In our lives we play many roles--a parent, friend, sister, lover but there are some roles assigned to us that we would never audition for. The gods of fate bestow these upon us and we are forced to live out whatever story lines they bring with them.
As an ICU family we stood by as the priorities of Lauren condition differed day by day. What the doctors worried over is what we worried over, when took a collective sigh of relief so did we. Even though we had lingering questions about her other injuries it seemed as though they were not the biggest concern. Now that she has been moved to the trauma unit and she is breathing on her own our attention and their attention has turned to her brain injury.
As I mentioned in another post medical terms are literal. It feels very real and closer to our definition of brain injury when you receive pamphlets and other reading material about brain injuries and the care of patients with them.
I am sitting in Lauren's hospital room now writing this entry surrounded by cards, flowers and old pictures of the Lauren we all know. I can't help but to wonder who will she be. We had visits today from the Speech Therapist and the Physical Therapist.
I'll start with her Physical Therapist report: Lauren took a few steps and set up in a chair. She high fived and gave a thumbs up with her left hand but the right hand is still took weak to do either. She used her left hand to aid in right in both of these tasks.
Her Speech Therapist report: Lauren knew her age and address, she could point to a board and find simple objects like an apple, car, etc. On a cognitive scale of 1-10 1 being someone in a coma and 10 being someone functioning--her therapist gave her a 4 or 5--progress!!
The milestones we will work on for the next week:
-Get a smaller tube in her throat and cap it off so that we can hear her voice. We have found in the world of skills that our family has...lip reading is not one of them.
-Get her off the continuous flow of pain meds. Keeps you groggy--we need her alert.
-Four more days of antibiotics for her pneumonia and bacteria still lurking in her blood.
-Get her up and moving more. The hope to begin to wheel her around the floor and out to the waiting room.
Before we even pack bags for rehab Lauren needs to be tube-free alert and be able to with stand 3 hours of therapy a day. So while we see a light at the end of the tunnel it may just be a sunroof.
In the meantime we prepare and we become more patient in the unknown and continue to count our blessings all 5'8" of her.
Lastly the doctors have asked that we limit Lauren's visitors to family only. I know this may be tough for some of you but please respect this request. Lauren's therapist are tough and invested in her getting better we need to let them guide us through this. We are happy to accept your cards, pictures, etc and we do our best to share them with Lauren. The truth of the matter is that these are days that will not live in her memory. We have to accept that all the air kisses, hand squeezes, and mouthed words are part of her process but don't take it personal baby. She knows she is surrounded by love which puts her at ease but the baby steps in her recovery puts all of us at ease.
I will always end my entries with gratitude. Gratitude for your love, support, prayers and thoughts they are good for us and Lauren.
Love,
Us
Thank you sooooo much for sharing this! Lauren is quite blessed to have such a wonderful family, even if they aren't too adept at lipreading.
ReplyDeleteYou all are in my thoughts and prayers.
My name is Kendra and I went to school with Lauren. I'm so sorry to hear of her accident and keep her in my thoughts and prayers. I know all to well the ups and downs of Grant's ICU..my mother was in the CCU at the time of Laurens admittance. My mother went into the ER with a cold that wouldnt go away..long story short she was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure and double pnuemonia. She had to be intubated because she was not getting enough oxygen and couldnt filter the carbon monoxide. She got better after a couple of days and was able to talk and laugh for about a week. But unfortunatly she took a turn for the worse and then had to be re-intubated..and then later trached. She has been moved to Regency Hospital on South High..but she has to be kept sedated constantly because she becomes very anxious and cannot be controlled..We know she probably will not make it.
ReplyDeleteSo as I was reading about Laurens recovery..I am very encouraged. I know all to well how frustrating it is for the drs to tell you one thing one day..and something else the next. I guess it showed me that some people do really get better after being in the ICU..We too saw so many other patients pass while visiting my mom. I just wanted to share and let you all know that there are many many people praying for her..even people she has never met before. God bless you all.