Sitting and nagging
Things have gotten rather interesting the last 36 hours here. In good ways, to be sure, but it is still somewhat overwhelming.
Let's see...
Mom did not have surgery yet on her ankle. It appears to be something they may want to do in either one or two stages, depending on the day and their moods. It didn't happen yesterday and has been tabled for the time being.
Mentally, Mom appears to come and go a bit. She spends a lot of time drifting in and out of consciousness. At times, she is agitated and seems confused. Other moments, she is very lucid and engaging, beaming that smile or winking. We have gotten slightly better at lip reading, but certainly nowhere near good enough to have a feel for where she currently stands cognition-wise. Hopefully that will continue to improve over the next day or so.
We THINK she can read but aren't sure. So Roland had a wonderful idea of giving her a chart and letting her point to things. He is making it right now for our return and we will see how that goes.
One of Mom's lungs has gotten 'cloudy' but it is too early to know if that is going to be a problem. Her temperature and white count have been better so hopefully this will resolve without incident. Mom is currently having a trial with her trach collar. This is a tube that blows humidified air past her tracheostomy and leaves Mom in charge of the breathing. This would be the next step in getting off the ventilator. We will see. Don't get too excited yet.
Mom has decided she is ready to go and has started sitting up on her own! She is also moving her head a lot more. They are still working on getting the MRI so they can clear her neck. That would be great as it would allow them to take off the C-collar. Hopefully we will get that soon.
Finally, there is some talk of flying Mom back to Vanderbilt in the nearish but undefined future. This could happen without much warning and may be scheduled and rescheduled several times before it truly happens. In addition, the biosecurity people have started to nag about all the stuff in Mom's room. So we are going to ask that, for the moment, people stop sending things. They are very very welcome but we are afraid to lose anything should we need to leave suddenly. Once we have an all-clear on this, I can guarantee I will let you know as your cards, letters and thoughtful gifts have brightened all of our hearts as well as hers.
I will try and make time to tell you all about the equipment for the eventual airlift in my next post. It is really quite fascinating! In the meantime, we welcome your prayers and posts-
jackie chris
Let's see...
Mom did not have surgery yet on her ankle. It appears to be something they may want to do in either one or two stages, depending on the day and their moods. It didn't happen yesterday and has been tabled for the time being.
Mentally, Mom appears to come and go a bit. She spends a lot of time drifting in and out of consciousness. At times, she is agitated and seems confused. Other moments, she is very lucid and engaging, beaming that smile or winking. We have gotten slightly better at lip reading, but certainly nowhere near good enough to have a feel for where she currently stands cognition-wise. Hopefully that will continue to improve over the next day or so.
We THINK she can read but aren't sure. So Roland had a wonderful idea of giving her a chart and letting her point to things. He is making it right now for our return and we will see how that goes.
One of Mom's lungs has gotten 'cloudy' but it is too early to know if that is going to be a problem. Her temperature and white count have been better so hopefully this will resolve without incident. Mom is currently having a trial with her trach collar. This is a tube that blows humidified air past her tracheostomy and leaves Mom in charge of the breathing. This would be the next step in getting off the ventilator. We will see. Don't get too excited yet.
Mom has decided she is ready to go and has started sitting up on her own! She is also moving her head a lot more. They are still working on getting the MRI so they can clear her neck. That would be great as it would allow them to take off the C-collar. Hopefully we will get that soon.
Finally, there is some talk of flying Mom back to Vanderbilt in the nearish but undefined future. This could happen without much warning and may be scheduled and rescheduled several times before it truly happens. In addition, the biosecurity people have started to nag about all the stuff in Mom's room. So we are going to ask that, for the moment, people stop sending things. They are very very welcome but we are afraid to lose anything should we need to leave suddenly. Once we have an all-clear on this, I can guarantee I will let you know as your cards, letters and thoughtful gifts have brightened all of our hearts as well as hers.
I will try and make time to tell you all about the equipment for the eventual airlift in my next post. It is really quite fascinating! In the meantime, we welcome your prayers and posts-
jackie chris
posted by Jacqui at 4:42 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Jacqui,
It is so refreshing to see all the progress Mrs. Schnell is making!! I look forward to reading the posts every day (and I love seeing the pictures the most!! I feel like I'm right there with you!!) In the mean time, life continues here in dreary, rainy Nashville. It was actually very warm this past weekend- about 70 degrees with clear sunshine!! I cannot believe we're having this kind of weather in February of all months! I'm interested in seeing how the chart works out... tell us more about what it looks like. And what's going on with Kelly planning a children's choir benefit concert? any more details about that? (Has she talked to Mrs. Somerville about that?) Is there any chance they would let your mom out of the hospital for a couple of hours to come listen to us sing the "Passion" at First Pres at the end of the month (assuming she's back here by then)? Do you think she'd be well enough by then? All of the girls miss her so much and want her to hear us. Sorry, but I mailed a card this morning before you posted the message about no more mail. I'll wait to send my package (I have a couple of CDs for her to listen to while she's hanging out).
Thanks for keeping everyone so informed!! I'm looking forward to hearing more about everything-
love,
charlotte
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