Tuesday, August 29th, Part II - Off the Vent!!

Hi Everyody,

Just a quick update to let you know what a GREAT DAY Maria had today. Of course she would likely not describe anything about her current condition as great - as anything less than hell, really - but relatively it was a pretty good day. She started her morning with a rehabilitation massage from Dr. Mom at 5 am, and Albee and I gave her a mani-pedi and another foot massage (more like half of a pedi, as she got bored after the first foot was painted) later in the morning. One of her doctors informed us around 11 that her chest X-ray was "a thing of beauty" and that they would take her vent out at some point during the day, so long as she wasn't too swollen. So while we were all at lunch they did a scope, determined that she was not too swollen, and took her vent out. The vent was in one nostril, and she had her feeding tube and another tube into her stomach in her other nostril, and they hadn't planned on taking the other tubes out; however during extubation (sp?) she got a bloody nose so they went ahead and took everything out. They put her on a little bit of oxygen, but within a couple hours that was gone too. She sat up in bed for quite awhile, watched some TV with Albee, then took a little rest. With the vent out, she can talk a little bit, although it's difficult as her teeth are wired shut, but she asked Albee when she was going back to New York, and when Albee said Saturday Maria very clearly stated "me too."

While unfortunately that will not be the case, when Barb and I were with her later this afternoon her rehab doctor came in and told her that he thought she could go back to Seattle A LOT sooner than he had anticipated. Of course the final decision will be up to her neurosurgeon, but the rehab doc wants to make sure that she can sit up and "dangle" (feet hanging down, like they would if she was on a plane) for a period of time, so Ree demonstrated how capable she is by trying to climb out of the bed:) She gave a lot of double thumbs up the more he talked about Seattle, Harborview, UW, etc. . . no dates yet, but it sounds like in a couple of weeks - we'll know more tomorrow after talking to Dr. Dolan (the neurosurgeon, aka God) and the Care Manager, and after they talk to the people in Seattle. Five minutes after the rehab doctor left, the jaw surgeon, Dr. Mancuso, came in and, as he apparently had not gotten the memo about Seattle, started talking about how he would check on her every Wednesday for the next month. Maria was NOT pleased - until her nurse reassured her that he just didn't know that she was leaving sooner, and that she can get a new jaw doctor in Seattle. They took the bandage off her jaw, and everything looks great - she is looking more and more like her gorgeous self every day. Also, after talking to Maria in her room, Dr. Mancuso asked to speak to Barb in the hall - when she came back in, Ree asked for her notepad and wrote "what did that doctor say?"

The only bummers are (1) now that she's off the vent, they want her to sit up more so that she can cough on her own, which means she has to be awake, which means no pain med/anti-anxiety med - no fun; (2) now that the feeding tube is out, they want to put her on a liquid diet and let her drink through a straw, but the jaw surgeon doesn't think she can do that today, maybe tomorrow, but they might have to put a feeding tube into her stomach. Also no fun, but hopefully more comfortable than through her nose. She won't be able to eat at all tonight, but apparently that is normal for anyone who has been extubated.

With all of the doctors' visits, sitting up, etc., she was pretty exhausted by the time I left her with her 'rents and Albee (Will left this am) a little while ago, but I did get a big smile when I told her about all the people who are waiting to come to visit her in Montana, who won't be able to since she gets to go home so soon, and that they will all have to throw her a big party in Seattle instead:) Also, Albee and Barb and Dave have been reading her all of the cards people are sending, and she loves hearing them, and hearing about all of the people who have commented on the blog- we are thinking of printing out the comments and reading them to her tomorrow.

Our big outing tonight (the nurses change shifts from 7-8:30 each morning and night, and during those times she can't have any visitors, so we have to entertain ourselves outside the hospital for three hours each day) is to go to the mall to get Ree some tank tops and t-shirts she can wear under her turtle, since she no longer has to wear the hospital gown if she doesn't want to - woo hoo! She has made so many big steps today, I get tired just writing about it - I can't imagine how exhausted she must be. Keep sending her all your positive energy. . . and get ready for her welcome-home-extravaganza! Hopefully we will be able to set a date soon. . .