't a doctor! And tell them to make a note in her chart that any thing and everything they do or find is to be relayed to you ASAP! Sometimes the medical staff gets into what they are doing and forgets about the family.

You are right, she is strong and tough...

((((((( hugs)))))))

[Sandersmr]

First - a big hug for you, Kelly. I know that when someone has been sedated to the point of being in a chemically induced coma, they don't always come out of it right away. So, yes they will keep trying. Please keep us updated and we will keep doing our best to lift you up.

And I get where you are coming from - you are never ready to lose someone you love dearly, even when expected. But to have your mom so vibrant and alive last week and now to see her like that this week, it's got to be a shock to your system. Keep thinking positively until they tell you otherwise - her body is resting and healing.

And also, I would suggest getting a notebook and write things down. Take notes when you talk to the doctors and the nursing staff. Write down questions as you think of them so that you can ask the medical staff later. You are your mother's advocate in her care right now so ask questions right and left until you understand what's going on. You may have to make some decisions in her care and you want those decisions to be informed and not emotional.

Again - Hugs to you!

And Paulette and I are sharing a brain right now!

[Travelinana]

Kelly, you know there are so many of us checking for any new developments on your mom. I hope it helps you to talk and if so please do so, talk about happy times, sad times anything you want to share about your mom. I've never met her but it only takes a post from her to know she's one tough lady and fighting is what she is doing at this moment. God does hear our prayers.. We will continue to pray for a miracle...there is too much life left for her and you two have just started to see the very edge of that silver lining. Her secret is out and there will lots of sistah's requiring much of her to get and keep her well.
Kelly don't neglect yourself. I might have missed the post that you did get your tooth seen about. Try to rest and eat right...
Prayers for all of you...
Nancy