Trach, over and out

The doctors removed Mom's trach tube today so she is completely free of breathing apparati. Yeah! Apparently they just take the tube out and the incision is supposed to heal on its own. They don't do stitches because it could damage the vocal cords. The incision is supposed to heal up in 3 to 6 days.

Other news today is that Mom gets to go the the cafeteria for meals which means that three times a day about three nurses have to help her into a wheel chair and she is then taken to the cafeteria for a meal. I hear that Mom is really happy about that because it is the first time in a month that she doesn't have to spend all day in a bed.

For the last few days or week Mom has been working with a speech therapist. One of the speech therapists jobs is to determine whether or not Mom has any permanent brain damage. So we were happy today to find out that the speech therapist has given Mom the all clear. Mom's head is good to go.

That's all I've got.

Moved to Rehab

Mom has been moved from Mercy Hospital over to Mercy Capitol at E. 14th and Grand to room 460. It sounds like she should be there for rehab for 4-6 weeks.

Weekend roundup

So yeah, the pictures are up. Pretty intense. Mom took it bit more directly than I imagined, and yet here she is, getting better everyday.

We didn't get to DSM until Saturday night, but it sure was great to hear Mom's voice again. It's been nearly a month. Her voice sounded better than I was anticipating and she is now able to eat, so all is going well. They are also supposed to close up the tracheotomy at the end of the week, so then she will be breathing and eating normally. Apparently they expect her to spend at least 3-4 weeks in rehab at Mercy Capitol, they are moving her there tomorrow.

We are currently trying to locate Mom and Dad a new place to live. Their current duplex will not do for an even mildly disabled person, like Mom will be when she gets out of the hospital. Currently the only bedrooms and bathroom are on the second story of a building that requires 3 steps just to get into. So, if anyone in the DSM area knows any apartment/condo rentals that are handicapped accessible let us know, we'd be interested in having a look.

Until we meet again.

Mom has been doing a lot of physical therapy the last couple of days. They are working on her surgically repaired arm and having her do leg strengthening exercisies like standing up. No walking yet that I know of. Yesterday they had her do a swallowing test to see if she was ready to eat real food. She didn't quite do well enough to get off the feeding tube but I'm sure that will improve in the next couple days.

Mom had a rough night a couple of nights ago. I guess the nurses came in to move her and left her in an uncomfortable place, when Mom asked to be moved again to a more comfortable position the nurse refused. Eventually this made Mom cry because the nurse wouldn't help her out. So, of course, Dad had a conversation with the head of nurses about it and she will not be having that nurse again.

Dad said that the doctors are planning on having Mom moved to the rehabilitation clinic at Mercy Capitol next week. He said he took a tour and that it seemed like a nice place. Also, the Des Moines crew (Dad, Elena, Gabe, Colleen) went to see the car yesterday. They said it is incredible that anyone came out of there. Elena took pictures so I imagine those will be forthcoming.

That's all the news for now. Keep on truckin' or dancin' or prancin' or whatever it is that you do.

Morning Update 3-20

I visited Mom this morning on my way home from work. She got to do a little physical therapy on her left arm this morning. The therapist had her squeezing a piece of foam which she was able to do with some effort. She also helped Mom to raise her arm up and out to the side. Then the therapist helped her to stretch her fingers out and asked that when people are with her to make sure she keeps the fingers on that left hand layed out flat so they dont tighten up. The pulminary doctor was just getting ready to put the smaller trach tube in when I left. Supposedly we may be able to actually hear her speak because less air will be coming out of the trach. Mom said she thought she might be moved to a new room down the hall later today if it becomes available.
That's all the news for now.

A Request From Becky

This is a request from Becky to any of you who work in DHS. She has a framed photo of her grandson Luka somewhere in her cubicle that she would like brought to the hospital. So any one of you who is planning on visiting would be doing us a great favor to swing by her desk and bring it for us.

