Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.
Alysha update August 13/12
What a difference dialysis makes.
Today during the day Alysha seemed a little more agitated than yesterday. She occasionally opened her left eye, was minimally responsive and was back to making more repetitive movements. They had her sitting in a chair for the second time today. Lisa made a second attempt at taming Alysha's hair. Her hair needs some Intensive-Care and Lisa is up for the challenge.
Alysha was on dialysis this afternoon. After dialysis Alysha was a different person. She was more responsive and opened both of her eyes wide. There seems to be a trend with regards to Alysha improving after dialysis. We are looking forward to a time when the work of the dialysis machine can once again be accomplished by Alysha's kidneys. Her kidneys are producing a good volume of urine but they still aren't filtering the blood effectively. Alysha's supplemental oxygen is at 40%. The effort of breathing comes 90% from Alysha with the ventilator kicking in the last 10%. This is an improvement as the staff work to wean Alysha off the mechanical ventilator.
Visitors today were Lisa and Rich alone for most of the day and Yvette (Memere) and Aashish came this evening. Lisa and Rich enjoyed spending extra time with Alysha today.
Alysha update August 12/12
Calm, Peaceful, Relaxed, Responsive.
Finally, some good news!! Alysha no longer has a fever. She was calm, peaceful, relaxed and responsive today. She no longer looks agitated or in pain. The repetitive movements are only happening occasionally. Alysha opened her eyes and looked at all her visitors today. She also smiled at appropriate moments in response to visitors and conversations. Quote from Lisa, "when she looked at you it didn't seem like she was looking through you it looked like she was looking at you." This has been a welcomed change as Alysha has been pretty much non-responsive for over a week now. The family is again charged with renewed optimism for Alysha's recovery. Lisa (mom and hair dresser) was trying to work with Alysha's hair as the back of it has become a tangled mess. Lisa worked on it with dry shampoo and leave in conditioner and tried to work out some of the tatts until Alysha got mad. Lisa could tell Alysha was annoyed when Alysha tipped her head forward and scowled at Lisa.
Visitors today included Jeanne, Michelle, Justin, Aashish, Debbie, Robyn, Scott (Lisa's cousin), Ron, Carolyn, Rich and Lisa
Alysha update August 11/12
Alysha's fever is down today with the help of a cooling blanket. She seems less agitated. She has a new sequence of movements that includes turning her head to the left 3 times and curling both hands (the way you or I would) and then resting for a minute or longer and repeating the movements again. Lisa and Rich have been encouraging Alysha to relax her arms when they are in and they think that might be why she has relaxed her arm movements. Lisa also reports that Alysha has been opening her left eye and looking right at Lisa when she is in to visit. Dialysis is being done today, and they are weaning Alysha off pain medication. They are also giving Alysha 1 cup of water every 6 hours through her feeding tube. The medication expert didn't come today.
Visitors today were Paul, Denise, Kahlan, Alex, Aashish, Carolyn, Ron, Lisa and Rich.
Alysha update August 10/12
Questions, Questions, Questions.
Alysha remains pretty much the same. Her kidneys are turning out a good volume of urine but they don't seem to be filtering very well. Alysha has developed a fever in response to some of her infections. Lisa reports that the repetitive cycle of movements involving Alysha's arms and legs has decreased a bit but she is continuing to stiffen her whole body periodically. Alysha remains unresponsive.
The family was told that medication experts will be in on the 11th to try and coordinate her medications. When communicating with staff, the family seem to be getting contradicting, or inconsistent information. Sometimes it seems as though Alysha's care providers aren't very clear or coordinated regarding their understanding of her history, her medications, and her care plan.
Most of the family have questions about what is happening with Alysha. We have questions about what happened the first day of her cardiac arrests, about her non-responsiveness and repetitive movement, about her appearance of being uncomfortable or frustrated, about her medications and their side effects, about the normal sequence of recovery from coma/ brain trauma and how all of this relates to what we are seeing in our precious Alysha.
Visitors for the day were Lisa, Rich, Ron, Carolyn and Aashish.
Continuous repetitive movements
Alysha's kidneys are producing 75-100 ml of urine an hour. The target amount is 500ml an hour. Alysha stayed in bed and on mechanical ventilation today. She also kept her eyes closed. Alysha has been cycling through a sequence of repetitive movements every 1.5 minutes. The sequence involves moving her head, right and left arms and right and left legs for 30 seconds, then laying peacefully still for 1 minute, and then repeating the cycle of movement. She has been cycling through these movements all day, and all night for the past 2 days. She doesn't stop the movements to sleep and Lisa thinks she looks exhausted. It doesn't seem like anything can interrupt these movements, not visitors or medication. The Doctor reports that her lungs are much better than yesterday and her supplimental oxygen is down to 50%.
Visitors today included Lisa, Rich, Ron and Aashish.
Alysha update August 8/12
Another lung infection.
Alysha is battling another lung infection. They are suctioning a lot of blood and fluid out of her lungs. They have given her blood transfusions yesterday and today. No breathing or sitting practice today, just recovering from another infection.
Visitors today included Andrea, Aashish, Jeanne, Michelle, Lisa, Rich, Justin and Ron.
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| Nana King & Alysha |
Alysha update August 7/12
Alysha takes a seat.
Today they moved Alysha into a chair so that she could practice sitting up. Ron got to witness this refreshing change of position.
The day started with Lisa laying out some of her concerns about Alysha's care to the nurse working with Alysha. She wanted them to know that the family's priority is Alysha's comfort and freedom from pain. "Give the girl a break, she's been through enough already." There is a thought that there has been a priority by some staff to wean Alysha off pain medication so the extent of her brain function can be evaluated. This has lead to pain and discomfort for Alysha which the family feels has further delayed what we can see of Alysha's mental/ cognitive (brain) recovery. Lisa's argument is that whether you evaluate it today or 2 weeks from now, the extent of the challenges she will face isn't going to change.
Visitors to the hospital today included Ron, Yvette (Alysha's Memere), Aashish, Lisa, Rich and Andrea (friend of Alysha's).
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| Andrea and Alysha |
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