As I walked in to Louise's room this morning I saw two things I had not seen in a week's time. First I saw a big smile on her pretty face and second I saw her drinking water through a straw. She was so happy. I first thought she had found some naive nurse that she convinced that she could have water and she got it. But then she convinced me that the speech pathologist cleared her to drink. They started her on ice chips but let her graduate to water. I think she wanted to drink a gallon but she did take it slow. Later she had a sprite and drank it all very quickly. You would think that she had crawled across the Sahara for 5 days looking for water, the way she guzzled.
Last night she discovered that the little sponge sticks drenched in water to moisten her mouth could hold quite a bit of water. So she had me running back and forth to the sink to get more water for her lollipop sponge so she could have water. Desperate people do funny things sometimes.
Also last night they started her on her feeding tube nourishment feeding. This feeding tube is connected directly to her intestines right below her stomach. She has now been on it for 24 hours with it dripping 30 cc's of nourishment into her system. They have monitored it and I think her intestines and bowels are responding and waking up again. So that is also very encouraging.
Then, this evening they brought her a 5 course meal. She ate clear broth, green Relief Society jello, grape juice, grape icey slush and water (she turned down the tea). It was so good to see her eating everything. She couldn't eat as big of bites of jello before her surgery. It wouldn't go down. This did!! Half of the jello made it to the towel under her tray because she is so out of practice in shoveling food to her mouth, that she missed half the time. Anyway, I really think her new esopha/stomach is going to let her eat everything. She did have some coughing attacks while she drank and ate today but I really do think she is learning to swallow all over again with her new plumbing. Her eating and drinking today certainly made her merry. I can't tell you how excited she was, as well as all of the rest of us.
Today she slept the least that she has. She had more determination to sit in the chair and walk. Those are the keys to faster recovery. She sat for two different sessions in a chair for over an hour each time. She walked four laps and then two laps. She walked fast. No shuffles. She felt some real exhaustion from so much activity. I have to say that today she probably felt the most pain that she has since she has been here. The two big tubes in her side, to drain her chest are still in and are still draining a lot of liquid. They are giving her a lot of pain. Also her back seems to never be comfortable. So she has had quite a bit of pain killers. I think when the surgeon changed all of her plumbing around, he forgot to cap off certain pipes in her chest area. It seems the IV liquid goes from one bag on the pole to another container on the floor via Louise's body. They keep promising to take these drains out soon. She still has several other belly drains that are smaller and don't hurt but are still draining fluids. The only tube she lost today was the oxygen tube to her nose. Her breathing continues to improve.
Some of you have wondered how long she will be in the hospital. Before surgery they told us about 10 days. That would make it Wednesday of next week. I can't tell you if that will be the date of release or not. She hasn't even been released from ICU yet. But I think that will be soon. If she is released next Wednesday, our daughter Emily is flying in from Utah to be her home nurse from Thursday through Sunday. My sister Nancy is coming from California to take care of her from Monday, Jan. 18th through Friday. The following week my sister Marti, who lives in Gilbert will take care of her mornings and Kelsey afternoons. We are hoping that will get us through January at the Lippizan hospital with the best care. What about me you might ask? I think I will be on a cruise somewhere in the Bahamas. This hospital work I'm doing has convinced me that my post retirement profession will not be a nurse. I'm tired.
With that, I will close and try to go home and get a little sleep.
Good night,
Spence
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Day 5 No leaks, no drinks, no nose tube, one blod clot and one big miracle
Day 5 we are still in the ICU unit and I have no idea when we are leaving it at this point in time. Today we had many events happen and one bit of miracle news that I will save to the end. I guess I will go in chronological order. Early this morning Louise had her barium test which disclosed that there did not appear to be any leaks in her new esopha/stomach connection. That meant that she was sort of cleared to start drinking water. Dr. Perry told her that she could have her nose tube taken out and that she could drink after the speech therapist came in to see how she was swallowing. He said that after this type of surgery, patients lose their ability to swallow and they wanted to make sure she could. They did give her a little water after the barium and she loved it. We have been begging all day for the speech therapist but no one showed so she has to wait till tomorrow to start drinking. Poor Louise is still begging for a drink from anyone. She is mumbling right now that Sharie would give her a drink if she were here.
She did get her nose tube taken out. That tube was such a bother. It went all the way down to her stomach and was there to remove bile from her stomach. Her voice went down an octave after they took it out. She is sounding more and more like the old Louise.