Movin' on up

My sources on the inside tell me that Mom has now completely been weaned off of the ventilator and is now only taking oxygen through the trach tube. This is great news because it means that she has been cleared to be moved out of the ICU! In fact, I was told that the only reason she is still there now is that there are no beds currently available in the area she is to be moved too.

Today Mom is scheduled for the laryngectomy, the procedure to install the South Park Ned speaker, so hopefully by the time we see her tomorrow we won't have to write anything anymore and can just have a nice conversation. I believe that's all I have for now.

Top o' the mornin' to ya and Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Hooray for glasses!

The big news today is that Mom finally got new glasses. So now she can see, and thus she can now write in consistently readable manner. The communication barrier has been breached and there is no going back now.

Dad said that they talked about a number of subjects. They talked about the accident, in describing which Dad said he got choked up and rightfully so. They discussed the legal ramifications of the accident, she told Dad to sue 'em and well um, yeah, we're way ahead of her. Dad asked her if she remembered the other person whose car was totalled, Brandy, coming to see her. Mom said she vaguely remembered and said that she thought Brandy was some sort of religious person because Mom didn't know who she was.

Since she got her glasses they now let her have the a bed tray to use so that she can keep a glass of water, which she is now allowed to sip, and have a place to store a pen and paper, so she can issue orders, mission statements, manifestos, directives, doctrines, philosophies, musings, and the like.

Visitors today included Julie, Janella, Jennifer, and Roberta Hayes.

Now, as the great 21st Century poet Jay-Z says, bounce with me.

Monday, Monday

Dad and Diana talked with a Dr. Franklin today. Dr. Franklin told them that the plan for this week was to wean Mom off the ventilator and that on Friday they planned install one of those tracheotomy speakers, a la South Park Ned, so that Mom's would be able to talk. I believe the procedure is called a laryngectomy (sp).

Mom also had her first visit from a physical therapist today. The therapist had her do multiple things just to figure out where she was at physically; things like move her fingers, hands, toes, feet, and bend her knees. She also had a visit from a speech pathologist(SP). I was not super clear on what the SP had her do, but is sounded like the SP basically just tried to get a gage on what her current mental capacity is, and from all accounts it is normal. In fact, Dr. Franklin told my Dad that her mental awareness at this point is pretty far advanced for a person who has suffered the injuries she has.

Dad was allowed to give Mom some ice to suck on today, and after a little work she was able to get it down. Dad also said that Mom was awake and alert for a good portion of the day today and that her spirits were buoyed when he reported that both her college roommate, Marilyn, and Elena had called to wish her well.

Dad found out today that the full Ankeny PD report of the incident had been completed and that besides the ticket issued at the scene there will be no more charges in the case. We haven't seen the report yet but I did ask Dad to get a copy of it, it should be an interesting read.

That's the news from the front, come back tomorrow for another exciting installment of our harrowing tale!

Weekend update

Shel and I have been doing the run around all weekend, so here is a much overdue post.

On Friday Mom had the pre-planned tracheotomy surgery as well as a procedure to put the feeding tube directly into her stomach. When we arrived Friday night she was still pretty out of it, but we had a a short conversation (now much improved because we can try to read lips), but we let her rest and headed to Gabe's place for the night. She looked remarkably better than last week though. Her skin tone is much better and with the tracheotomy they let her move around a bit more and she doesn't have to stay quite so much flat on her back anymore.

One complication of the feeding tube procedure is they had to let it set for nearly 48 hours before they could feed her through it. Meaning that for the entire weekend Mom was HUNGRY. On Saturday she got upset enough about it that they gave her a sleeping pill and she conked out for the rest of the day. We, of course, keep making jokes that it is one hell of a way to lose weight.

