9/25 Memory Continues to Improve

Brian and I are currently at BCH so you're getting this update real-time if you're reading this now. I arrived earlier this afternoon and Brian arrived shortly after getting off work.

Linda was wide awake when I arrived though fairly exhausted as she apparently had a rough night, not sleeping at all. This is due to her normal sleep cycle being off, most likely from the reaction her body is having to being off some of the stronger meds, as Jen mentioned earlier. In some ways, she's going through a bit of withdrawal and her body is still just trying to recover from all the trauma of what she has been through. I asked if it could be related to her sleep apnea, but apparently they have completely bypassed that problem with the traech.

Her hands do shake quite a bit which is challenging for Linda. She lifted her hands, at one point, to show me how they shake and gave me a face that seemed to say "Here's one more thing I've got to deal with right now that's uncomfortable and annoying." I explained to her that it could be withdrawal from the strong meds that she was on and that her body is just trying to heal and that it probably won't be a permanent condition.

Also, she has been pulling on tubes, but that is somewhat normal, according to the nurses. As she wakes up more and more she's becoming increasingly aware of just how uncomfortable she is and how much she is not in control of what is happening so it is all confusing and frustrating, I'm sure.  Also, and I'm sorry if this has already been mentioned, she is going through what is called ICU psychosis.

According to the nurse, she did sit up on the side of her bed this morning and is doing really well with her exercises and stretching. Go Linda!

I brought her some flowers from her garden and that seemed to lift her spirits. :-) She indicated she wanted them on the tray that fits over the bed so she could have them close and touched them on and off for several minutes. Thanks for encouraging me to do this, Jen. It definitely had a positive impact as did receiving a card from a group of friends. She read the card thoroughly and seemed truly touched.

I asked her if she remembered how long she would be in ICU and why and she shook her head no so unfortunately that information didn't seem to stick from the other day. However, she's also sleep deprived and I know that my memory seems to go a bit when I'm sleep deprived and stressed and she's had much more trauma than anything I've ever experienced so it's really not suprising that she has some gaps. I did explain to her that she would be in the ICU for a little over a week at least, but that she is truly improving day by day. In fact, I told her, in several cases I read concerning people who'd had the same surgery she had, people didn't wake up for weeks so she's doing remarkably well.

She does have a bit of a temperature, but that is most likely due to blood on the brain, according to the nurse.

She's writing a lot and most of the time I can make it out and a lot of her questions deal with how long before she can have real food, get some of the tubes out, go home, see Scruffles, talk, and finish dealing with all of this. She must feel very uncomfortable and exhausted about all of this, but she's staying strong and dealing with it all amazingly, I think.

At one point the nurse asked her if she'd ever taken anything to help her sleep and she wrote that she doesn't take anything because she tends to have chemical allergies. Her ability to answer such detailed, memory-based questions and the fact that she has regained a lot of motor control enough to open pens, open and apply chapstick, put on her glassees, do her feet and leg exercises, and pick up the remote point to daily improvements.

We also "talked" about the time she and Brian and I went to see Harry Potter for my birthday in July and she remembered both that outing and the fact that we saw a lot of previews that day for movies we wanted to see. She also seemed to remember the photo of the grandkids and Scruffles and we taped that to the wall so she could see it easily from her bed. She liked that. She also wrote a lot of details about Scruffles, the medicine he's on and how much he weighs so it seems she clearly has and is retaining memories ... again, one day at a time.

She wrote about the new Denver Post building or perhaps it had to do with the new Denver Post paper ... I'm not sure what that meant so if anyone knows if this is a recent story or event that took place in the news, please post a comment. She was watching the news earlier so she may have seen a story.

Also, she's been given some medicine to help her cough to keep the fluid and congestion out of her lungs so she's coughing quite a bit which requires a clearing of the traech tubes, but the nurse on duty is very good at helping with this.

She's also really looking forward to a visit from Davin and the kids tomorrow and, hopefully soon, Scruffles.

Oh, and the respiratory therapist was in here today checking on her and making sure everything was working properly and cleaning out her traech site. They said everything basically looks good though it was clearly uncomfortable for Linda while they moved around and cleaned the traech. She bore it well though.

I think the most upsetting aspect of all this is being unable to communicate as much as she would like and having limited mobility and just dealing with the sheer immensity of all that is happening to her. So, prayers for strength for her are definitely of need.

I'm sure Brian will have more to post later as he was in the room when Dr. Smith came in to check on her.

Thank you, all of you, for your thoughts and prayers! She loves hearing from people so if you have a message to send her or a card, please do send them as it helps her not to feel isolated.