Sedation

I updated the blog late last night and now.  If you didn't see last nights post, you might want to.

Heidi and I stayed last night.  We stayed down on the 2nd floor. (Mom is on the 4th.)  The second floor has a newer waiting room.  As long as we let the nurse know where we are, they call or find us if they need to.  We got some sleep.  It wasn't the best sleep I have ever had, though.  Heidi even got woken up during the night by 2 police officers that told her not to wear her sleep mask.  (Currently, Heidi is covered up with a quilt from head to toe to block any light.  I think she slept about as well as I did.)  (I have to add more to this story now that Heidi is awake.  According to Heidi - The police officers woke her up last night to tell her she had dropped her cell phone.  I must have dreamed the whole - don't wear the mask thing.)  

At 5:45 this morning I woke up.  I didn't have to set my alarm.  I just checked my phone several times last night.  Heidi heard me and we both went into see Mom before they closed the ICU until 8:30 am.  When we walked in we saw Mom spalled out on the bed.  She is like this because she has been put back on a sheet that moves her around about every 10 minutes or so.  This is so she will not get pressure sores from being in the same position too long.  The nurse that looks too young to be a nurse watching my mom was very nice and told us everything that has been going on overnight.  

The doctor has been worried about pressure from swelling in Mom's brain.  When I went to bed last night Mom had pressure that was in the high 20's.  The doctor gave the order to put Mom back on sedation medicine if her pressure reached 30.  Last night when Mom got to 30 the nurse took her for a CAT scan to make sure nothing new was happening inside of her head.  The CAT scan didn't show anything new. (This is good.)  So, sedation medication began.  The medicine has helped bring Mom's pressure down to the high teens.  This is great.  Remember from the last blog - normal pressure is between 8 and 15.  Mom's is a bit higher, but not much.  Of course, this is with medication.  I am not sure how long they will medicate.  We should talk with the doctor some time this morning hopefully.  I am happy that medication is working for now.  If the medicine doesn't help and her pressure goes up later today, the next step would be to paralyze her for a bit of time.  This would be a step backwards.  

For now, she is fine-ish.  Her swelling is lower and she is sleeping.  We have been told that we need to keep her asleep today and not disturb her too much.  The nurse said that she probably doesn't know we are there anyway, so we can go in sometimes to hold her hand.  Mom will probably not respond to us and we shouldn't encourage her to.  

I don't expect too much change today.  Sometimes, no change is a good thing.  

Plans for us.  I am here at the hospital until about 2 pm.  I will leave at 2 to go pick up my daughter Avery.  Ethan has the kids this morning.  He will drop Avery off at school and then at some point come to the hospital to visit Mom and give me Luke.  Heidi is up here all day, I think.  She will stay either at my house or Mom's house tonight to sleep.  Daddy will work some today and then come to the hospital tonight to stay.  At one point a few days ago, I said that the best time to visit was between 6 and 8:30 pm.  We are not staying at the hospital anymore at that time.  Whoever is here is usually going to dinner about that time.  If you need us, please call our cell phones.  Sometimes we have them turned off (when we are with Mom), but you can call and we will let you know where we are if you visit.  

Cell phones:

Amy 972-977-6157

Heidi 615-509-7543