Thursday February 12, 2009

Guess what!  Christy got accepted to Craig today!!!  Craig didn't even send a nurse down from their facility, they just spoke to the doctors at Queens, and agreed that she would be a good candidate for Craig Hospital.  They are requesting that Rehab of the Pacific do an evaluation and send it to them-- as I understand it.  I guess they want them to definitely say that Christy would be better of at Craig.  Now we just have to get the insurance HMSA company to agree that its the best thing for Christy and give the OK to send her.  It will cost them more money, so they don't want to send her.  We have to fight to make sure that Christy gets the best, most appropriate rehabilitation care for her.  Once we get that in order, she should be on her way.  The flight arrangements. etc. will have to be made and that will take about a week or so I would think.  When we know more of the details, I'll let you know!

Christy didn't sleep well last night, and worked really hard at rehab today, so she's really tired.  When we were in with her she was trying to get into a comfortable spot, but she had her eyes closed almost the whole time, maybe even sleeping the whole time, and adjusting her body. Even though Christy didn't sleep well, she managed to work with OT and PT to challenge her body once again.  Christy stood in the standing frame for 8 minutes today, so three minutes longer than yesterday!  Don was telling Kaeo that the therapist mentioned that Christy was moving her legs while she was standing, which was a good sign of her being able to use them & strengthen them.  Christy also powered through 4 hours in the cardiac chair! So she clearly worked hard today.  We hope that Christy will do better resting tonight so she can build up her energy for more rehab tomorrow.  It's such a great effort Christy has to make to do this kind of work.  It must drain an enormous amount of energy from her to concentrate on standing and using the muscles again.  She's so drained that when her body says sleep we have to honor that. 

The nurses are

 saying that they notice a difference in Christy's cooperation with them since she's been waking up.  In the past, while obtaining her blood pressure, Christy would withdraw her arms tight to her body, and resist them doing it.  Now she will allow you to outstretch her arm and take her blood pressure if you talk to her and let her know what is going on.  They also get her cooperation with oral care.  Remember she hated oral care.  Now they receive more cooperation.  The nurse or aid had asked her to open her mouth when they were attempting to 

clean her mouth, and she did!  She opened her mouth and they brushed her teeth

 with the oral care kits we talked about in a previous blog. 

Donald is participating in all aspects of Christy's care and advocating for her needs.  He suctions her mouth with the yankauer suction (right) when she needs oral suction (for drool or when she coughs up saliva).  He also uses it to suction what Christy

 coughs up on her own out of the Trach.  Donald comfortably flushes Christy's feeding tube and disconnects the feed.  He works the stopcock (works like this one below- black and white picture) but is really a Lopez valve, and looks like the one with the red cap.

 

The nurse doesn't have to do any of this stuff.  He knows her tube feeding formula's name- Jevity... he turns her, he makes sure she stays regular so she's not uncomfortable.  That's all so important for her!  Christy is so lucky to have him.   And to have all of you who are praying and loving Christy from a distance.  Thank you for keeping the faith.  Donald mentioned that it's everyone's love that keeps him strong!  

Good night to you and to Christy.  Let's all have a night of peaceful, restful, sleep and recharge our batteries for another wonderful tomorrow!