It's almost 1pm, Wednesday. We are all thoroughly exhausted. As most everyone knows from phone calls and text messages, Mom was intubated yesterday and moved down to MICU. Her BP was very, very low and she was not responsive at all. Dr's first tried a Bipap, but it did not give her enough oxygen, so the breathing tube was warranted. Dee and I basically broke down several times over the course of the afternoon, and struggled with decisions of what to do next. When Jamie and Jeff finally arrived by train, we did it all again. By the time Scott there, we were feeling numb and unsure of what do even do with ourselves.
Several of Mom's doctors have told us that we made the right decision. We were very scared last night when the MICU fellow told us that things didn't look good and that the next couple of hours would tell if she would survive the night. They asked again about our decisions for rescusitation (so naturally, we flipped out again). We were in our most panicked state yet and called Uncle Joe and Aunt Betsy to let them know that we were given such a grim prognosis. Uncle Joe left right away, but thankfully (someone is hearing our prayers) she stabilized and her BP came up. There is still a fever today, but the pressor levels have been reduced a little.
We have no promises, but they think they can fight the infection, stabilize her BP without the need for pressor meds and get her off the breathing tube. She's now getting full assistance from the machine, but the goal is to eventually get her to a point which she is partially breathing on her own, then fully, then extubation. This can take quite a while, and we are just going day by day. She is very sedated and unaware of what is going on. We still try to talk and sing to her whenever we can. We know that she doesn't like the feel of tube, because she was pulling at it yesterday when her sedation needed to be a little lower.
Prayers are the best thing you can all provide right now. We need Mom to take in the fluids she is getting through IV and start passing urine again. Her liver function is also not well, but we are told this is very normal when the body is having trouble maintaining pressure, it is likely functions will return when she is better hydrated.
We are hoping for a quiet day so that we can go home and get some sleep tonight.
Love, Erinn, Dee and Jamie.
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Dear Jamie, Erinn, and Danielle,
I'm so sorry to hear about your mom! If there is anything I can do, please just call. 203-216-1778. Call even if you'd just like to talk to someone who knows what you're going through. It's so scary to see someone you love intubated, but, as you know, my mom was intubated for weeks and recovered from that. Just hang in there and know we're all praying for you all! We love you!
Love,
Hope and Fam
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