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Thanksgiving in the ICU

Jenber

Jenber

New member
So I'm currently sitting in the family room at the ICU, waiting for news of my husband's grandmother. She went in for a relatively "simple" heart valve repair on Tuesday morning at 7am. It was originally supposed to be a 3-4 hour surgery and ended up being around 14 hours instead, because once they got in there, they found they not only needed to do the first repair, but also 2 replacements as well! As they were putting in the second replacement, one of the heart walls burst and they needed to patch it on both the outside and inside of the heart.

She's currently in stable condition, but she's been getting regular intervals of platelets to keep her blood going, her heart is currently not strong enough to beat on its own and they left her chest open to allow the doctor to do whatever needs to happen. The problem with the platelets is that there is a national shortage and currently the hospital only has enough to help the most in need patient, which is not his grandma :(

So we've been here at the hospital since Tuesday evening, waiting for any and all information about her condition, they're breaking a few rules and allowing his family to donate plasma specifically to her and thus bypass the 5-day waiting period to test it for bacteria.

Anyway, I just wanted to let some of this out as we've all been sitting here pretty stressed out about the whole situation and right now the only good news is that there's no bad news.

Send some thoughts, prayers, and love our way if you could and for everyone who's not us have a Happy Thanksgiving. :)
 
I am sorry to read this about your husbands grandmother. I hope she makes a full recovery. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
 
Know that you and your familly and especially your Grandmother-in-law are not alone. You are in our prayers and thoughts and He is with you. Let Him carry y'all now!!!!!

Shalom,

Pastor Pat Glazener-Cooney
 
POCooney said:
Know that you and your familly and especially your Grandmother-in-law are not alone. You are in our prayers and thoughts and He is with you. Let Him carry y'all now!!!!!

Shalom,

Pastor Pat Glazener-Cooney
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Thank you Pastor, although I am not religious, my grandmother-in-law is. She will be glad to know she has support all over once she's awake and possibly even now.
 
I hope your grandmother makes it through to enjoy thanksgiving with you. What a wonderful family to be together working to help her, for that anyone would give thanks indeed
 
My prayers & good wishes are with you, your family & especially your grandmother-in-law!
 
I am sorry to hear this. But glad to know she is in stable condition.

Light and healing energy sent to you and your family. I will light a candle for you guys and say a prayer.
 
Thanks everyone, she's making small improvements. They removed the balloon pump she was on today, and reduced some of the meds they are giving her. Small steps, but definitely in the right direction :) The docs are saying she should be able to leave the ICU in a couple weeks
 
Oh I am so glad that she is showing improvement even if it is small ones. Keeping you and your family in my thoughts and prayer's. God Bless you.
 
Jenber,

I'm glad there's an improvement today over yesterday. It's good for family to be together when one isn't well...it's important for everyone.
 
Indeed, she had a small backwards step last night with a suture opening and there was some bleeding but it seems to be back on track now, so the nurse it was just a bump in the road. Everything is still going in the right direction otherwise.
 
I will be thinking of you all, tonight. I hope and pray your Gramma-in-law makes a full recovery!

If she's going to be in ICU for a long time, ask them to talk to you about the probability of ICU psychosis and what to look for, so it doesn't throw you for a loop like it did, us, when my mother developed it (it's temporary, so no need to freak out if it happens). No one had a clue in advance, so it really shook us! It makes any aberrant behavior easier to understand and recognize. That, and be glad she's not a male. Apparently men like to show off their "assets" when they go through it :).
 
Yes, I believe they have already warned us of this, although I'm not sure that's the term they used for it? I wasn't in the room at the time the doc was so it's secondhand knowledge...

We are supposed to have someone with her basically all the time after she wakes up so she doesn't deteriorate mentally. They have warned us that she may have trouble remembering people for a while and it's good to have a family member there as there have been cases where the patient starts to believe the nurses are poisoning them! So we're prepared for some definite oddness once she's back.

I'm so sorry that your mother had to go through that and hope she's better now?
 
Post ITU patients I've nursed have had flashbacks and nightmares as a result of the paralysing drugs, being in the environment with lights and noises disturbing their circadian rythyms and some of them have been quite distressed for a while, but it does resolve. I hope your Gran is on the mend and will soon know how her loving family rallied around her.
 
After hearing about the shortage I will pass the word for people to donate blood, plasma, whatever. I can no longer do it myself. Too overweigh combined with veins ready to collapse from a year I lived off the money I got for my plasma. I still have scars in the crooks of my elbows and regularly get asked what kind of junky am I, sigh.
 
Thanks guys, good to know, they've already taken her off of the paralyzing drugs and we are just waiting for her to wake up on her own right now, so hopefully that will be soon?!

That's a generous thing to donate plasma (even if you did it to pay rent!) it is still something that many people need, and thanks for spreading the word!
 
Jenber said:
I'm so sorry that your mother had to go through that and hope she's better now?
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Thanks for asking :). After 2 1/2 months spent in 3 hospitals, and after having 3 surgeries (one to remove the tumor, one to clean out the wound after infection and gangrene set in on the abdominal tissues, and one skin graft), I'm happy to report that she went home on September 30th, and is healing well. She has almost completely resumed her normal "pre-illness" activities, and while she still tires a little more easily than she used to, and still has to be careful what she eats, she is doing amazingly well! I was overjoyed to see her return to her old self when we visited on Thanksgiving Day.
 
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