Then comes the bad news for the day. they were still concerned how swollen her left arm and hand are and they ordered another ultra sound. If you remember that two days ago they found no blood clots. Today, however they did find one right around her picc line that she has had in her arm since August 5th. That line has been used for chemo, hydration and blood draws for all those months. they have been using it for IV.s for this operation also. So they have taken that picc line out and have immediately put her on blood thinners as well as coumadin. She will need to stay on the coumadin for at least 3 months. They are concerned about it because they don't want it breaking lose and going to the lungs. They feel like they have caught it and can watch it while she is in the hospital and she should be okay. I wondered if the blood thinners would hinder the healing and clotting of the blood where the blood should be clotting around wounds. The doctor said she is 5 days into the healing and so there is no problem with that.
So then, this afternoon, she got out of bed easier than yesterday and did a marathon walk around the ICU pod not once but three times. She walked well and was in no pain as she did it. It gave her a lot of confidence. Then she sat in a chair without her legs up for over an hour. That was great progress. Her breathing is much better. Her blood pressure in not having a good day though. It is too high.
And now the miracle news for the day. This is the result of Priesthood blessings, great faith, all of your fasting and all of the prayers. We got the results of the pathology report on all tissue taken out of Louise. That includes the old esophagus, the 1/3 stomach and all of the lymph nodes that were taken out. They tested every area of all tissue and didn't find one cancer cell in any of it. We immediately asked them why in her endoscopy before her operation they had dusted the area and found some cancer cells. The doctor says that she doesn't know about that but she did know that there were none found at the time of surgery. Maybe they died in between. Or maybe the first endoscopy path test was wrong. And I ask myself, maybe that last test cinched the fact that that we were going to have this surgery. I asked the doctor. Were we right to have this surgery? She said absolutely. Like Dr. Lewkowitz said, this insures that the cancer would never come back from the esophagus. That is the main thing. We are trying to insure that cancer never comes back. So we are so thrilled to get this news. The doctor is now a big believer in the chemo/radiation treatment before surgery. Both doctors were so impressed with how it eliminated an inch and a half tumor and affected lymph node to no cancer anywhere. We know also, that there was another great power involved in this miracle, that power from God!
So that's the mostly good news from ICU for now. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers. Can we ask for no visitors still until she at least leaves the ICU. It is hard for her to do much socializing still.
Thanks again, Spence
She did get her nose tube taken out. That tube was such a bother. It went all the way down to her stomach and was there to remove bile from her stomach. Her voice went down an octave after they took it out. She is sounding more and more like the old Louise.
Then comes the bad news for the day. they were still concerned how swollen her left arm and hand are and they ordered another ultra sound. If you remember that two days ago they found no blood clots. Today, however they did find one right around her picc line that she has had in her arm since August 5th. That line has been used for chemo, hydration and blood draws for all those months. they have been using it for IV.s for this operation also. So they have taken that picc line out and have immediately put her on blood thinners as well as coumadin. She will need to stay on the coumadin for at least 3 months. They are concerned about it because they don't want it breaking lose and going to the lungs. They feel like they have caught it and can watch it while she is in the hospital and she should be okay. I wondered if the blood thinners would hinder the healing and clotting of the blood where the blood should be clotting around wounds. The doctor said she is 5 days into the healing and so there is no problem with that.
So then, this afternoon, she got out of bed easier than yesterday and did a marathon walk around the ICU pod not once but three times. She walked well and was in no pain as she did it. It gave her a lot of confidence. Then she sat in a chair without her legs up for over an hour. That was great progress. Her breathing is much better. Her blood pressure in not having a good day though. It is too high.
And now the miracle news for the day. This is the result of Priesthood blessings, great faith, all of your fasting and all of the prayers. We got the results of the pathology report on all tissue taken out of Louise. That includes the old esophagus, the 1/3 stomach and all of the lymph nodes that were taken out. They tested every area of all tissue and didn't find one cancer cell in any of it. We immediately asked them why in her endoscopy before her operation they had dusted the area and found some cancer cells. The doctor says that she doesn't know about that but she did know that there were none found at the time of surgery. Maybe they died in between. Or maybe the first endoscopy path test was wrong. And I ask myself, maybe that last test cinched the fact that that we were going to have this surgery. I asked the doctor. Were we right to have this surgery? She said absolutely. Like Dr. Lewkowitz said, this insures that the cancer would never come back from the esophagus. That is the main thing. We are trying to insure that cancer never comes back. So we are so thrilled to get this news. The doctor is now a big believer in the chemo/radiation treatment before surgery. Both doctors were so impressed with how it eliminated an inch and a half tumor and affected lymph node to no cancer anywhere. We know also, that there was another great power involved in this miracle, that power from God!
