Kids visit USC Hospital for first time

Late this afternoon we got the OK to let the kids visit Denise! We had to put the kids in gowns & gloves (Denise wore the mask), but they got to see mommy for the first time in about a month & a half. I brought home the garb a few days ago so that Gracie could get used to suiting up. As it turned out, Jacob was the first to see Denise tonight. As with every visit, he was a little apprehensive, but did well considering that he's only 18 months old. He recognizes Denise when I play the videos of her in the hospital on TV, but he took a long time to warm up in the hospital setting. It wasn't until the end of the visit that he started blowing kisses. Gracie just snuggled right up, no problem. She still wants to be a nurse, or maybe a doctor.Since there are no longer all the monitors that...

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Details: Out of ICU, Trach gone, Bear bile

Good morning! Here are details to accompany last night's headlines about Denise's day yesterday:Her temp spiked at 101 (curve continues to lower), and she reached a "normal" 98.7 for the first time in months! We hope this indicates that the infections are subsiding or done. Heart rate ranged 91 (relaxed) -122 (when in pain or working out). Blood pressure ranged 104-116 systolic, and she no longer has to wear the cuff 24/7. She needed no oxygen while sitting upright (which she spent several hours doing), and only needed .5 liters while laying down (and saturating at 95% during that time). Earlier in the day she said that she felt like her nose & ears were clogged, but by the evening, she felt all clear. She did vomit yesterday, but I was there for it and saw that the first thing up was...

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Out of ICU, Trach gone, Stood up, Normal temp

I'm exhausted and will provide details tomorrow. But today's progress was so great, I couldn't wait to post the headlines:-Moved out of the ICU and into a regular room!-The trach was yanked!-Stood up 3 times with help from PT!-Temperature hit 98.7!Room 753 - must still wear gloves, gown, maskPreferred visiting hours are 11am-9pm (she's been asleep by 8:30 late...

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Move on hold, Bedsore vac on deck, Massage,

Denise hasn't been moved to another room yet. She threw up what the nurse said appeared to be undigested medicine. She won't get to move out of ICU until she stops doing the technicolor yawn. So she drank barium and went for the x-rays. She wanted me to be sure to point out that she not only drank the barium, but DIDN'T throw it up. And if she wanted to throw up anything, that was the top candidate. She said she was miserable for the ride to & from the room for that process. She had to be on her back on a very thin pad, making her bedsore ache more than usual. Anyway, the early unofficial word is that there's no ileus. Later one of the x-ray guys came to her bedside with the machine, I assume to see how the barium was progressing. Instead of rolling her on her side, placing the board,...

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Ready to move out of ICU

Big news today is that the doctor put in the order to get Denise out of the ICU. She would have moved out today, but there was no private room available to put her into. Hopefully she can move out tomorrow. So we're taking down the cards & pictures again, and will put them up in another room. Denise is worried that so many cards might make the other patients feel bad (she does have the most obnoxiously decorated room in the ICU).She started a liquid food diet today. Vanilla pudding, squash soup, jello, juice... yummy stuff. Until she threw up tonight. She told me that because of throwing up, that may delay her move out of the ICU.The MRI results were mixed. From an infectious disease department standpoint, the swelling decreased. Very good. From an opthomology department standpoint, there's...

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Picture, No pseudomonas, Vision damage?

Here's a picture of Denise that one of the nurses took last night. It's a scan of a Polaroid, so it's not very high quality. She's tired, but sitting up and smiling. Denise gave her permission to post this. The staff at USC has been talking about what amazing progress she's made in the last week & a half, and how different she is now than when they first got her. I thought that the Arcadia Methodist crew might be especially happy to see Denise smiling, not tethered to a ventilator, and getting ready to enjoy some refreshments.Today she brushed her own hair, brushed her own teeth (using a regular toothbrush), and continued to enjoy lower temperature...

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Send Email to Denise at USC University Hospital

Now you can send email to Denise's hospital room: pullingfordenise@yahoo.comI just set up an email account for Denise so that you can send email to her room at USC University Hospital. I'll check that account a few times every day and print out your emails on nice paper for her. I can't believe that I didn't think of doing this much sooner. When she was at Arcadia Methodist Hospital, the hospital provided the "Email a Patient" capability from their website. USC University Hospital, while being medically advanced, doesn't have that feature.Anywho, you can click the "Email Denise at USC Hospital" link from the Pulling for Denise blog, or you can just add the above email address to your address bo...

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Oxygen hose and Poop Chute gone today!

