Day 13

Cindy is not sedated anymore.  However, she is also not very responsive.  The doctors decided to make sure there was no brain damage, so they did a CAT scan.  Thankfully, everything is OK.  The hospital doctor said he might want to an MRI on her head just to make sure.

Cindy remains in critical condition in ICU.

Rita, Mary and I met with a team of doctors including her primary doctor, 2 palliative doctors, the hospital doctor, 2 social workers and her nurse from today.  They went over the plan they have for her recovery.  

The biggest problem is the hiatal hernia.  They cannot do anything about it while she is in her current condition.

She is not responsive right now.  We suggested that they stop giving her Fentanyl which is a narcotic for pain.  Cindy takes a long time to "wake up" from medications like that.

The right side of her heart is not strong and isn't working at 100%

She is getting nutrition through and IV.  They would like to get her nutrition into her stomach.  They might place a feeding tube into her stomach next week.

There were a few sources of infections.

     Urinary tract from the Foley catheter.  It was finally changed after 10 days.
     Found bacteria in sputum
     Bacteria found in Triple Lumen line from dialysis
     

The ventilator is still helping her breathe.  If she is still on a ventilator on Monday, they might do a tracheotomy.  This would be a surgical procedure where an incision is made in the next to open an airway directly to the trachea.  It is not a permanent tube.

Her kidneys are working fine.

There is no prognosis for Cindy.  They are taking things one day at a time.

Don't forget to check out the Memory Lane pages and send in you pictures and stories for her.