Pretty Good Day According to Andrea

Hi Everyone

 

Before I left tonight I asked Andrea what I should post here tonight about her day and she replied "pretty good".  She slept late this morning and PT came in to weigh her and take her to a small physio gym on 4th floor.  There was a little mixup in weighing her so she sat down and stood up including into and out of her wheelchair, a total of 6 times.  It was very tiring for her so she napped twice during the day, but tonight she was more alert and stronger again.  She had one bout with nausea today, likely because she has been having nosebleeds off and on for the last couple of weeks.  Blood in the stomach that has gotten there from a nosebleed is likely the reason for her stomach upset.  Her INR or blood thinness number is a little high, meaning that it is a little on the thin side, aspirin which is a blood thinner was discontinued today.  Unfortunately it takes a few days at least to clear out the aspirin effect, so it may take a few days for her nosebleed to stop.  This is a common problem for anyone who has a heart device, they all need to have their blood thinned some and it is a common problem to bleed somewhere, most commonly from the nose.  The nosebleed is intermittent and not lots of blood.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  Goodnight.

 

Regards, Maynard

Little Better Day

Well today was a little better one for Andrea.  Dialysis was early this morning and done by 1PM.  She slept some during dialysis so was awake the rest of the day except for an hour nap.  Pt was in to weigh her standing on the scale besides some other excercises.  She asked today how we could make time go faster, so she is sometimes impatient too, probably a good thing, as long as it doesn't get her down.  We had her up for an hour in her wheelchair this evening, although she was a bit nauseous for awhile.  Hopefully she will sleep good, she also can sleep in a bit on the weekend which she looks forward to.  Now it is time to sleep here too.

 

Goodnight, Maynard

Not Feeling Good Today

You all know the old adage about 2 steps forward and 1 step back?  Andrea had a good string of 2 step forward days, so I guess today was the day for a backward step.  In other words not a good day really.  First thing this morning when I got her up to get weighed she was feeling bad, so she lay down , thinking that it might pass over, later got her up in the wheelchair hoping to have her take a few more steps today at 10 AM but it got delayed awhile because  of how she was feeling so by the time we got down to the gym, the PT worker had other commitments and Andrea was not feeling good so we turned around and she went back to bed.  She slept alot and was in stomach pain and nausea most of the day.  When she tried to drink it all came back up within a few minutes.  She was ready to sleep at 9 PM so hopefully she has a good sleep before her dialysis tomorrow.  Extra blood tests were taken to see whether there was infection somewhere and only one test came back slightly elevated not really indicating anything, not sure which test though.  The overall trend is still getting better though,if we compare her to where she was a month or 2 ago.

 

Thanks, Maynard

"Stronger Every Day"

Dialysis started early this morning and she was able to nap a bit during that time.  The rest of the day she did not sleep, she was up for 2.25 hours in her wheelchair did some scrapbooking, driving around the hospital etcetera.  Physiotherapy did their work with her too.  Tomorrow we want to have her down to the gym for 10 oclock, they will likely see whether she can walk a little farther than the last time, do more hand and arm excercises also.  She is definitely a little stronger every day, still it will be a while yet till she is able to do some of what she was able to do before she got sick last summer.  She still is only eating a wee bit, hopefully that will soon improve.

 

thanks, Maynard

She WALKED!!!

Good Evening

 

Well today was a day to record a milestone on Andrea's road to recovery.  Today she WALKED, yes it was only 4 feet or so, with a PT ahead of her keeping her knees from buckling and I was right behind with the wheelchair so she could sit down, and it was between the paralled bars, but yes she actually walked!!!  Her steps were only shuffling steps, maybe 15 all told, nevertheless it is progress.  After this she was totally tuckered out.  The effort put forth was probably the equivalent of a seasoned athlete doing a triathlon or more, but it is a start.  I have been helping her stand beside her bed and it is getting easier.  It is a real morale booster for her to actually be able to do this, the last 3.5 months she did not walk at all and the previous 2.5 months before that she hardly did any walking either.  She should sleep well tonight we expect and hope, last night's sleep was better than the previous night,  her days go a lot better when she has had a good night's rest.  She is still battling nausea off and on, but they say with becoming more active and hopefully she will feel like eating more, this should all help.  Time to close again so, goodnight.

 

Thanks, Maynard