Thursday, February 19, 2015

Update # 164

8 Years

Today’s daily is later than planned due to sitting here in the family lounge for over an hour helping a family discuss their loved one’s journey on this floor. Amazing how we families can have some parts of our stories so similar and how some parts are absolutely unique. God is working hard and touching so many lives. Put John and his family on your prayer list, please.

Jeff’s condition continues as critical but stable. drug-induced coma. His lungs still sound gunky and the x-ray looks about the same. But the docs feel his is improving in small steps. Okay, just as long as we don’t go backwards.

Breathing treatment #10 ended a couple of hours ago. He seems to tolerate them well. Sometimes at the beginning, his heart goes into a-fib for a few seconds. When they suction Jeff, they seem to get a bit more gunk out and it seems to be a little thinner. All good to clear out that infection in those lungs.

Pulmonary discussed with us the possibility/probability of a tracheostomy. People can be on a ventilator for an extended period of time. The advantage of a trach is Jeff can come out of the sedation and be more alert. And Jeff can then have movement especially rehab. Estimated time frame might be after 2 weeks on the vent. When Jeff then leaves the hospital, they would probably remove the trach that last day.

Jeff has really rested quietly today – giving his body good time for healing. No antics or many movements. There were a couple of hand squeezes though. One when he heard his Cardinal Glennon doctor, Dr. Gauvain, will contact us tomorrow. But the biggest squeeze was when I read the email from Cardinal Glennon nurse, Marsha. She was the first nurse Jeff came into contact with at 5:00 PM on July 26, 2001 in the Costas Center. Marsha, his love for you has not diminished!

The blood thinner, Heparin, has been stopped for a while. They noticed a bit of blood in Jeff’s stomach. Could just be some irritation. No concern. Those were the words of Dr. DiPersio went he stopped by late this afternoon. So, okay I won’t worry. He says Jeff is looking good. Words we want to hear!

Friends coming to visit have helped us. Sunday afternoon, our close friends from Northern IL stopped by to see us. Meridith has had a friend stop by a couple of times to see her. And the wonderful friends who spent last Friday night with Jeff & Meridith came by today to see us. Thanks you one and all. Oh, and if you were the person who sent some flowers, please let us know your name. Flowers must remain at the nurse’s station. When Meridith went to read the card, it was gone. We do enjoy looking at them each time we pass!

And last night I forgot to mention the Ted Drewes. Remember friends of Jeff and Meridith brought them some last Friday evening and it was put in the family lounge freezer? The freezer is cleaned every Wednesday night so Meridith said we’d better eat it Tuesday night. I told Jeff that I would owe him 2 Ted Drewes – he gave me an “okay” sign. Let’s see – the gals have had their first Ted Drewes of 2015 – the guys – not!

We had the social worker contact Hope Lodge today. Our plan is to begin staying there starting Monday. Ken is going to drive Meridith over there tomorrow to see how easy and close is the drive. Just means though we have to put on coats to get to our room and not just use an enclosed skywalk.

Several people have requested to be added to this update list. If you want to go back and see updates from earlier this week, you can go to Jeff’s site and click on each update. His site is updates.jeffsandlin.com

Thank you for those daily prayers. This long road is in the slow lane but we hope to arrive back at Jeff’s goal – his booth at KWWL. More tomorrow.

love,

Marcia