So that's the mostly good news from ICU for now. Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers. Can we ask for no visitors still until she at least leaves the ICU. It is hard for her to do much socializing still.
Thanks again, Spence
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Day 4 Less eventful, more stability, a day of rest
The day was a lot less eventful and that is good. For Louise it was a rough night. She hit the call button for the nurse about 30 times at 3 am. Why, the heck, didn't she come? Finally she came in. Oops Louise had hit the wrong button 30 times. She hit the pain medication button. So she was so overdosed on pain medication that they had to give her a shot to reverse the narcotic in her. Too much medicine had caused her lungs to slow way down and she was breathing very shallow. They called in the respiratory doctors who put a mask on her and told her they might have to put the respirator back on. They didn't but she was so scared that she started coughing and felt like she was going to throw up. It was a real long night for her.
However, by morning she was fine. She was not drugged at all and seemed to be feeling well. She did sleep most of the morning. Because she has had these respiratory problems and fluid build-up in her chest, the doctor has stayed very conservative with her. He kind of gave her another day to improve before he starts doing more tests. She has gone another day without getting any nourishment into her intestinal feeding tube. Her intestines and bowels are still "asleep" and they want to wait another day before they try to put anything in them. She also has not had anything go down her throat. They fear that it might leak and the more days of healing that go by before they try anything, the less likely there would be a leak and infection. They won't even let her have ice chips. She is still asking everyone to sneak her a drink.
They have told us that tomorrow she will be tested for swallowing. They will let her drink a little barium and they will watch it through the x-rays to see if it leaks. So her first drink is barium. Yuk!!
They had the physical therapist come to help Louise get out of bed to sit in the chair for longer than yesterday. After they spent the 15 minutes disconnecting, reconnecting and changing all containers to a little cart so she could walk 2 feet to the chair, they decided she was doing so well that they took her on a walk around the whole ICU pod. She did great and was not in much pain as she walked. it did wear her out but we were all very encouraged with the first walk. She then set in a chair for over an hour which they say is also very good for the lungs and heart. As she sat in the chair, Kelsey and Brady had her watch her favorite DVD, episode of I Love Lucy. I even saw her crack a smile once in a while. She was very happy and ready to jump (or rather gently flop) into bed thereafter.
So as I said at first it was a less eventful and hopefully healing day. Louise was a lot more in tune today. Thanks to all of you for your comments and emails. I have read them to her and she has been so happy to hear from you all. I'll be back with another update tomorrow.
Gute Nacht!
Spence
However, by morning she was fine. She was not drugged at all and seemed to be feeling well. She did sleep most of the morning. Because she has had these respiratory problems and fluid build-up in her chest, the doctor has stayed very conservative with her. He kind of gave her another day to improve before he starts doing more tests. She has gone another day without getting any nourishment into her intestinal feeding tube. Her intestines and bowels are still "asleep" and they want to wait another day before they try to put anything in them. She also has not had anything go down her throat. They fear that it might leak and the more days of healing that go by before they try anything, the less likely there would be a leak and infection. They won't even let her have ice chips. She is still asking everyone to sneak her a drink.
They have told us that tomorrow she will be tested for swallowing. They will let her drink a little barium and they will watch it through the x-rays to see if it leaks. So her first drink is barium. Yuk!!
They had the physical therapist come to help Louise get out of bed to sit in the chair for longer than yesterday. After they spent the 15 minutes disconnecting, reconnecting and changing all containers to a little cart so she could walk 2 feet to the chair, they decided she was doing so well that they took her on a walk around the whole ICU pod. She did great and was not in much pain as she walked. it did wear her out but we were all very encouraged with the first walk. She then set in a chair for over an hour which they say is also very good for the lungs and heart. As she sat in the chair, Kelsey and Brady had her watch her favorite DVD, episode of I Love Lucy. I even saw her crack a smile once in a while. She was very happy and ready to jump (or rather gently flop) into bed thereafter.
