Another Rock and Roll Day

Today it rained, snowed, sleeted and the wind blew like the dickens. Kerry got a real taste of Minnesota winter in April...and the reason I decided to leave the state for good in March 1968.

We had highs and lows today. The highs: her blood pressure and oxygen level are great. She is breathing much slower than yesterday.

The lows: her anxiety attacks take a huge bite out of her life. They are finally giving her atavan and dilaudid on a regular basis to manage the attacks rather than dealing with them after they happen. Those attacks are brought on by coughing which causes the pressure to change on the vent which sets off alarms. Then the nurse suctions the vent; she doesn't like that at all.

The EEG and MRI results are in; both are worse than they were last time. The neurologist, Dr. Fred Taylor (I like him because he carries a black bag like the doctors of old carried when they made house calls) said her brain is functioning very slowly. He talked about her cortex, which is the stuff that looks like cottage cheese. He doesn't know why. He has recommended a spinal tap or as they call it, a lumbar puncture. He says she isn't critical and her platelet count is good so the risk is low. That will be done tomorrow.

The troubling part is that her temperature is normal but her white cell count is even higher than the 19,000 yesterday. At some point they may have to do a bone marrow test to find out why.

Today the ICU doctor was talking about getting ready to transfer her back to the critical care facility. The neurologist seemed pretty surprised by that. They did have her sit in a chair today for nearly an hour. She also got her hair washed. I think she really liked that. The EEG people had put a bunch of gunk in her hair for the test. Of course they didn't stick around to clean her hair afterward.

So, I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. I do like the fact that people talk about her as non-critical. That is wonderful. Meanwhile we are planning her birthday party in ICU. There will be a cake and Mylar balloons but no lighting of candles (oxygen in the area could ignite the whole ICU). So that's it for today. I'm exhausted but feel good about being able to comfort her.