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Tracey's Blood Clot - Update 4 - End of Day 5

- back to the overview
- #1 Thursday - End of Day 2
- #2 Friday - End of Day 3
- #3 Saturday - End of Day 4
- #4 Sunday - End of Day 5
              - #5 Monday - End of Day 6
- #6 Tuesday - End of Day 7
- #7 Wednesday - Middle of Day 8
- #8 Thursday - End of Day 9
-


----- Original Message -----
From: "Drew and Tracey Cope"
Sent: Late Sunday, January 08, 2007
Subject: Tracey Update 4 - Sunday PM - Another Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
TRACEY UPDATE - END OF DAY on SUNDAY

wow - what day is it?  You start to loose track inside that curtain all day.   She was happy the Eagle's won, as were several of the nurses.   I was running out at each score to update this guy Jamie.  His shift ended at the end of the 3rd quarter so hopefully, he got home in time to see the game winning Field Goal.

Today had both ups and downs, but in the end, it was a good day...  I overslept this morning, and inspite of three calls from Tracey, all of which I answered, and during all of which, she said she was fine, I didn't make it out of bed at my anticipated 5:00 alarm, but rather much later, around 10.   After a shower and bowl of cereal it was time for day number 5 of this fun little adventure.  

Morning routines went on as ussual without me.  The world didn't grind to a halt.  And I don't think I expected it to, and I'm glad it didn't, but I still have this feeling in my heart like I really should be / need to be  there (is there a difference between those two?) every waking hour of the day, and I felt really guilty about oversleeping on her.   She didn't seem to mind and I'm sure I need to give myself permision to sleep too, but... whatever... I'll save it for the shrink later on.   That discussion could go on for a long time.

The Day nurse we had was a real piece of work... She decided that she didn't like Tracey doing her own asthma meds, despite doctors orders and took them and locked them up with the rest of her med... oh well... and then tracey got to listen to her complain all day about how they were short techs and there weren't enough people on... and Tracey doesn't need that kind of negative, whinny, complaining attitude around her.  So that kinda bothered the two of us.

We got some some nice emails in today.  Two gooffie photo shoots, an E-Card with 365 smiles, some nursing explainations from our medical friends, and a bunch of well wishes.   Please keep them coming!!!  

Uncle Steve and Aunt Chris beat me to the hospital and had some good conversation with Tracey before I got there.   I setup shop, and started working on preparing my thoughts for Jeff's Eagle Scout Court of Honor that afternoon.   Tracey was well rested, comfortable and eating & drinking what she needed to be.    We were able to log into the GZ office computers from the hospital and I uploaded what I needed to print, and that allowed us to leave the laptop with Tracey so she could continue on e-mails and AIM.  She worked to get the files printed over the network while I made the trip back up to PA.  I opened AIM on my phone and we kept in touch and she had my notes printed and waiting on the printer in the office for me when I got there... all I had to do was unlock the door, go in, pick them up and head to the ceremony.   (Jeff - I'm really proud of you bro - you did a great job on your project and throughout your scouting carrear!)   If i get time, I'll find a photo of the Rake Garage and put it online so you can see what he helped create for very little out of pocket costs to the ministry.

Anyway... While I was gone, Uncle Ralph, Aunt Sandy and Merissa stopped in, after dropping Nathaniel at Fencing Practice (no, not bailing wire, posts, and sheet metal.... Fencing... the sword thing with all the padding and darth vader masks.)  Nathaniel... thanks for letting your family skip out on practice to come see Tracey.  That meant a lot to her for you to give that up :-)   Merissa, I don't think we'll make it to your basketball game tomorrow night.  We'll have to pick a different one when Tracey is feeling better.   Thanks for the movies too.

Kevin and Jess came down too and were still there when I got back so we all got to hang out and talk too.  And we really have the tech's Trained.  Ashley was on again when I got back... and I wasn't two feet inside the double doors and she saw me coming and said she had the numbers for me whenever I was ready for them.   So I went in, got tracey's notepad (now on page 12) and wrote down her latest blood pressure, pulse ox, heart rate, etc.   We also got the latest PTT and INR numbers which represent the clotting ability of her blood.  

PTT = 73 (back up in the middle of where we've been which is good - however Heprin is still on 14ml/hr and the nurse today changed the tubes and decided she wanted to keep 20 cc's hour going in, so she added a 6ml/hr drip of flush/saline/sodium cloride.  

INR = 2.9... which is good.  We've been on Cummitin 3 days at 5mg each night and went from 1.2 to 1.7 to 2.9... so tonight they dropped to 2mg of Cummitin hoping that we won't overshoot the INR of 3 mark, and also that we won't fall back below 2.5... it's almost like playing black jack... okay - maybe not...  anyway...  Her target is 2.5 to 3.0.

Tracey was well rested since they didn't wake her up last night and had more energy, presumibly because of sleep, and the chemistry starting to go right in her bloodwork.

