Emerald Hope

Sunday 3/7
I won't even try to be as eloquent as Meggie in expressing how this experience has changed our lives. But only I can express how proud I am of my daughters and what wonderful women they have become and how much I love all three of them and, in Jen's and Meg's case, their wonderful families.

Today was an unbelievable day. It was pretty obvious to us that the doctors/nurses were at odds on how to care for Jen's sedation problems. It just didn't seem like they could keep her in a comfortable place. No matter how much they played with the dosage she was receiving, she remained agitated and hard to comfort. They moved the vent back up to 100% to take the load off her and try to ease her restlessness. She was still very agitated.

So, in their infinite wisdom, they assumed we were playing a part in her condition and decided to ban us and all visitors from her room indefinitely. Of course, you know we will do anything to help Jen get better so, like little lambs, we heard them out, and hovered in the "family room" waiting for our next orders. In the meantime, the doctors still had to figure out what to do about her sedation. So, they finally called in an anesthesiology consult who recommended a new drug for her that they use in surgery. Once it was administered, she settled down into a peaceful rest, and at the end of the day, we were allowed to re-enter her room.

The remainder of the day went very well. Jen remained calm and immediately her stats improved so by night, she was back down to 60% on the vent (where she had started that morning). These ups and downs take their toll on all of us, most especially Dave who has been staying at the hospital 24/7 and wanted to try to get home to see his kids, etc. but was afraid to leave her side. If you remember back in Seattle we started switching off nights staying with Jen and we will begin that plan now. Dave went home and I stayed and we will alternate as before for as long as needed.

Monday 3/9:
Jen had a good night - in comparison to yeterday, JEN HAD A GREAT NIGHT! And, what a good day for me to be there as every consult who walked into the room seemed to have good news - her lungs are improving. They moved the vent down to 50%. Her blood work and blood gases look good. We believe the next step is weaning her off the ventilator all together. They have also started to cut down on some of the sedatives she's getting (not the new one so far) but the others. She started moving around more but they say now this is a good sign as they want her to get used to moving about and breathing more on her own. She wasn't combative in her motions, just mostly leg movement and now they believe some physical therapy can be started to get her joints active again after lying so long in the bed. Every day brings news - some good - some bad- but today was filled with only good and we'll take it and cherish it and look ahead to more of the same tomorrow.

We thank you every day and you are all in our prayers as we are in yours.

jo/mom/granny