So as I said at first it was a less eventful and hopefully healing day. Louise was a lot more in tune today. Thanks to all of you for your comments and emails. I have read them to her and she has been so happy to hear from you all. I'll be back with another update tomorrow.
Gute Nacht!
Spence
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Day 3 2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back
Day 3 was supposed to be a tough day according to the doctor before the operation. I expected it to be one where Louise would be in a lot of pain. I hate to answer for her, but it seemed like her pain was pretty much controlled. However, the pain medication that she had in her made her so sleepy and quite loopy today. It was hard to communicate much with her.
She had an x-ray this morning which showed that she had a build-up of fluid in her left chest area outside of the lung. She had a drain on the right side which had kept the fluid drained on the right side. So, instead of taking the drain tube out of her right side, they put an additional drain tube on the left side. They really aren't too concerned with the fluid build-up, but it did slow down her ability to breathe deeper. They also had to give her morphine and other pain killers as they put in the new tube. Well you can imagine what that additional medicine did to her state of mind.
The other problem today was the swelling of her left arm and hand. The doctors were worried about it and they called in an ultra-sound to be performed on her shoulder and arm. The radiologist who performed the procedure was very concerned about something and went over and over it for at least 1/2 hour. She didn't say anything and she had me very worried. I knew she was looking for blood clots and from what I could tell, she had found some(I'm so good at reading those kinds of things..not). Then she said that she thought it was probably a nerve bundle but she needed to call in a second opinion. The more experienced radiologist confirmed that it was not blood clots and I was so relieved. We don't need blood clots right now. We still don't know where this swelling has come from but it is probably just part of this trauma of surgery that she is trying to heal from.
They did get her up to sit in a chair for over an hour which is the first step to walking. Hopefully tomorrow she can walk a little. They still haven't let her drink any water (for 3 days). She constantly asks for it. She has also had no nourishment for 3 days except for IV sugar water. They are so concerned that the connection from the stomach to the esophagus will leak, and cause all kinds of problems. So they try to avoid any swallowing for as long as possible to allow the connection to heal. Tomorrow they plan to put nourishment through the feeding tube that is now in her intestine. She is still in the intensive care unit and you can see why. She probably will be there at least two more days.
So, in summary, it was a day where I don't think she was in too much pain but a day where she had some setbacks with fluid build-up, swelling and some breathing problems. We are looking for a better day tomorrow. Thanks for all of your great comments and responses. I am passing them on to her as much as her sleepy mind can understand. I hope I haven't overwhelmed you with too much detail, but most of you seem interested. So, I will check in again tomorrow.
Good night, Spence
She had an x-ray this morning which showed that she had a build-up of fluid in her left chest area outside of the lung. She had a drain on the right side which had kept the fluid drained on the right side. So, instead of taking the drain tube out of her right side, they put an additional drain tube on the left side. They really aren't too concerned with the fluid build-up, but it did slow down her ability to breathe deeper. They also had to give her morphine and other pain killers as they put in the new tube. Well you can imagine what that additional medicine did to her state of mind.
The other problem today was the swelling of her left arm and hand. The doctors were worried about it and they called in an ultra-sound to be performed on her shoulder and arm. The radiologist who performed the procedure was very concerned about something and went over and over it for at least 1/2 hour. She didn't say anything and she had me very worried. I knew she was looking for blood clots and from what I could tell, she had found some(I'm so good at reading those kinds of things..not). Then she said that she thought it was probably a nerve bundle but she needed to call in a second opinion. The more experienced radiologist confirmed that it was not blood clots and I was so relieved. We don't need blood clots right now. We still don't know where this swelling has come from but it is probably just part of this trauma of surgery that she is trying to heal from.
They did get her up to sit in a chair for over an hour which is the first step to walking. Hopefully tomorrow she can walk a little. They still haven't let her drink any water (for 3 days). She constantly asks for it. She has also had no nourishment for 3 days except for IV sugar water. They are so concerned that the connection from the stomach to the esophagus will leak, and cause all kinds of problems. So they try to avoid any swallowing for as long as possible to allow the connection to heal. Tomorrow they plan to put nourishment through the feeding tube that is now in her intestine. She is still in the intensive care unit and you can see why. She probably will be there at least two more days.
