Movin' on Up

Mom's moving out of ICU tonight to a new room on a regular floor! I'll post her room number tomorrow. I am so excited that when I go visit her tomorrow, it won't be in Neuroscience ICU. Mom seems happy about the move, but she's still a bit drifty and confused so it's a little hard to tell what she's thinking.

Today was the first day I had heard mom's voice since the day of the accident. After arriving back from Indy, I headed straight to the hospital to see her. They had just taken the Passy/Muir valve off, but when I arrived, they put it back on so we could talk. As I said before, she's pretty confused, so sometimes she talks sense, other times not so much. I sat with her and we watched TV and looked at cards that friends have sent.

A lot has happened since I went home last week, so I'll just bullet point her progress to make things easier on all of us...

• Cervical collar has been removed.
• Passy/Muir valve is being used with trach, so that she can speak, albeit softly and not without a lot of effort on her part.
• Mom has been breathing completely on her own since Monday morning at a normal respiratory rate.
• Both leg wraps have been replaced with hard casts (these go from just below the knee over the foot w/ her toes exposed).
• Right arm cast has been removed. All that remains is a splint on her right thumb.
• Staples have been removed from the incisions from her femur surgeries.
• Medications have been reduced to only a high-blood pressure medication regularly. Pain meds are on an "as needed" basis. (She asked for some tonight when I was in her room, saying she had pain in her legs and arms.)
• She still has the feeding tube (down her nose), but they will feed her some applesauce tomorrow to see how she swallows. Today when they tested, her swallow was still a bit weak.

I think that about covers it. I'll update her address tomorrow, so you can continue to send cards.

Progress! Yippee!

love,

jennifer