Katie Update #23

The pace of Katie's recovery seems to keep accelerating. She is still extremely weak and constantly tired, but this is consistent with the expectations provided to us by her doctors. Still, she continues to astound us and the entire staff at MCG with her progress. I hesitate to use the term simply because there are many roads still left to travel, but both her neurologist and the intensivist in PICU are calling her recovery to date "a miracle." She is doing so well now that, assuming she continues to progress as expected, they are looking at transferring her out of PICU in the next couple of days. This is truly exciting, but we are all somewhat apprehensive to leave what Melrose termed the "nurturing cocoon" of PICU. Still, given what this represents in terms of her recovery, we'll likely rejoice in "moving-up" when the time comes.

So the really wonderful occurrence of the past two days happened last evening. The speech therapist visited Katie at around 5:30 and determined that it was a bit too early to try and start her therapy because her vocal cords were not recovered sufficiently to proceed. However, about fifteen minutes after her departure, Katie spoke her first words in five full weeks: "I love you!" She spoke them first to Ron, and then repeated them for Melrose and once more to me. They words were weak and sounded a bit as if spoken underwater, but were certainly the most wonderful sounds we had heard in years. We were immediately overcome with emotion, and it even brought tears to her nurse's eyes. She has spoken only once more since to tell us that her chest hurt, but we are all simply amazed and overjoyed that she spoke even once.

Katie is still quite uncomfortable and is definitely in some pain, but this is certainly not unexpected. Her breathing is still going very well. The first night off of the respirator, she was hooked up to a BiPAP machine which provided positive pressure on her lungs through a mask affixed over her nose. Since then, though, she has been breathing regularly without even then need for supplemental oxygen. Her coughing is still pretty bad, but she is getting stronger and the resulting secretions are getting smaller, thinner, and clearer--all very good signs. Her fever remains stable at below 100 degrees, which is much improved over just a few days ago. We still haven't talked further regarding the surgery for her sinuses and ears, but as long as her temperature remains stable, I will assume that this potential surgical procedure can be postponed for a while. They cut off her food supply a day prior to her extubation (to reduce the chance of potentially dangerous reflux during the procedure) and have maintained them at half of her optimal levels since. This may also be contributing to her weakness and they are going to gradually resume full feeding today. This should only improve her condition overall.

The consultant from CHOA is still scheduled to meet with Katie today sometime regarding her rehabilitation. We are looking forward to hearing more about the next steps in her recovery process. There are many decisions to be made over the next few weeks, and we need as much information as possible.

Okay, I'll stop for now. I do have one request from the family and doctors, though. I would imagine that many of you will want to visit Katie in the hospital in the coming days and weeks. However, the doctors tell us that we should keep visitation down to a minimum for now. Her brain still has a lot of healing to do, and we are told that too much stimulation will be counter productive to her recovery. For now at least, even when we move out of PICU and into a "normal" room, please just continue to show your love and support through e-mails and postings. Katie will let us know when she is ready for visitors, and believe me, I'll be the first to let you know, as well.

Thank you all for everything!
Paul