So, in summary, it was a day where I don't think she was in too much pain but a day where she had some setbacks with fluid build-up, swelling and some breathing problems. We are looking for a better day tomorrow. Thanks for all of your great comments and responses. I am passing them on to her as much as her sleepy mind can understand. I hope I haven't overwhelmed you with too much detail, but most of you seem interested. So, I will check in again tomorrow.
Good night, Spence
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Day 2 Good Progress
Greetings from the ICU of Good Samaritan Hospital. Louise has had a good day so far on one of the days that was supposed to be the worst. This morning about 8 am they woke her up. They took her off all sedation with the hope of testing her to make sure she could come off of the respirator. She passed all of the tests even though she had a hard time puffing for cancer (you old timers who have followed the blog from the beginning would understand that). Anyway, they found that her lungs were strong enough to breathe on their own so they took the respirator out about 10 am and she has done fine breathing ever since.
Since she couldn't talk with the respirator in we had no idea if she had any voice at all. One of the problems with this type of surgery is that they often times damage the nerve of the larynx and the patient becomes hoarse or loses her voice. Louise does not talk loudly when she speaks but she sounds like she has her complete voice back and won't even be hoarse. Yay!!
When she had the respirator in we had fun trying to communicate with each other. She tried to say things moving her lips and expected me to understand. I couldn't even see her lips through all of the pipes, let alone try to read them. So she would do feeble hand motions. I would just laugh. So I did all of the talking for a while. I told her how blessed she was, how the surgery only lasted 3 hours and was totally successful. I told her about all of the people of the world who were interested and how we spent the afternoon and evening answering calls and getting the word out. I told her how my parents, sister Marti, George Reeves and later sister Barbara came to be with me and Kelsey and Katie in the waiting room and how our dear neighbor Lea came all the way from Scottsdale to bring us a basket of goodies to eat while we waited. Tears welled up in her eyes when she heard of all of these things and of many more well wishers who called and commented.
After I had her write her questions on paper, we could communicate so much better. Can any of you imagine Louise being speechless? Forget the pain and the other frustrations, not being able to speak was the most difficult.
So then when she finally could speak, Brian, Katie and I had a real fun time talking with her. Being on pain-killer narcotics she said some funny things. She said how glad she was to be on drugs. She kept telling us that she had had surgery and we shouldn't forget that. She asked at least 6 times what day it was and when was Brady going to come visit. Some of her humor was intentional but some was intoxication. We all laughed including her and that was so good to see on a difficult day.
They have actually eliminated several tubes and drains and slowly she will get to the point where she is down to maybe only 5 or 6 that she has to drag around with her when she walks. They are planning to get her up to sit in a chair and maybe walk in another hour.
I watched them change all of her dressings so I could see all of her scars. Yikes again! Her neck wound was not 2 inches, more like 4 inches long. Her abdomen scar seemed like almost 12 inches (from breastbone to past the naval). But they looked very good. I sure can't staple anything that straight. As they have reduced her pain medicine, she has felt pain but not horrible. She received a blessing that her pain would not be unbearable and so far it hasn't been. Just as I write this she is having quite a bit of pain where her chest tube (that looks like a garden hose)is connected. However, I am very encouraged and pleased by her progress today.
To close this today, let me tell you one more very interesting side notes. Debbie might kill me for saying something but I don't care. Louise has a best friend (she is our whole family's best friend). She lives in the Newport Beach area and spends time every year with us at the beach. She also came and stayed with us in September and was the nurse for Louise for a week. You have seen her comments in the blog under Deborah or Debbie. Well a few weeks ago she called to let us know that the doctors had found a 4-inch cancerous tumor on her kidney. She had to have her kidney and the tumor removed by surgery soon. She had her surgery yesterday at the very same time as Louise at the UCLA medical center. They were successful in removing the tumor and the kidney and she seems to be recovering well. What a coincidence for these good friends to have cancer surgery at the exact same time. Good luck Debbie in your recovery. Our prayers are with you!
Spence
Since she couldn't talk with the respirator in we had no idea if she had any voice at all. One of the problems with this type of surgery is that they often times damage the nerve of the larynx and the patient becomes hoarse or loses her voice. Louise does not talk loudly when she speaks but she sounds like she has her complete voice back and won't even be hoarse. Yay!!
