Moving upstairs

They'll move mom to the step-down unit on the third floor tomorrow. They are hoping get her into the LTAC (Long Term Acute Care) hospital by mid week. We went and toured the facility and feel confident about it. It is called Promise Hospital and is located in Salt Lake at 1050 E South Temple, 3rd Floor.

P.S. They did get her initiating her own breaths and doing some of the work. Her temperature was consistently good throughout the day. She is trying hard to move her mouth, but the movements so far have been very small.

step by step

Mom got her trac at 7:30 this morning. The nurse said that respitory will come and do therapy on her to see if they can get her initiating her own breaths and possibly doing some of the work.

Love this!

A friend shared this quote from Pres. Uchtdorf and I can't stop thinking about it!
"There may be times when we must make a courageous decision to hope, even when everything around us seems to contradict that hope."
Thank you for your love and support and Hope!

The Schedule

The rib surgery didn't do as much as they had hoped for mom's breathing, but it should help a lot with her pain.

It looks like they will give mom a tracheostomy [not sure how to spell that] early next week. She'll still be on her ventilator but it won't have to go through her mouth and should be a lot more comfortable. They will also put her feeding tube in through her belly so she won't have that going down her nose and throat.

Middle of next week we hope to be in the step down unit from the ICU, and they plan on moving her to a long term acute care facility near the end of next week. They said to plan on her being in this facility for 3-4 weeks where they will do aggressive rehabilitation and try to wean her off the ventilator. At that point they'll decide what type of facility she will go to next where she will stay for a much longer period of time.

The meeting with the doctors was very sobering. Her injuries are extreme, and there is still no way of predicting the outcome. The amount of progress she makes in the next few months will likely be life defining. Please pray for her! We are all full of faith that there are miracles available to our family. Thanks again for all the love and support.

Update

She had the surgery and they plated 4 of her ribs. They said she did well.

Today my dad was in the room when they rolled her to her side to check her epidural so that she was facing away from him when he said "that didn't seem to bother her too much." The nurse who was facing mom said that she rolled her eyes VERY distinctly at my dad's comment. My dad feels bad that he said that (he won't be happy I wrote it in here) but it makes me feel like she really is understanding a lot of what is going on around her.

We are having a family meeting tomorrow with her main doctor where they will bring us up to speed. Hopefully we'll have a lot of info to post tomorrow. Sleep well mom.

Surgery on her ribs

They've decided to take mom into surgery tomorrow to "plate her ribs." I guess this is uncommon (they usually just leave them alone) but the doctor says he thinks it will help her heal and get comfortable much more quickly. They haven't told us what time they will do it. More info when we have it!

Tonight

They got the epidural in and mom seemed much more relaxed afterwards. Good news from the doctor that her bowels are working (they've been concerned about that.)

Some have asked about the fever she's been running off and on. They've checked her for pneumonia and they say she doesn't have any signs of it right now "nothing is growing in the dish". Her fever was up to 102 again tonight and they can't give her any Tylenol because of her liver so they just keep her room cold and use ice packs to draw it down. The nurse said that this fever could just be part of the head injury - not necessarily an infection that they are unaware of.

The doctor said that our next big step is to try to get the ventilator out, and he's guessing that they will try to do that in a couple of days. Before they will even try she has to be awake enough and able to protect her own airway with neck control and with coughing. She hasn't coughed yet and that may be because of the pain and it may be a result of the brain injury. So let's all pray for a good cough!

She should have a good night without pain. I pray she does. Thanks for all the prayers, Mel

Family Fast

My dad has asked that we do a family fast this Sunday, with everyone breaking the fast with a prayer at 5:00 pm wherever they may be. If you would like to join us my sisters and I will be fasting specifically (among other things) that she will have peace and in graditude that her life was spared.

I was with mom yesterday and she opened her eyes for me. She blinked when I asked if she knew who I was and that was a huge relief to me. I can't imagine how confusing and scary it must be to wake up in that state. I know that the lack of knowlege about what we're dealing with is extrememly frustrating for me, and she is the least informed of us all.

She is still on a ventilator but initiating her own breaths. They are giving her an epidural today to help control the pain during breathing. I'm hoping that this means that we are getting closer to having them reduce the sedation for more than just a few minutes a few times a day.

She can have pictures on her wall and we are playing instrumental music to her (her favorite way to relax before the accident.)

Thank for all the love, support and prayers, Melinda

We know so many of you are anxious for an update on Laura so we will do our best to keep you informed. I just spoke with Heather, Laura's daughter, and she told me that the doctors will be giving her an epidural in the near future to help with the pain so they can begin to lower her sedation in an effort to work with her on her breathing. During her breaks from sedation she is communicating with her eyes, blinking and opening her eyes really wide in response to questions. Her ability to do this is extremely comforting to her family. We still don't know much concerning her brain injury. Time will be the biggest factor in evaluating the severity.
Laurie

On October 22nd, our mother, Laura had just picked up the wedding cake for her daughter's wedding when she drifted off of the freeway and into 2 poles. Her injuries include 12 broken ribs, broke​n vertebrae a​nd most concening a brain injury. We have been told that the spectrum of possibiliti​es is very broad and that ea​ch day will bring more information.​ Because so many want to know how she is doing, we will try to post the latest information as quickly as possible. Thank you for uniting your faith with ours in her behalf.