More progress! She did a test run to see how she'd do without additional oxygen (sample: sats were upper 80s-low 90s, heart rate 115, BP 100/56). My understanding is that she hasn't been on oxygen since this morning. She doesn't have the poop chute anymore, either. Instead, she's just asking for a bedpan whenever she needs it. During my visit, I got to be the "Bedpan Avenger" and help place the thing. I've never done it before, and Denise thought I didn't need to get it as far under her as I did, but the nurse said I did it perfectly. Temps stayed in the 99 range and just went to 100 tonight. No cooling blanket needed, though she did ask for some ice and loves having that clip-on fan blowing on her. She finally watched some of the video of the trip we took to Disneyland two weeks ago. She's...

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Long conversations, iPod church

Denise said that she was having a bad day today. She was tired of the pain of aching muscles, the bed sore, and the Flexi-Seal. She had a lidocaine patch for a while (hmm... if iocane powder came it patch form, would it be odorless, tasteless, dissolve instantly in water?). Then she got some heavier duty meds to take the edge off of the pain.Everything else today was good (or at least improving). I got more video of her talking, smiling, waving, blowing kisses... the kids loved seeing her on the TV. She's got the encouragement of hearing that she may be moved out of ICU as early as Monday. Even if it's a carrot dangling in front of us, and doesn't happen tomorrow, it's a reasonable step to look forward to. Fever spiked at 101.4 last night (the spikes keep on lowering) and I didn't see the...

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Sipping liquid, NG tube gone, New trach, Talked to kids

Denise got to start drinking fluids! The nose tube to her stomach was removed. The output was low enough to not need it anymore. They do have a gravity-fed collection bag for excess stomach fluid. They changed her trach out to one that doesn't have a cuff, so her esophagus can collapse easier, making it easier to swallow. She also thinks it's easier to breathe. Just like last time, the doctor coached someone in how to change the trach out. They gave Denise a little cup of water with a straw, and she had NO trouble sipping & swallowing. The doctor joked, "Whiskey sours tonight! You'll have no trouble sleeping." He turned for a minute or two to explain things to me and talk with some interns. Then he turned back to Denise and asked her to take another sip of water. She held out the cup &...

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Vent gone, Phone calls, Move out of ICU?

Today was a tremendously good day for Denise. The ventilator was taken out of her room. She told me that she felt disoriented, but I'm glad that at least she knows she's that. We called out from her room and she talked to her parents and both sisters for a few minutes. That was a morale booster for everybody. Then we talked about everything under the sun for about an hour. Gracie asked for a picture of Denise in the hospital, so I took some pictures of her. We've got video that I show the kids, but Gracie wanted a recent picture printed out to tack onto the wall. I told Denise that her web site has a pre-crisis photo of her, and asked if she'd want me to post the pictures I took today. She said that if I print them out big so she can see them (her eyes are a little blurry), she would look...

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Top 7 Ways that Exercise Helps Diabetics

by : Katrina McKennaExercise is an important tool in managing your diabetes in order to live a longer, healthier life.1. Exercise increase insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.The key problem of Type 2 diabetics is insulin insensitivity, or insulin resistance. By exercising you can improve how well your insulin works; this helps you to control your blood glucoselevel.2. Exercise improves your cholesterol levels. Exercise helps byraising the good kind of cholesterol (HDL) and lowering the bad kind of cholesterol (LDL). Exercise can also lower triglyceride levels. This is good news for diabetics as diabetics are atincreased risk for cardiovascular disease. I myself have had cholesterol problems, but between proper diet and exercise and no drugs, I now have a much healthier cholesterol...

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URGENT prayer needed for someone else...

Denise had a great day today, and I'll post her good news later tonight.This blog post/email is an URGENT request for prayer for someone else that I know.Please take a few minutes to lift up another guy's spouse that's pretty bad off right now.Karen Shaw, a teacher at my school (I've known her for 12 years... I teach her grandkids) was in the hospital for a surgery, then had a stroke last night, and was being heavily sedated. I just found out a few minutes ago that there is swelling on her brain, and family members are being called in. I don't know anything else, other than the pain that her husband must be going through.I tried contacting family, both at home and at the hospital (she's at USC with Denise) to get permission to post this request. I was unsuccessful, but went ahead with this...

