February 1, 2009

Tomorrow makes four weeks since Christy's accident.  So much has happened and we've got so much to tell Christy when she wakes up.  Christy is still moving and kicking a lot.  She is trying to sit up more- bringing her head off the pillow toward her knees that are wanting to crunch her abs.  Christy was kicking her left leg up today more.  Her eyes were open- she was awake.  When Kaeo started 

to talk to Christy, she turned her head towards him and focused on him- looking strait into his eyes. It was undeniable to Kaeo that Christy was focused on him and really looking at him.  She was tracking.  It's so cool to see her looking back at him and seeming to recognize him. 

I cleaned her mouth afterward.  And she basically hates it.  She turns her head away from me when I'm trying to put the sponge and toothbrush thing in her mouth.  This picture to the left is one version f the oral care kit used.  The green toothette sticks connect to a suction tubing connected to a suction container to collect excess saliva, mucus or cleaning solution.  The solution comes in a little bag that you pop before cleaning or opening the main bag.  The little bag you pop has some kind of hydrogen peroxide mix and it does the foaming thing in the mouth on the bacteria!! (Remember being a kid and seeing the hydrogen peroxide bubble up white on the strawberry on your knee?-- it hurt!!! but it was fascinating!)  You soak the toothette in the hydrogen-peroxide solution and connect the green portion to the suction tubing.  Part of the green end has that square tab on it with a hole in the middle.  If you put your finger over it, a suction is created at the end of the stick where the green sponge is.  If you do not cover the hole, there is no suction at the tip because it's sucking air through the hole. You clean the teeth and all around the oral cavity with the green spongy thing-- with or without suction.  Some toothettes have a head that is half green sponge and half toothbrush.  The last step is to open the little white pack of mouth moisturiser.  the cool thing about the mouth moisturizer is that it can go on the lips and in the mouth, it has a minty coconutty flavor!  Oral care has been proven in research to cut down drastically the incidence of pneumonia.  It's a simple thing but has big results.  The bacteria like to collect in a mouth because it's dark and moist and warm.  It's a perfect breeding ground for bacteria.  When you have altered levels of consciousness, you can not control your saliva well.  You may or may not swallow it, and some can go down into your lungs while you are deeply sleeping and unaware.  This is true in Christy's case. We're not sure how much of her saliva she can swallow and if she really does swallow it well.   When the mouth is full of bacteria, so is the saliva and down it goes in the lungs.  YIKES!  Luckily Christy has a strong cough, to cough out any mucus.  But, you can have a strong cough and still have a high chance of infection if you are constantly is having saliva full of bacteria drip down into your lungs.  Oral care is something simple I can do for her and she can't get enough.  Oral care is one of those duties of the nurse that are important, but may get overlooked if there are more urgent matters to take care of.  These nurses on Christy's floor have about 4 patients, all needing meds, turning, trach care, oral care, vital signs, etc.  

The Reiki (Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing) volunteer from the hospital was treating Christy today.  It's a form of "laying on hands" and helps to balance the energy.  Queens has healing touch and Reiki volunteers that come when they can.  Ivanka is her name, and she was saying that Christy was still drawing energy from her.  Ivanka has been coming to see Christy on the weekends since she's been in the hospital. There is a faith healer that comes to ask God to heal Christy as well.  And Chrsity is still receiving healing love from all of you in prayer and positive thoughts.  We thank everyone for that.  

There are emails I've been receiving from people asking how to donate.  If you are unable to attend the fundraiser and would like to donate to the iheartchristy fund there are two ways to do so.  You can walk into any Bank of Hawaii in the state of Hawaii and donate to the iheartchristy fund directly or you can donate by credit card through pay pal.  Mel Pieper, Billy's wife, was kind enough to help us set that up and even made a cool instruction sheet so it would be easy as 123... She is a natural when it comes to these things, being an instructor at Hawaiian Airlines!  Thank you so much for your help, Mel!

putting these up, the blog doesn't allow me to make them bigger, so If i can send them to anyone, please email me and I will do so.  

 

Basically,  there are four steps:

1. you log onto www.paypal.com  

2. Click on "Send Money" tab

3. Fill out the form on the right side of the web page:

      To:     iheartchristy@hotmail.com

     From:    your email address

    Amount:   XX.XX

    For:  Service/Other

4. Confirm the amount of money being sent and click on  "Send Money"

Much love to everyone reading and still keeping track of Christy's progress daily.  Christy is a very blessed woman, and will be so grateful for all your love and support that continues day by day.  Big hugs and kisses!