TRACEY UPDATE - END OF DAY on SATURDAY

Keep sending your funny self or family portraits, favoriate inside joke type memories, and e-greeting cards.  They really brighten the day.   Also, after the good day we had today, I think she's up for a few more visitors tomorrow (Sunday afternoon and evening).  Just email or call if you wanna stop by so we can confirm that they aren't yanking her out of the room for any tests or anything.

If you want to skip all the details from today, you can skip to the end, there is a section labled GOD STUFF that talks about all the neat things that happened today.

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After Friday's post-Cat-Scan firedrill & room change, we were hoping for a peaceful day.   Thankfully, we did not get a roommate yesterday, so i was allowed to sleep in the room with her, which was very reassuring for both of us after such a crazy day.  

We've successfully trained a new batch of nurses in our way of doing things and they've been fairly permissive and helpful, and willing to let us do it our way.   

At 3am they drew one thing of blood & tracey managed to stay pretty much asleep.  We asked the guy to change the draw location to the top of her left hand, as her right arm had the Heprin IV, and her left elbow had already been pretty beat up.   He found a way to make that work and did it without a lot of pain for tracey.

6:45 am, they came in for 5 more tubes and this lady also did a pretty good job on the top of her hand.

Tracey got up, had breakfast, watched a little TV, was kind of grumby, irritable and short tempered all morning.   We talked about it and nailed the cause down, coming back to the fact that she was still feeling exhaused and tired.    She got real sleepy around 10:15.  By 10:45 she was asleep, and we let her sleep right through lunch since I think she was still playing catch up from her exhaustion friday night after our little chinese firedrill around the hospital.  At 2:30 the nurse finally asked me to at least nudge her and find out if she was hungry.   So we woke her up, reheated lunch (a pasty Mac & Cheese), and then let her read the IM's and emails that came in during her nap.   Her irritability was gone and things were much better.   Her heart rate only rose to the 120-130 level when she got outta bed with was an improvement and back in the range she had been in, earlier in the week.   I spent the time while she was sleeping chatting with folks, and consulting friends of ours in the medical feild on their experiences, continuing to build a working knowledge of what we're dealing with so I can have some intelligent conversations with the doctors and nurses.  

To answer someone's kidney function question from today... the day nurse said that her HUB and Cremitin numbers were slightly elevated and nothing to worry about.   The night nurse said that both were normal.  She gave me the numbers, but their in the notebook and tracey was with-it enough tonight, that I opted to leave it with her so she could make any updates that happened overnight rather than calling them in to me at Steven's house.

After her nap, we spent some time washing her hair, and using a washcloth to get her back to feeling somewhat normal again.  She got a roommate during this process.  A nice eldarly lady named Dee who is on her 13th heart attack and has 16 stints in her.  This is old had for her and she just wants to go home, but she was very pleasent.   As the different nurses, aids, techs, and transport people came in to get Dee settled, they all did a double take at my basin and syrofoam cup method of washing traceys' hair.   I gave the oppertunity to give suggestions, but none of them had ever done a water based hair washing at the bedside.    We just lowered the head a little, slid tracey up the back a little higher to let her hair hang over the edge, angled the bed away from the wall, rested the basin on the headboard of the bed, and went to town.   They all wanted her to use the no-water no-rinse shampoo... rub it in, comb it out... but she wanted a real shampoo with real water, so that's what we did.   The day nurse who already didn't have a high opinion of our hands on approach continued to shake her head and indicated that she thought we were a little crazy.   But she didn't stop of either and brought in some extra asorbant pads for under tracey's head, and some towels and stuff.

We let her rest up from that and in the mean time, the afternoon shift nurse came on... She was much nicer.  I shared with her my idea to get Tracey out from behind her curtain for a few minutes and she was very supportive.   I ran downstairs to the lobby and stole a wheelchair that had the elevatable feet rests and brought it back up.   Tracey worked with me to get her out of the bed, wrapped her in the bathroom the GZ teens grabbed from the house for us yesterday (which kept me very warm last night too), and we loaded her into the wheel chair.  The nurse came and did her vitals and listened to her breathing (kinda like a physical before sports season) and then we got the go-ahead to drive her around the unit.   We weren't allowed out the double doors in any direction because of the limited range of her heart monitor.  I had hopes of getting her over to the window in the lounge around the corner, but the nurse didn't like that idea.   So we did the tour, and dinner had come as we had just finished loading her up, and getting her feet up in the air.  Tracey held on to the IV pole and pump and we drove all over the place.   Then we parked her next to the chairs by the door, and I brought out her dinner (meatloaf and mashed potatos with gravey... they lost our note in the room shuffle about putting the gravey on the side so tracey wasn't thrilled with it, but she ate some of it and her salad).

She started getting pretty tired, so we packed her back up and got her back into bed to rest some more.   We pulled up more e-mails and then watched some TV.   The nurse came in and removed her IV that Jennersville put in on Wednesday, and transfered her Heprin over to the IV that the Cat Scan team put into her other arm Friday before the fire drill.   So we were glad that we weren't adding a 3rd IV.  We haven't had any problem with bleeding from any of her blood draws or even with her IV removal.

She seemed to have a lot more energy today, and was doing better at keeping her heart rate down when she gets up for the restroom.  Most of today, she kept it's spikes under 130.  (Last night and early this morning when she was still tired, she'd hit 145 with the extra activity.)  So we decided to get brave and she squirmed her way over to one side of the bed and I climbed in next to her and was able to put my arm under the back of her neck in place of her pillow and hold her hand while we watched Legally Blond on TNT... actually she watched the movie and enjoyed being able to be held again, and I napped for the first hour with her sleep mask on, until her nurse came in to give Tracey her evening round of medicines...  Then we watched the end of the movie together.