When she had the respirator in we had fun trying to communicate with each other. She tried to say things moving her lips and expected me to understand. I couldn't even see her lips through all of the pipes, let alone try to read them. So she would do feeble hand motions. I would just laugh. So I did all of the talking for a while. I told her how blessed she was, how the surgery only lasted 3 hours and was totally successful. I told her about all of the people of the world who were interested and how we spent the afternoon and evening answering calls and getting the word out. I told her how my parents, sister Marti, George Reeves and later sister Barbara came to be with me and Kelsey and Katie in the waiting room and how our dear neighbor Lea came all the way from Scottsdale to bring us a basket of goodies to eat while we waited. Tears welled up in her eyes when she heard of all of these things and of many more well wishers who called and commented.
After I had her write her questions on paper, we could communicate so much better. Can any of you imagine Louise being speechless? Forget the pain and the other frustrations, not being able to speak was the most difficult.
So then when she finally could speak, Brian, Katie and I had a real fun time talking with her. Being on pain-killer narcotics she said some funny things. She said how glad she was to be on drugs. She kept telling us that she had had surgery and we shouldn't forget that. She asked at least 6 times what day it was and when was Brady going to come visit. Some of her humor was intentional but some was intoxication. We all laughed including her and that was so good to see on a difficult day.
They have actually eliminated several tubes and drains and slowly she will get to the point where she is down to maybe only 5 or 6 that she has to drag around with her when she walks. They are planning to get her up to sit in a chair and maybe walk in another hour.
I watched them change all of her dressings so I could see all of her scars. Yikes again! Her neck wound was not 2 inches, more like 4 inches long. Her abdomen scar seemed like almost 12 inches (from breastbone to past the naval). But they looked very good. I sure can't staple anything that straight. As they have reduced her pain medicine, she has felt pain but not horrible. She received a blessing that her pain would not be unbearable and so far it hasn't been. Just as I write this she is having quite a bit of pain where her chest tube (that looks like a garden hose)is connected. However, I am very encouraged and pleased by her progress today.
To close this today, let me tell you one more very interesting side notes. Debbie might kill me for saying something but I don't care. Louise has a best friend (she is our whole family's best friend). She lives in the Newport Beach area and spends time every year with us at the beach. She also came and stayed with us in September and was the nurse for Louise for a week. You have seen her comments in the blog under Deborah or Debbie. Well a few weeks ago she called to let us know that the doctors had found a 4-inch cancerous tumor on her kidney. She had to have her kidney and the tumor removed by surgery soon. She had her surgery yesterday at the very same time as Louise at the UCLA medical center. They were successful in removing the tumor and the kidney and she seems to be recovering well. What a coincidence for these good friends to have cancer surgery at the exact same time. Good luck Debbie in your recovery. Our prayers are with you!
Spence
Monday, January 3, 2011
Surgery is very successful!
Here is our first posting after surgery. Everything went well. We started late because the hospital lost the insurance authorization but the surgery itself only took about 3 hours. Dr. Perry and his team of doctors are so experienced at this surgery, that each one worked on her in a different area. They did everything just like I told you earlier in another blog that they would do. They cut her esophagus off at her lower neckline. They cut about 1/3 of her upper stomach off and eliminated that part of her body. They tested all of her margins and did not find any cancer in the remaining esophagus and stomach. They also took out all surrounding lymph nodes and found no cancer in them. Dr. Perry was impressed with how much good the radiation and chemo had done and how little scarring had occurred. They took the remaining 2/3 of her stomach and attached it to her remaining esophagus and stapled it together. Her new esophagus/stomach will act as both soon.
Dr. Perry and his assistant told me that there were absolutely no complications and everything went as smoothly as possible. Louise is in good shape and her vitals were strong through the whole operation. They have left her in kind of a sorry state right now. I am sitting with her in the intensive care room. She has a respirator in her mouth. They have kept her sedated the whole time so she doesn't even know what you know about what happened. They have lowered the sedation a few times because her blood pressure is too low. Each time she wakes up a little. She opens her eyes and nods or shakes her head to communicate. But she is really out of it. I'm not sure she will remember much right now. They really want to take her off the respirator in the morning and wake her up but they will have to test her then to see if she can breathe on her own by then. She could be on it longer. She has every drain tube and feeding tube that you can even believe coming out of her. She might have to stay in ICU for several days and it would be good for her not to have any visitors until she is out and has some abilities to communicate. I will make many posts to this blog and will keep you as up to date as I can. i will not be leaving her side much for at least a week. She still has a real tough road to endure especially in the next few days. But she is certainly a fighter and she will win this fight also.
