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Posted

Good news!

 

Kris is off all sedation and the ventilator and the heart and lung machine. She was experiencing ICU Delirium yesterday but the doctors think she'll get better with time off of the sedatives.

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Posted (edited)

It seems that for every step forward there is a stumble back.

Kris had to be re intubated today. She was just too weak from the surgeries and sedation to clear her lungs on her own. She's still improving on all other fronts, but they will be doing a tracheostomy tomorrow so they can take her off of the sedatives and use a ventilator when needed so she can clear her lungs and still be coherent and mobile.

The delirium has not waned as of this evening.

 

Again, thank you all for the prayers and support!

 

Edited by luvmy40
Posted

They did the tracheostomy Monday and Kris is off the ventilator during the day and on CPAP at night with what they are calling a Trach Collar. She has a "voice valve" that can be installed when off the CPAP that allows her to talk and, eventually eat and drink. She started physical therapy yesterday and is showing improvement on all fronts. I am still concerned about the delirium, which seems to come and go, but the ICU team does not seem to think it's anything to worry about at this time. 

Hopefully she will be out of the CTICU soon.

 

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Posted

Kris continues to improve. She was transferred from CTICU at the UH Cleveland Med Center(over an hour drive) to the UH Portage ICU(5 minute drive) early this morning. I was hoping she would be out of ICU, but this is still a good leap forward.

 

They have started physical therapy and, while she still has the tracheostomy, they took her off the ventilator completely last night. They had been putting her on the ventilator in CPAP mode while she "slept". As if anyone not heavily sedated could sleep in an ICU ward. 

Posted
1 hour ago, luvmy40 said:

Kris continues to improve. She was transferred from CTICU at the UH Cleveland Med Center(over an hour drive) to the UH Portage ICU(5 minute drive) early this morning. I was hoping she would be out of ICU, but this is still a good leap forward.

 

They have started physical therapy and, while she still has the tracheostomy, they took her off the ventilator completely last night. They had been putting her on the ventilator in CPAP mode while she "slept". As if anyone not heavily sedated could sleep in an ICU ward. 

Good news for sure.

Posted

Kris is out of the ICU and will probably be transferred to an acute rehab facility early next week.

 

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

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Posted
On 12/14/2022 at 10:13 PM, luvmy40 said:

They did the tracheostomy Monday and Kris is off the ventilator during the day and on CPAP at night with what they are calling a Trach Collar. She has a "voice valve" that can be installed when off the CPAP that allows her to talk and, eventually eat and drink. She started physical therapy yesterday and is showing improvement on all fronts. I am still concerned about the delirium, which seems to come and go, but the ICU team does not seem to think it's anything to worry about at this time. 

Hopefully she will be out of the CTICU soon.

 

Thanks for keeping us up to date. 

As far as the delirium this is not uncommon among older people when on drugs like morphine. Both my mother and father experienced this but once off the morphine and as it left their system they were not long getting back to normal. 

Posted

Kris has been transferred to the VA Louis Stokes Medical Center in Cleveland for her acute rehabilitation program. She will be undergoing another open heart surgery to reconstruct her aortal artery in a few weeks.

Her recovery thus far from 3 weeks of medically induced coma on life support is nothing short of miraculous. She is now able to get up and down from bed and chairs with out aid and walk with a walker. Always supervised, of course.

Two weeks ago she could just barely move herself around a bit in bed.

Thank you all again for the prayers and support.

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