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Day & a half off vent, Visiting hours, No Amphoterrible

Denise has been off the vent since early yesterday morning... well over a day & a half! When I visited earlier today, she was talking so much, it's gotten to the point that I can't remember all that she's said. I contrast this to about three months ago when Denise was sedated and I felt her squeeze my hand ever so slightly. She said she slept well last night (the doctor said he didn't). Her vision is blurry (might be due to blood pressure meds, doctor is having opthomology check her eyes tonight). She told me that she feels loopy, almost like she's in a dream, and said that she'd like to stay off the drugs because she's had weird hallucinations....

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Heart rate 101, Fever 99, Off vent all day

It's been another good day for Denise. Her heart rate during the day was around 117, and fevers were in the 100-101 range most of the time, blood pressure normal. When I arrived, the chaplain said he'd already visited and prayed with her that morning. He said that she was paranoid about the doctors & nurses again. About an hour or two into my visit with Denise, I asked her if she had any nightmares or scary thoughts, and she said, "No, why?" I'm glad that she can't remember being frightened. There's some speculation from a couple of friends that perhaps the Ambien that's been used to get her to sleep might be causing the hallucinations (rare but known side effect of Ambien). She didn't have these problems when Ativan was used to keep her knocked out, and it seems to me that they only started...

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Evenflo Triumph car seat to borrow? Map problems

Does anybody have an Evenflo Triumph car seat that we can borrow for a few months? I was going to buy one, but thought I'd put the feelers out first. This is about the only model that we can use, due to the available space in our vehicles, the angles of the seats in our vehicles, and having only lap belts on the bench seats in our 1990 Aerostar minivan (also making it impossible for Gracie to use a booster seat). I even checked out aftermarket should belts from JC Whitney, but they won't work where I need to put them.The dream vehicle is a Sienna. For now, the dream seat is a Triumph.Guest Map Problems: The zoomable guest map is currently having some trouble. This is not something that Webmaster Mike is responsible for; it's somebody else's fault (really!). Maybe the people that host the map...

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Speaking, EF up to 30ish, Coreg to restart

Denise didn't make it to 24 hours off the vent. They had to put her back on early this morning. But she's still been off the vent more than on in any given 24-hour period, and her times have been improving. That's nothing to be ashamed of.I walked into Denise's room today around 10am and her face was away from me, her bed in a sitting position. I thought she was sleeping, so I very quietly put my backpack down on a chair. I heard a buzzy, nasal, yet enthusiastic "Hi... Hi, Honey!"I was startled... almost peed myself. Denise had a little plug in her tracheostomy (not a speech valve) and was able to talk, and with quite a bit of inflection, too! She didn't sound dazed at all. She asked, "Who's watching the kids?" I told her they were at day care with our neighbor, and asked if that was OK. It...

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Getting The Most Nutritional Value From Fruits And Vegetables

by : Kim BlackYou’re eating lots of fruits and vegetables every day, but areyou sure you’re getting the most nutritional value from them,and what can you do to improve how many nutrients you aregetting. To understand we need to take a deeper look at thetrip that fruits and vegetables make to get to your table.Many different factors can affect the nutritional value offruits and vegetables before they reach your table. The twomost important are time and traveling conditions. The shorterthe time frame that the fruit is packed until it reaches yourtable the better. If you are lucky enough to have a home gardentry to pick your vegetables early in the morning for peak flavorand nutritional value. The next best choice is to use a localmarket stand. Generally the foods they are selling were pickedwithin...

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Attempting 24 hours off vent, High fevers, Shopping challenge

Big positive news today is that Denise is going for 24 hours off the vent! She was taken off at about 1am this morning. Put back on about 11:30 or 12 noon. Then they were going to take her off at about 4pm and see if she can go until 4pm tomorrow. She was encouraged to hear that she's going doing well enough that she's going to attempt a full day off of the vent.Negative news today is that her fevers went to 105.1. I didn't see that... the range I'd seen today was between 101.4 and 103.7 (just tonight... she was sound asleep, off the vent, heart rate bouncing between high 120s and 145, O2 saturation between 91 & 98).Earlier tonight, she got another paracentesis that drew off a little over 2 liters of fluid. I need to check, but I think the trend is longer time between draws, and relatively...

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16 hours off vent, Reaction to meds?

That's right, 16 hours off the vent. She came off the vent at 3am and went back on about 7pm. That's three hours more than yesterday! I put the speaking valve on a couple times during the visits. This morning she was sitting in a chair, looking out the window. I put the valve on, she started coughing, then I took the valve off and a bunch of mucous came up. Same thing happened a time or two later tonight, as well. Seems to be a pattern... suction, valve, cough, mucous. Anyway, the general guideline for the speaking valve currently is that she can have it in for 5 minutes, then 15 minutes of rest. In the morning, she didn't want to watch TV (no suprise) and didn't want to hear any music (that's out of character for her). She said that if the medicine is supposed to make her feel flu-like lousy,...