Yesterday I got to have a long conversation with Mom. She tried to talk quite a bit, but right now when she talks it is low, raspy, phlegmy and nearly impossible to make out so that didn't work too well. She really wanted to know what is coming up for her and had a lot of general questions. She wanted to be put in a wheelchair and wheeled around, we told her that we couldn't do that, but she insisted that we ask the nurse. The nurse came in and explained that she couldn't get out of bed yet, so Mom asked what needed to happen for her to be able to get out of bed. The nurse said that she needed to be off the ventilator first, and that currently the ventilator was providing 10 breaths a minute and Mom was providing about 12. Thus she is halfway off of it, which is good news to all of us.

During the course of the same conversation Mom also asked Shel and I to make sure that Dad get her phone out of her purse. We told her that yes, Dad had got the phone out of her purse and had now been using it for nearly 2 weeks, probably racking up what will surely be an incredible bill. She then wanted to know what the phone number to her room was. We told her that she didn't have a phone because she was in the ICU. Apparently she didn't realize that because in response she wrote "it all makes sense now." Eventually she got tired, so we called it a day and headed home.

Mom had a number of visitors this weekend: Jeannette, Jennifer, Kim from DHS and her daughter, Vicki from the old Davenport days and her daughter Becky, and Reina (Dad's sister). Unfortunately for Reina she visited, twice, while none of the rest of us were at the hospital after she had come all the way from Iowa City. Reina, call us next time!

Mom continues to receive a number of cards and well wishes and we send you all many thanks.

Bye-bye now.

Status 3/9

Hey all, in case you didn't see it in the comments, Diana (Mom's sister) made a request for food assistance in the comments from yesterday's post. Many of you have offered assistance and here is a simple way to help, so get ahold of my Dad or Diana and they'll let you know what they need. It will be especially helpful for those that are spending a good portion of their free time at the hospital.

Not a whole lot to report today, Mom mostly slept but when she was awake she made and request for coffee and also revealed that she was having some neck pain and needed some morphine.

On the accident front we found out that the Ankeny Police are going to be issuing the final accident report early next week and that the citation that was issued the other driver in the accident was failure to use safety chains (grrrrr). I think that it will be interesting to find out what the report has to say and am looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Today Mom received a ton of cards. Keep them coming. The only visitor today, besides the hospital junkies, was Sandy Lint.

If I don't see you, good morning, good evening, and good night.

Take Me To Lunch

I know Internet, I didn't write yesterday and judging by the numbers you are all clamoring for an update so here goes.

On Tuesday the doctors decided to make an attempt to improve Mom's lung function. To do this they had Mom cough and sucked fluid out of her lungs. It took a good part of the morning, but eventually they got enough fluid out that Mom's lung function improved to the point where they could turn the ventilator down from the full-on setting that it had been on. That is certainly good news. Today there was no real action on the medical front.

On another note, a lawyer who has been working with Gabe and Dad stopped by yesterday to get some paperwork squared away. To complete the paperwork they needed Mom to give her consent by making her mark, which in her case would be an "X." Once all had been explained and it was clear Mom understood they gave her the pen to make her mark, instead of making her mark she started writing. The message contents? Her full name? No. The message was "take me to lunch." Sometimes I think my Mother has a twisted sense of humor.

That's the news. We'll talk, er, write at you more tomorrow.

Go get food

Dad and Diana met with the trauma doctor today regarding what is in store for Mom this week. The doctors have decided to go ahead with the tracheotomy as discussed in my last post. They are going to do that on Friday. At the same time that they are doing the tracheotomy they are going to go ahead and surgically insert her feeding tube directly into her stomach, instead of through her mouth as it is at present. I assume moving the feeding tube will facilitate her being able to talk sooner.

Today Mom wrote that they should "go get food" for her. Unfortunately she wasn't able to eat steak Gabe brought her, just kidding. She must be hungary, but there's not a whole lot we can do about that right now, so she'll just have to deal I guess. For today's mystery though, Mom wrote that we should contact Paula C, only problem is that we have no idea who Paula C is. So Internet, if you are Paula C or you know how we can contact Paula C, get ahold of us so we can figure out what she wants from Paula C.

