2012 02 09 Thursday February 9 -- Evening Update

Post date: Feb 10, 2012 3:29:02 AM

Lots of good news to report tonight -- the night nurse says today went well, and Martha is off her IV for blood pressure, and has moved to PO (oral) medication to manage it. She is sleeping already tonight; she didn't sleep as well last night, but she was awake pretty much all day. The only thing still keeping her in ICU is some swelling in her right arm and hand, probably due to the IV. They are checking for a possible clot in her arm.

The nurse says the earliest she could possibly leave ICU would be a bit after noon tomorrow, and that's only if her arm swelling is under control. Martha's granddaughter is planning to be with her tomorrow at noontime so Martha should still be in the same place, though (hopefully) getting ready to leave for Conway.

The other wonderful news is that Martha's church friend Pam spent many hours with her today. Pam helped her eat because the swollen hand was keeping her from eating well. Pam also got the menu adjusted slightly, and Martha ate just about all of lunch and the vast majority of dinner! I am sure that will help her sleep and heal better overnight.

Pam also reports that Martha is mostly well oriented (I heard someone say that someone else reported she has 95% cognition, whatever that means). She was watching the news and discussing stories, opening cards people have sent, and talking about church friends. Pam taped some more of the cards to the wall to add to the collection. At one point Martha asked Pam if she could speak to Amanda on the phone. Pam hedged on that one, knowing Amanda might not be easy to reach.

At the end of the day, when Pam was about to leave, she asked if there was any message she should relay, and Martha said to tell us she had a really good day. Pam asked what was the best part about her good day, and she said it was Pam putting her new cards onto the wall.

SO we are looking forward to more good days for Martha!

Amanda was still pretty much bedridden the rest of today, though she gained quite a bit of energy later after eating a couple of wonderful meals (of food people brought by yesterday and today). She is still staying off of the phone, but I caught her reading work email. I advised her she needed to leave the work crisis to someone else, which she did. (Sorry, folks at work!) She went to bed early and I hope she has another night of good sleep. We're hoping everything will improve when she isn't completely exhausted.