Updates from today

Let's see... her temp stayed down most of the day today. They're still holding off until Friday for the surgery. Her nurse today was just amazing, again! But they all are!! She cleaned her up some, redid her tube, changed the dressing on it, all that stuff. I just can not give enough praise to these nurses. I'm sorry, but doctors have the easy job it seems. She also gave her the blood transfusion, about 400 ml., which she said is about 1 unit. I did ask about us donating to her, but that's not something they can do right then and there. It takes a week or so to get the paperwork in order, but she did assure us that they take so many extreme precautions on blood now.

We got to talk to Dr. A. some more tonight. It helped put hubby at ease too. He talked to some of the nurses last night too. We have realized that although this is the last thing we wanted, her safety must be considered. And this will open up her airway a lot. She should be off BiPap after this too. Since that machine is the one that opens her airway while she's sleeping, the trach tube will be her source of air now. And that is placed underneath the airway there. We know that her lower airway and lungs aren't compromised like her upper airway is. Plus, once we get further along, they'll have it where we can cap it off during the day, so she'll actually breath through her mouth/upper airway like normal.

We honestly have no idea how long she's going to be in the hospital, we're not even going to take any guesses. As the surgery is now scheduled for Friday at 7 a.m., then there's the recovery time. Plus some therapy in a way, to get her used to it. Then hubby and I need be taught how to care for, clean, and change the trach tube. We then have to demonstrate that to the nurses there. They're also getting us information on home nursing care as well, of course, all of that is dependant upon what our insurance covers too. Although she said that there's aid available for that too. They will also give us CPR training and emergency care for her.

It's all a LOT to take in... But we also realize that we just can't wait until they find out what's causing her airway problems. Yes, they're doing the bronchoscopy first, to see if there is possible anything that could be obstructing it further, although it's highly unlikely. So, without anything showing up in that, the trach will be done then. The weight isn't going away anytime quickly, so that won't help things either.

I think that's it for tonight... My parents are back in town and they'll be up tomorrow to see her. I don't think there's going to be much more tomorrow to say, but I'll probably do a little update. Thanks to everyone for all the kind words and thoughts. We do talk to her when she's not agitated and let her know that everyone is thinking of her.