Today's visitors included all the J kids (Jim, Julie, Janella, Jennifer, Jeannette) in the metro area including some of their various offspring (Megan and Deborah), a significant others (Bob Caster) and the matron of that whole clan(Lois). Also Mom's friend Diane Ford-Shiver(s?) stopped by.

And that my friends is all the news that is fit to print, and I'm tired. Later.

Weekend update

I apologize for the delay in updates, Shel and I have been in Des Moines visiting the entire weekend so there wasn't much web access around.

I'll start with medical updates. Before the weekend we were hopeful that Mom would be off the ventilator by the end of the weekend. Unfortunately this did not come to pass. Shel and I asked the nurse about it this afternoon. The nurse said that the doctors want to get her off the ventilator as soon as possible, but that her lungs currently aren't strong enough to take it. In fact she said that currently the ventilator is still turned all the way up, that is, it's working as hard as it can. I was a little disheartened to hear that, but the nurse also said her lung function is improving and that an interim step to being completely free of the ventilator could be a temporary tracheotomy. A temporary tracheotomy would be advantageous because then the doctors could hook up the vest part of the halo, thus allowing Mom more freedom of movement and the ability to talk in short bursts. Currently Mom's head is in traction, literally held in place by a combination of the halo and weights and a pulley, thus her movement is extremely limited and the prospect of her being able to move around a bit more is extremely appealing. The nurse seemed to think that barring a dramatic improvement a temporary tracheotomy was the most likely route to getting Mom off the ventilator sooner rather than later. The nurse seemed to think that would be something that could be done this week sometime.

In other medical news Dad noticed this afternoon that Mom's left leg seemed to be swollen a bit more than the right. The nurses checked it out and notified the doctor. The doctor seemed to think it could possibly be a blood clot, but that he wasn't too concerned because they have already installed an umbrella in the inferior vena cava (vein), referred to as the cervic tube in a previous post, that will prevent any blood clots from traveling to anywhere where they would do any damage. The doctors are going to check out more thoroughly tomorrow.

Yesterday and today I got to talk to Mom for a fairly good chunk of time while she was semi-conscious. We worked out that she could squeeze my hand once for yes and twice for no when she was answering questions. That seemed to work fairly well. On Saturday I asked her some questions about the accident and found out that she didn't know what had happened. I explained to her the details of the accident and the extent of her injuries, she seemed to understand. That was pretty hard and I started shaking a bit, but we got through it. I told her that her prognosis was good and that as far as I knew she was expected to make a pretty full recovery. During the conversation she indicated that she wanted to write and after a few attempts she managed to write "move me." I didn't quite know what she wanted. I didn't know if she was uncomfortable and needed to be adjusted, or whether she wanted to go to another room, or whether she wanted to go home. I told her that that had a schedule for adjusting her, but that's all I could think to do. Today, I started over and asked her some of the same questions that I asked yesterday. We covered some of the same topics, I had to retell her what had happened but she also had some more questions. After much trial and error we figured out that she was thirsty and needed and drink, which they couldn't give her, but we did get the nurse to come in and swab her mouth to moisten it. At nearly the same time she asked a question via her one handed charade method that really caught me off guard but certainly made sense when thinking about it from her perspective. She made a chopping motion with her arm and then pointed at her legs, indicating that she was concerned that she had lost her legs, we reassured her that no, her legs were fine, but it really brought to light for me that she really doesn't know too well what is going on, so we probably need to do a lot better job of keeping her updated and letting her know what is going on. I am sure that this is a really frustrating experience for her not being able to communicate with us very well, her brain is probably racing a mile a minute. Today she also asked Dad when he was going to have to return to work (Dad has been approved for FMLA leave, so he told her that he doesn't have to go back for many months) and he just told her that he was going to be there for as long as it took. My Dad is a great man.

