Another Curve Ball

Just as we landed in Minneapolis yesterday, Neil got a call that Vicky had had a seizure. It wasn't the shaking kind, it was the type where she just was gone for about 5 minutes. Luckily one of her doctors was checking on her when it happened. Otherwise we might not have known what was going on. The neurologist came to see us. She had an EEG yesterday and is having an MRI as I write. She's back on the vent so getting her to and into the MRI is not easy. They may decided to do a spinal tap although the neurologist said that would be his last thing to try because every time you put a hole, even a teeny tiny one, you risk more infection.

The strange thing is that her temperature is normal but her white cell count as of yesterday morning was 19,000. A high normal count for you and I would be 11,000. He said normally you would think of cancer but not with what has happened to her. He kept using the word "sepsis."

She opened her eyes and smiled when she saw me. Her anxiety level is way over the top. She can't talk right now because she is on the vent, but I could read her lips, "I want to go home." I wish I could just climb into her bed and hold her but there are far to many tubes and lines to make that possible.

I discovered that putting my hand on the top of her head near her forehead and holding her hand is comforting to her. Then I tell her that she is safe. Usually she falls asleep in a few minutes. I'm glad she is awake, but it is so hard to look into those beseeching eyes and know I can't do what she wants.

She has been coughing on the vent which sets off alarms and then the nurse comes in to suction her out. She hates this. Yesterday her face turned all red; I thought she was going to spring out of the bed with anxiety while they were suctioning her. The respiratory therapist said that Vicky pinched her when she did it a bit earlier.

Her heart rate is still in the low 120s and they are having trouble maintaining her blood pressure due to the Atavan they are giving her for anxiety. Her oxygen level, however, is 100 percent. That is great.

So we are heading to the hospital in a little bit. She has the MRI and dialysis this morning so we don't want to get there too early. She is usually pretty tired after dialysis. They tried to do it yesterday, but about an hour into it her numbers started going down so they stopped. Her urine output is about 10 ccs an hour, which is better than the 10 ccs a day she was doing. Also, the color is better.

My job today is to wash her hearing aide mold and get it back in her ear. Neil tried yesterday but couldn't get it in; we could tell he were hurting her. I talked to my brother last night. He wears a hearing aide in addition to his cochlear implant. He told me to put a small bit of Vaseline in her ear so it will slip in easier. I'm going to try that today when she's awake.

It's supposed to snow today. In fact they are predicting a blizzard. Mother Nature obviously doesn't know it's April 10.