BUT... this evening, she said she started to feel weezey... I listened to her and agreed, so the nurse called the Respirational Therapist people.  And while we had the nurse tracey asked for another pain pill... for the 2nd day in a row,  24 hours after the last one she had at 6pm on Saturday.   That was mostly for her still swollen leg.   Shelby came in, listened to tracey's lungs, compared one side to the other, and said that she could hear some impact from the clots and also the weezing.   So I pressed her for some explaination of how we fix the effects of the clots in her chest and how we fix the weezing... and she said the clots are covered by the Heprin, and the Nebulizer will open up the lung passages to get rid of the weezing.  She did not let me make a connection nailing the clots as the cause for the closed down passageways and the weezing.   Okay - Good news... She started hooking up the nebulizer and Tracey asked if she was going to use Xop... something...  and the nurse said no, it's (I forget... maybe alberterol?... Whatever the standard Nebulizer medication is... anyway)  The nurse said no and asked why and tracey explained how the standard stuff gives her the shakes, the quakes, the zops, and the beeps (no, wait, that's not what she said, thats a line the rader guy says in the movie SpaceBalls... the same guy who did all the funny voices and sound effect in Police Academy... but I digress)... she said it gives her muscle spasms and makes her shaky.  Shelby thought tha'd be a good reason to ask Tracey's nurse Kim, to call the Doc, and get an order to change to the other stuff.  Xop.... (pronouczed Zepha... or Zepho something... it's writen down but the notebook is at the hospital and I'm at Steve's house)... 

So we got her the rigth stuff, and they mixed it with 0.9% Sodium Cloride to make it last longer, and powered it with Oxygen instead of normal air like her nebulizer uses... now the O2 in the abulance a few years ago made tracey nausius, btu she did good on this, and I was happy she kept breathing through the Nebulizer even after the meds ran out, just to get her some extra Oxygen in her system.   Shelby could hear a difference in the Volumn of air tracey was moving but it took tracey about 25 minutes to really start to feel better about her breathing.  

I scooted onto the side of the bed next to her, and put my arm under her neck in place of the pillow and the rest of the night we just watched Extreme Makover, and some myth busters on urban ledgens about your abilty to shoot a bullet out of one gun, and into the chamber of another revolver in front of you, down the barrel of a sniper's scope, and whehter or not two hammers hit together really pose a danger of shattering because they are hardened.   Incidentlly, they bent the next of the hammer and never managed to shatter the heads.  And then waited for the nurses to kick me out, which they did around 11, shortly after she fell asleep.   Think she almost felt normal again today.  

Tomorrow I'm going to try to press my luck and see if I can convince the nurses to let us roll her out to the lounge, out of the protective cover of the wireless heart monitor by promising to keep a close eye on her heart rate.   I want her to get a good look outside.  Pray for that to work out, and if you see any pretty scenery outside, take some pictures and send them to her.   We're still collecting personalized funny photos, etc, so keep em coming.   Visits are also welcome.   I have a feeling they'll get around to her echocardiogram on monday which was supposed to be ordered friday sometime, so call before making the trip down just to make sure we'll be around.   And if I know your coming, I'll try to time our outting to the lounge at the same time.

The Doctor specifically said that he doesn't know when he'll be letting her leave, which she took to mean that he has at least 3 or 4 more days... and she doesn't want to leave until she can do so with just pills to take.  If they cut her loose early, she has to continue doing heprin, but rather by IV, she'll have to get shots in her stomach, and she doesn't really want that... nor does she want to be the one to give them to herself, and while I could probably pull it off, she's just not sure she wants injections in her stomach.    So we're hoping the doctor decides to keep her around until she can truely be indepant at home, and so long as she keeps getting good, quiet, happy roommates, and happy nurses who enjoy their jobs, we'll be in good shape.   There is nothing motivating her to say, I want out of the hospital, and every reason to hang out until she is truely ready to go home, especially with all the family history, and personal medical history that could probably fill a few terabyte harddrives.... okay... so I'm exergerating a little, but we really don't want her to come home until she's truely done.   If she comes home too early, we'll be making twice weekly trips to the specialist at his office, and probably weekly or twice weekly trips to the local blood lab to get work done... it's just easier & less stressful for her if she's at the hospital.  So pray that they don't get in a hurry to kick her out before she's really free and clear.

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, give me a call or an email and so I can get everyone lined up.

Shoot... I was going to tie in a Mr Rogers theme and I forgot to... oh well... i'll have to be more creative tomorrow.


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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

www.DrewandTracey.com
www.GZYouth.com
www.GZMConline.com
www.ProjectRake.com
www.NLPCFamily.com

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Drew & Tracey received their Bachelor of Arts in Youth Ministry from Eastern University in 2001 & 2004.

We minister with the Ground Zero Youth Ministry and Cross Fire / Image Quest.