Other than that we spent the weekend visiting with lots of relatives and a few friends. Visitors included Diana and Grandpa Bob, Alissa and Moses Mangae, Julie and Bob Caster, Mary from Marshalltown, Marion from DHS, Beth Walling, Jennifer Pilkington, Jeannette Wilson, Jerri Knode, and Elena's friends Abby and Maria.

Another story from the early moments of this whole deal emerged this weekend. Grandpa Bob talked to the ER trauma doctor who happened to visit while Grandpa Bob was in visiting Mom. The trauma doctor said that on the accident scene Mom's head was initially found at an awkward angle due the broken neck and that someone, maybe Mom herself, had pulled down on her jaw causing the broken bone in her neck had set perfectly back into place. The trauma doctor said that if that hadn't been done, or that the same thing had been attempted by a different method, that it is very likely that Mom would be paralyzed. Not much more I can say about that without getting too emotional.

So I'll leave you with that. Count your blessings, we're counting ours. Mom, Shel, Luka, and I will be back on Friday, stay strong.

Details 3-3

As Gabe said the arm surgery was successful and Mom was back in her room by yesterday afternoon. The doctors said the the radius bone (inside of the lower arm) was broken in only one spot and the ulna (outside bone of the lower arm) was broken in several places. they placed two plates in to hold the arm together, one on the top side and one on the bottom side. The doctors said that they expected the arm to make a good recovery, and the only adverse effect may be that the bones grow back thicker which would cause her not to be able to fully rotate her wrist.

Mom montioned to write yesterday morning and Dad had her write what she was thinking. Her handwriting was garbled at best for the most part, but she did legibly write "Today?" Dad told her it was Friday. It's good to know that her brain is working, but I am sure she is frustrated because she probably doesn't know a lot about what is going on.

I think today when I see her hopefully she will be responsive and I can ask her some questions. I think we will have to do it cross examination style, with yes/no questions, so that we can get her to make some sort of motion for yes and some sort of motion for no. Then I may try and play some 20 questions to try and figure out what it is she wants to know.

Diana arrived early in the evening last night and I know Mom is happy to have her here. Shel and I got to see her when we arrived, but she was heavily sedated from the surgery and we got no response when we talked to her.

Arm Surgery Update

As of about noon surgery to repair Mom's arm was complete. The doc said everything was successful. I will post more details later, but gotta run now to make it back to the hospital for a meeting.

Morning Update 3-3

Dad has called this morning to report Mom is in surgery to repair her arm. Not sure how long that is supposed to take.
I just wanted to personally thank everyone for their support so far. Everyone who has called or written or stopped by has been so kind and always has great things to say about Mom. It's good to know that she is so beloved all across the state.
That's all for now.

Follow up to Elena's status for 3/2

The tube they inserted is something called a cervic tube. Don't know if that's the correct term or not, but that's what my Dad wrote down. The docotors were a little concerned about blood clots being released from Mom's pelvic injury and travelling to her heart. This tube is supposed to prevent that from happening.

As Elena mentioned, reports from the front indicate that Mom is making a lot more gestures and is more respnsive to visitors every day. Besides thinking Mom tried to talk to him, Gabe also said that she maybe motioned for someone to get her something to write with. Gabe, next time that happens give her something if it's ok with the medical people.

Obviously she's having a hard time seeing becuase she's motioning for people to lean closer. Yesterday Gabe, Dad, and Elena talked to some folks from the workers comp company, and one of the first things they are going to provide is some new glasses because hers were never recovered from the accident scene. We also found out that because Mom was working at the time of the accident all of her medical bills from the day of the accident until the doctors say they can do no more to help her recover from the accident will be covered by workers comp. That is definitely good to know and certainly a bit of a relief.

Visitors on 3/2 included one of my Dad's Mcdonalds friends, Fred, Dee Gethmann, Beth Walling, Marion from DHS, and Adam Reams. I also heard that Mom received a bunch of cards from the folks at DHS and a very nice cash gift. Thanks you all so much.

Today, 3/3, Mom's sister, Diana, will be arriving from Oklahoma and Shel and I are planning on heading back down to Des Moines after work today.