Thank you all for your prayers and fasting. The Lord has recognized your faith and has answered all of our prayers. Keep them coming to help her make it through this tough recovery. And as you do, please thank Him for the blessings he has bestowed on Louise and all of her family.
Love, Spence
Dr. Perry and his assistant told me that there were absolutely no complications and everything went as smoothly as possible. Louise is in good shape and her vitals were strong through the whole operation. They have left her in kind of a sorry state right now. I am sitting with her in the intensive care room. She has a respirator in her mouth. They have kept her sedated the whole time so she doesn't even know what you know about what happened. They have lowered the sedation a few times because her blood pressure is too low. Each time she wakes up a little. She opens her eyes and nods or shakes her head to communicate. But she is really out of it. I'm not sure she will remember much right now. They really want to take her off the respirator in the morning and wake her up but they will have to test her then to see if she can breathe on her own by then. She could be on it longer. She has every drain tube and feeding tube that you can even believe coming out of her. She might have to stay in ICU for several days and it would be good for her not to have any visitors until she is out and has some abilities to communicate. I will make many posts to this blog and will keep you as up to date as I can. i will not be leaving her side much for at least a week. She still has a real tough road to endure especially in the next few days. But she is certainly a fighter and she will win this fight also.
Thank you all for your prayers and fasting. The Lord has recognized your faith and has answered all of our prayers. Keep them coming to help her make it through this tough recovery. And as you do, please thank Him for the blessings he has bestowed on Louise and all of her family.
Love, Spence
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year!
This is to all my dear friends--happy new year to you all! It is good to have new years and new beginnings...and hopefully, having this surgery right away will get us going on the path we need to go on. Tonight Spence and Brian and Michael, my 2 sons, (we don't believe in that son-in-law stuff!) gave me a blessing. It was very comforting and touching...and gave me some good "food for thought." I was especially grateful that Spence blessed the doctors and my family in that blessing--I know that will give extra help and strength to everyone.
It has been a good day. We are trying to do things (like laundry, ironing and clean up) which will make the next several days go smoother. Emily, our daughter, offered on Thursday to help us put away Christmas--a brilliant idea!! While we were at the hospital yesterday, doing some lab work, the kids took down everything...and by last night, everything was back up in the attic. That was absolutely fantastic!! What a tremendous help that is to us--usually it's my job, and it drags on for weeks after Christmas. :)
I also have a new "do." (even less hair.) My hair is starting to grow, but the little wispy things left from my old hair, were looking kind of stringy...to say the least. We had a family council and unanimously agreed to let Keri, my daughter-in-law (again, forget the in-law stuff!) cut off all the wispys! She did a great job, and now for the first time in our lives, my hair is shorter than Spence's! Sometime, if I get really brave, I'll show you a picture. :)
So...a new year, 2011. May it be a good one for all of us. May we all have the strength to meet whatever challenges may come our way. May we especially feel and show and express gratitude for all our blessings, large and small. I feel especially tender tonight about my family. We are not perfect, but we love each other, and I am so grateful for the time we've had together. It's been an awesome time!
It has been a good day. We are trying to do things (like laundry, ironing and clean up) which will make the next several days go smoother. Emily, our daughter, offered on Thursday to help us put away Christmas--a brilliant idea!! While we were at the hospital yesterday, doing some lab work, the kids took down everything...and by last night, everything was back up in the attic. That was absolutely fantastic!! What a tremendous help that is to us--usually it's my job, and it drags on for weeks after Christmas. :)
I also have a new "do." (even less hair.) My hair is starting to grow, but the little wispy things left from my old hair, were looking kind of stringy...to say the least. We had a family council and unanimously agreed to let Keri, my daughter-in-law (again, forget the in-law stuff!) cut off all the wispys! She did a great job, and now for the first time in our lives, my hair is shorter than Spence's! Sometime, if I get really brave, I'll show you a picture. :)
So...a new year, 2011. May it be a good one for all of us. May we all have the strength to meet whatever challenges may come our way. May we especially feel and show and express gratitude for all our blessings, large and small. I feel especially tender tonight about my family. We are not perfect, but we love each other, and I am so grateful for the time we've had together. It's been an awesome time!
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