After the movie she had a strange request... She asked me if we could track down some corn chips or doritos or something.   So I checked with the nurse and they didn't have anything, but she was a on "Regular Diet" and not a heart diet so she said if I could find them, she could have them.   I headed down to the Cafeteria and sure enough they had Doritos in the vending machines for almost a buck and Herr's brand in the cafe for 75c.   I told tracey if I was going to the cafe, I was going to find her something healthy too and she had to eat that first or I wouldn't give her the doritors.   I ordered a grilled cheese and a fish sandwhich off the grill, with some fried potato cubes on the side.   Total bill $4.25 - a bargin.... I was expecting to pay like $10 at a hospital cafe, but not here...

Back upstairs tracey chose the grill cheese so I ate the fish... It was REALLY good.   They fried the outside without destroying the fish inside.  I was impressed.  then she did half of one of those small bags of chips, and gave me the other half to put way for later. 

With a roommate there, I couldn't stay in the room tonight and with tracey seeming to have more energy, being more rested and the nurse saying nothing was scheduled until her Lab work draw at 6am, I opted to come back to steven's to sleep.

So it was a fairly uneventful day where tracey caught up on some rest, got washed up, got some of her energy back and we were able to try to act a little more normal.

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GOD STUFF

1> so with a "Moderate Clot Load" in her chest / lung / heart area (Pulmonary Embolism they call it which makes it sound much scarier) you would expect that she'd be having trouble breathing, or pain in her chest, especially in conjunction with her asthma and alergies...  Everytime someone comes into the room to do anything, and especially at nurse shift changes, they always ask if she has any shortness of breath or any chest pain... and the answer has been NO.   We beleive that is the direct result of your prayers for Tracey.   There is a lot that could be going wrong right now, but by your prayers, she's feeling fine.   We don't like the fact that she has a "Moderate Clot Load" in her chest area.... we'd rather it not be there at all, but if it has to be there, we're glad it's not causing any problems.    ---------    Along these lines we raised a "which came first, the chicken or the egg" question today.   Last week she had all that congestion and breathing problems.   Could that have been the clots then?   She wasn't bringing up blood with her phlem, but maybe the knee thing came later?   That would require that it's possible that clots wouldn't show in her chest x-rays but would be found in her cat scan and we don't know that answer.   The doctor said yesterday that he ordered an echo cardio gram, but we don't have a scheduled test time yet.   It seems like things slow down on the weekends in the hospital in terms of the routines / tests / etc.  I'd love to get the echo cardio gram back or maybe a second cat scan and then have the doctors look at each other, scratch their heads and say, "is this the same patient we looked at on Friday?  Where'd the "Moderate Clot Load" go??"  Tha'd be neat.   I'm praying for that one.

2> Tracey has asked for pain meds when she first got to jennersville, and then 12 hours later, then 9 hours later, then at varrying intervals all greater than 6 hours... even when they're willing to give her additional medicine every 4 hours.  She's only taking 1 perkaset and they are offering her 2 each time.   Well after the fire drill last night, she asked for meds with her dinner around 6:30 PM (friday).   She didn't need any more pain killers (inspite of my repeated asking, and every person who came through the door asking if she had any pain) all day long... and then finally at 6:10 pm, said she was ready for another pill... ALMOST 24 HOURS after her last dose.  PRAISE GOD...  that seems like a good thing to me!!   I can't explain why based on any physical thing we've done different, so I have to go to the spiritual.   Thank you for your continued prayers.

3>  Answer to prayer, no roommate last night, so I got to stay, which was good after the drama that took place and it put both our minds at ease
4> Answer to prayer, we've had great techs and nurses all day.   Even the morning nurse who thought we were nuts didn't give us too hard of a time about anything.
5> Answer to prayer, Tracey got some of her energy back and was able to contribute more to the effort and do more on her own when it came to getting in and out of bed.
6> Answer to prayer, a nice relaxing day like this did wonders for those shot nerves of mine that got short circuited during all the drama from last night.   And I got to talk with the Master's Commission team and Christine brought me up to speed on what we missed in Ocean City and all the neat things that God is doing through the teem down there, and the doors that are opening, and the students who are starting relationships with Jesus... it's just awesome.  But hearing from them and getting to live vicariously through the phone and their good report has amazing therputic effects.
7>  it's amazing how at home, when she asks me to get stuff, I'm always joking with her... "what's a matter, your legs broke?  Did you sit in super glue?" Especially if she's closer to whatever it was she wanted me to get, but now, it's completely different, and it's not like I've had to consciously make a change.  And even better, there is a certain joy to it as well.   It's a God thing.   I can't explain it, and I won't complain.  
8> and I could keep going, but i really should get some sleep since things went well today so that we're ready for tomorrow.   We've got some awesome familiy members coming in to be with Tracey in the early afternoon so that I can run up to Jeff Holden's Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony.   Jeff build the first part of the Project Rake Garage Exspansion project that boy number three is currently working to finish up... All that is left is some electrical, 3/4 of the siding, gutters, and the ridge vent.   Then we just need a locking rollo door on the tool room and we'll be all set.


Good night all... please keep praying, and share these praises with others so that they can be blessed as well.   And keep the encouraging emails, photos, and e-cards coming.  They really brighten up her day.   And if you wanna come visit on Sunday or Monday, give me a call or an email and so I can get everyone lined up.


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-- Drew & Tracey --
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1Thes 2:6-12 We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.

-- Good things come to those who wait --
Jacob served seven years for Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. - Gen 29:20

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