Also, Mom's arm surgery is today, so let's pray that goes well, as Elena said they are planning on inserting a plate and several pins.

Details, details

Elena had some more detailed information about what went on yesteday than what I got.

Status: March 1

Apparently a lot of you have found this site already. I heard Megan Caster as well as the DHS people had found it before I really started trying to get it widespread, you've got to love the Internet. How did you hear? Leave a comment.

A number of interesting things today so here goes.

Today routine blood work showed that Mom's platelet count was running a bit low and subsequently and blood transfusion was performed and all was normal again.

Lots of visitors today; including Alma Anderson, Grandma Maria, Jane (Keeler?, Keiler?), Cynthia (don't know Cynthia's last name), and Beth Walling.

Alma and Grandma Maria reported some of the more interesting news of the day. Mom opened her eyes while they were visiting, if only for a few seconds. Gabe also reports lots of eye activity behind closed eye lids while he was in there. What all that means, I have no idea, but it certainly sounds good.

In other news, Mom's purse has been found. It had been brought to the hospital with her in the ambulance, and had been missing, but it turns out that the Public Safety office had it.

The driver of the car that Mom's car was hit into also stopped by today. She told us that while she was uninjured, her car was totaled as well. She said that she was pretty shaken up because she takes the same route to work every day and that on a normal day she would have been in the left lane where Mom was, but she was running behind and Mom was already in the left lane so she pulled into the right one to get around her. She also mentioned that the dump truck was not some independent contractor but a truck for an excavation company.

Got details that we don't know Internet? Send them to us, we'd like to know as much a possible.

Frankly, from my perspective, the details of the accident are pretty incredible, but what I wonder is if Mom even saw the thing coming. I know that when I am stopped on an exit ramp, and even when I am stopped at the exit ramp in question (we get off there to go to Shel's aunt and uncle's house) I tend to zone out waiting for the light to change, changing the radio station, etc. Probably better to be blindsided, than to have to think about it, if only for a second. Enough with the editorializing.

So to end this post I'd first like to thank everyone for their kind offers of assistance, know that when the time comes your help will probably be needed in some way, even if it is months down the road. Second, DHS people, I need to know who to get a hold of over there regarding what the policies are regarding FMLA and long term disability and insurance matters and such. Can someone drop me a line and point us in the right direction. My brother has a number, but we are not sure if it is for the right people or not, as the card we have is for someone in the Office of Consumer Affairs. Gabe said that he is supposed to meet with someone from the state regarding the long term disability stuff tomorrow, but I do not know if this person will have all the relevant information. Third, it would be nice to have a guestbook for people to sign with their thoughts and feelings at the hospital, and I am sure that it would be a treasured memento after this ordeal is over, so if any of you are willing to take care of that then by all means go for it. Fourth, I'd like to get a guestbook up and running on this site as well, but I'm not sure of how to do it. If anyone knows how let me know, otherwise I'll end up figuring it out myself and get it up next week sometime. Fifth, I would just like to thank Gabe and Colleen for running point on this whole operation down in Des Moines, just know that it's appreciated guys, you are doing a lot of good things.

If anyone needs to get a hold of me, especially you wily DHS folks, my email is caflores22@gmail.com

Say prayer tonight.

Update 2-28 Evening

The procedure to put the halo on only lasted 20 to 30 minutes. Afterwards the neurosurgeon spoke to Al, Elena, Colleen and me about the neck injury. He said that the placement of the break is promising because it should be able to heal on its own while she has the halo on. That means there is a very good chance she won't need surgery to repair that.

Visitors that came by after Chris and Michelle left included Julie Caster and Janella Reams, Lois and Lyman Rule with Ryan Reams, and one of Forrest Maxwell's sons whose name I didn't catch.

Mercy webpage

For those who would be interested in sending cards or gifts here is the Mercy Hospital webpage, it has links to the gift shop, etc.