Katie Update #12
The skies in Augusta have cleared up to better reflect our current mood. Katie had another good night. She's been disconnected from the EEG now since around 4PM yesterday, but the neurology team feel confident that her seizure activity is under control. The medical team's faces have all brightened and most talk now is of when, not if she regains consciousness. It is still far too early to rejoice, but confidence levels remain high, along with the spirits of all involved. Melrose has even begun to try and wash Katie's beautiful hair. She's had all manner of activity around her head and her hair has certainly been abused of late. Melrose has started calling her "Bride"--short for Bride of Frankenstein for whom she has started to develop a distinct likeness. Fortunately, her face and body look truly healthy once more, and even her poor wild hair cannot take away from her beauty.
She did have her MRI last night around 10PM. This time, the three of us decided to accompany her down to observe. This may not have been wise because the whole process is quite disturbing. They have to disconnect her from all of the tubes and sensors that have somehow come to signify stability and life support in our minds. Quite a few doctors, nurses, and technicians are involved in the transport, manually administering some of the more critical drugs and operating a manual ventilator to keep her breathing. They then have to transfer her onto a non-magnetic gurney for transport into the MRI room and once again onto the table for insertion into the MRI tube. The team is very skilled at this process, but to the untrained and concerned observer, it is very stressful to watch, especially so late in the evening when exhaustion is starting to creep in on us. We all started showing the stress a bit, though in different ways. Melrose even started chasing Ron around with a pair of defibulator paddles yelling "Clear!" As our cousin Ben apparently well knows, comic relief is often the best medicine for stress.
One of our wonderful neurologists, Dr. Ki Lee, stayed up late to read the MRI results. He phoned in his initial interpretation to me around 12:15AM. The results were reservedly positive. He saw no signs of additional trauma, and it appears as though some of the swelling has subsided and some of the lesions are showing signs of healing. All of the lesions may or may not fully heal and this may or may not indicate some form of permanent or long-term damage, but again, we simply cannot know until they bring her back to consciousness. Regardless, these were very positive initial results and Dr. Lee was very upbeat.
We do not yet know when they will begin to reduce her Pentobarbitol levels. It may be today or they may decide to wait for a little while longer. The EEG must now be shared with another patient in the PICU. The neurologists may wish to have this available long-term for monitoring prior to lowering her dosage. We'll just have to wait and see. We are anxious to see how she tolerates a lower dosage of the drug, but after nearly two and a half weeks, patience is something that we have learned to embrace well.
Davis Parker returned home yesterday. He continues to be strong and in good spirits. His fever and nausea may have been the result of one of the multitude of drugs that make up his chemotherapy, so these symptoms may return with the administration of this treatment and he may be back at MCG. For now though, he is home, happy, and as healthy as can be expected. Thanks as always for keeping the Parkers in your hearts and prayers, as well.
That's all for now. I'll write more when we know more.
Paul
She did have her MRI last night around 10PM. This time, the three of us decided to accompany her down to observe. This may not have been wise because the whole process is quite disturbing. They have to disconnect her from all of the tubes and sensors that have somehow come to signify stability and life support in our minds. Quite a few doctors, nurses, and technicians are involved in the transport, manually administering some of the more critical drugs and operating a manual ventilator to keep her breathing. They then have to transfer her onto a non-magnetic gurney for transport into the MRI room and once again onto the table for insertion into the MRI tube. The team is very skilled at this process, but to the untrained and concerned observer, it is very stressful to watch, especially so late in the evening when exhaustion is starting to creep in on us. We all started showing the stress a bit, though in different ways. Melrose even started chasing Ron around with a pair of defibulator paddles yelling "Clear!" As our cousin Ben apparently well knows, comic relief is often the best medicine for stress.
One of our wonderful neurologists, Dr. Ki Lee, stayed up late to read the MRI results. He phoned in his initial interpretation to me around 12:15AM. The results were reservedly positive. He saw no signs of additional trauma, and it appears as though some of the swelling has subsided and some of the lesions are showing signs of healing. All of the lesions may or may not fully heal and this may or may not indicate some form of permanent or long-term damage, but again, we simply cannot know until they bring her back to consciousness. Regardless, these were very positive initial results and Dr. Lee was very upbeat.
We do not yet know when they will begin to reduce her Pentobarbitol levels. It may be today or they may decide to wait for a little while longer. The EEG must now be shared with another patient in the PICU. The neurologists may wish to have this available long-term for monitoring prior to lowering her dosage. We'll just have to wait and see. We are anxious to see how she tolerates a lower dosage of the drug, but after nearly two and a half weeks, patience is something that we have learned to embrace well.
Davis Parker returned home yesterday. He continues to be strong and in good spirits. His fever and nausea may have been the result of one of the multitude of drugs that make up his chemotherapy, so these symptoms may return with the administration of this treatment and he may be back at MCG. For now though, he is home, happy, and as healthy as can be expected. Thanks as always for keeping the Parkers in your hearts and prayers, as well.
That's all for now. I'll write more when we know more.
Paul
posted by Paul York @ 12:15 PM
0 Comments:
<< Home