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Theft, Oxygen episode, Paranoia, New Room, Party

Been a very busy & exhausting two days. There are some disturbing things that Denise has said, but her overall physical progress seems to have improved. Let me start at the beginning...Yesterday (Friday) morning I arrived at the hospital and heard Denise's dad's voice around the corner, saying "I think it's heart failure." My heart sank. I found him talking on the phone. He hung up and related the following to me:Thursday, sometime between 4:30-6:30pm, Denise's mom's purse was taken from where it was setting just outside Denise's room, then found a few feet away with all money gone and social security card gone. They don't need this, as they're already trying to stay near the hospital during the week, and money's tight.Then he told me about a conversation he had with Denise earlier Friday...

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Amphoterrible started, Past MRSA mentioned

Denise was off the vent a long time and talking again today, but was a little more tired than yesterday. I can't blame her, with all the strides she's been making. I felt important... I got to pop the speaking valve on & off, inflate & deflate the tracheostomy cuff (though when I left, I think it might have had a leak... I hope I didn't break it). I also got to help hoist her from the chair into the bed. During suctioning of the mouth, she said, "I don't need your help... I'll do it." She held the sucky thingie and vacuumed her own mouth out. While my nurse aunt & I went for lunch, the prayer moms from my school showed up to have mid-week church at Denise's bed side. She's been looking forward to that for several days. Denise was pretty tuckered out by the time they were leaving....

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Long conversation, Mental state concerns, Poop

We had the longest conversation we've had in 3 months! She made a huge leap from yesterday's singing "Happy Birthday" and getting winded after a few sentences over the phone. Today we both sat in chairs and talked for at least an hour & a half this morning & about the same at night. She said she loved me, wanted me to tell the kids she loves them. We said the Lord's Prayer this morning, and she took a turn praying before we left tonight (my aunt the nurse that Denise was asking for was with us). She asked lots of questions about losing the baby. We talked about Disneyland, the upcoming birthday party, and what to get Gracie for her birthday. She said that if we're not moving to Tennessee right away, maybe we should get a swing set. We talked about everything... family, work, food (she...

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Denise sang "Happy Birthday" to Gracie!

Today was Gracie's birthday, and this afternoon the respiratory therapist called to say that he had put a speaking valve in Denise's tracheostomy, and Denise wanted to sing "Happy Birthday" to Gracie. At first the plan was to hand the phone to Gracie, but she was still napping at day care. So I had them call back on our house phone and leave a message on the answering machine. Now we can play it over & over for the kids (Gracie loves it, Jacob doesn't recognize that it's mommy's voice). Maybe I should digitize it so you all can download it as an MP3 file. Hmm...Again, Denise was upset today. She had been crying when I arrived, and indicated that she hates not having tissues or the ability to reach enough to wipe her eyes. She can't sleep. She's always in pain (yet refusing pain meds much...

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Alhambra area apartment wanted month-to-month

Denise's mom & dad are trying to find something to rent month-to-month in or around the Alhambra area. I forgot to ask Denise's dad about the possibility of renting a room in that area, or how they'll foresee handling furnishings, appliances, cooking, laundry, etc. So at this point, just contact us with any apartment, guest house or room leads you've got. For over 12 weeks, they've been living out of a suitcase either at my house or in a hotel. It's been a grind. They were blessed with a gift of money from their church so that they can stay at a hotel near the hospital a while longer. They would prefer to have an apartment, but the shortest lease they can find is six months.And this hospital stay ain't going to last that long, rig...

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5 hours off vent, Mold in lungs, Puncture clear

Here's today's scoop, according to bits & pieces that I was able to get from various people handling Denise. Her doctor felt bad that he couldn't really fill me in, as he had another patient that I assume was pretty bad off and must have been demanding quite a bit of his attention. He did say that she's doing better than yesterday. Sorry, not many specifics for those of you that are enthralled with the meds, techniques & stats. She was apparently off the vent for a 5-hour block of time today, and off for shorter times here & there throughout the day. The lumbar puncture specimen is not growing anything so far. Let's hope that nothing grows as time marches on. There was some mold in the lungs. I assume that would be a manifestation of the cocci (Valley Fever) fungus. Wait &...

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