10:30 Am
Quick update here. Andrea did not do well without the breathing tube, she hardly slept last night at all, so as I am typing here they are reintubating her again. Docs say her lungs are okay, her muscles that we do not even think about, are so weak and tired and she is having to put so much energy into breathing that it stalls her progress. She needs to get up and be mobilized and move around to regain her strength again. She is not strong enough for this on her own, so this afternoon they plan to do a tracheostomy, that way she can have full suppport at night so she can sleep, and in the day time they plan to plug the trach a few minutes at a time, gradually increasing the time off support until she is well enough to breathe on her own again. Often this process takes a couple weeks to accomplish. Her bilirubin is also up today to all time highs again, nothing we can do about that except wait for her various systems to heal again. On a positive note, they have discontinued one very strong heart support medication, and reduced the other one to a very small dose. In spite of this her blood pressure is much improved her central venous pressure is lower, which means that the right side of her heart has significantly recovered. Her heart mate II is also working well. She is also very clear altho she does not talk. After the trach is in, when they plug it, she will be able to talk, something we really look forward to. Hope to get another update out tonight to you all.
Thanks, Maynard
Quick update here. Andrea did not do well without the breathing tube, she hardly slept last night at all, so as I am typing here they are reintubating her again. Docs say her lungs are okay, her muscles that we do not even think about, are so weak and tired and she is having to put so much energy into breathing that it stalls her progress. She needs to get up and be mobilized and move around to regain her strength again. She is not strong enough for this on her own, so this afternoon they plan to do a tracheostomy, that way she can have full suppport at night so she can sleep, and in the day time they plan to plug the trach a few minutes at a time, gradually increasing the time off support until she is well enough to breathe on her own again. Often this process takes a couple weeks to accomplish. Her bilirubin is also up today to all time highs again, nothing we can do about that except wait for her various systems to heal again. On a positive note, they have discontinued one very strong heart support medication, and reduced the other one to a very small dose. In spite of this her blood pressure is much improved her central venous pressure is lower, which means that the right side of her heart has significantly recovered. Her heart mate II is also working well. She is also very clear altho she does not talk. After the trach is in, when they plug it, she will be able to talk, something we really look forward to. Hope to get another update out tonight to you all.
Thanks, Maynard
What can i say? i've been with andrea only a couple times, but each time we've had fun together...it's really hard for me to imagine her so sick...please tell her and her family that we're praying for them, and i hope she will start feeling better soon -a friend
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