Alyssa finally had a good nights sleep. I think we figured out the secret to the back pain. We put a heating pad on her last night and it was much better. She was very comfortable all night. She would get up to go to the bathroom and eat some little things and take her medicine and go right back to sleep. It is amazing how much better you function the next day with some sleep.
When she got up she ordered breakfast and ate it all gone. Her sweet relief society presidency came and visited and I went and turned in my key to the hospital housing. When I got back she was throwing up. I think that she was pretty embarrassed to be throwing up with all of them here. They gave her another dose of nausea medicine. She climbed in bed and had a little cat nap. I said that it must be her pattern to get light headed, throw up and then have a killer headache after and it
The PA came in after rounds and said that they were adjusting her meds. Taking away one that they thought was causing her to be sick to her stomach. Also, giving her a anti nausea medicine on a scheduled time so they can keep ahead of it. She ate a good lunch and then her friend Hannah and her fiance came to visit. She had a good visit and I think that she was glad to see someone other than me.
I had to leave and go check into the Kimball house and do our laundry. My parents and their friends pulled together to get enough days to stay over there most of the month. I still stay at night with her and then I go over to the Kimball to shower, do laundry and sometimes have a nap. I am so blessed to have such great parents. They have been such a great support to me and Alyssa.
When I got back they said that she could move to her new room. When we came up stairs from the ICU her old room had a recliner. It was gone when we got up there. I requested it because I knew that she would be more comfortable. They brought in a couch that folds into a bed for me. They told her that she could move to another room that is so much bigger when it was available. It is really nice to be in a room that has a little more room. She can see temple square from her window we have been told. It is foggy tonight so we will wait and see tomorrow.
She is getting ready to take a shower and shave her head. She woke up this morning and there were clumps of hair everywhere. She said that she couldn't look at that again so shaving will be so much easier. The nurse gave us some catalogs that have some really cute hats. There are some hats here that volunteers have made that we will use. I saw some cute patterns on the Internet that I will print off and start making for her. She is a little depressed about her hair but she says that is better than seeing all of the hair in the morning.
Her new room number is E801 just across the hall from her old room. I hope that we have a good night like we did last night and hopefully when she wakes up she won't lose her breakfast. I am so grateful for all of your prayers and concern for Alyssa. She is so much better and I feel that we will learn many things from this experience.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Saturday, December 4, 2010
A full day
Again Alyssa had a rough night. Her back is always hurting her and she can never get comfortable. She is so scared to be going back downstairs that she is pretty scared when her oxygen monitor goes off. I told her that she was fine and we needed to figure out how to get over this scared feeling.
She woke up and ordered her breakfast and half way through it she said that she was light headed and she was getting nauseated. Her nurse Kyle came in and gave her a high blood pressure medicine, anti nauseated medicine and a pain killer for her head. She crawled in bed and went to sleep for a good 30 minutes and then all the nurses and doctors started coming in.
We finally got her feeling okay so I went and took a shower and went on a quest to find short sleeve pj's that have a button front so they could get to her central line. She gets really hot in long sleeves. Right after I took a shower she called me and I thought something was wrong. She told me the physical therapist was there and he needed to talk to me. I only got lost once going to find the pj's. I don't really know Salt Lake very well. I have had my Dad and Kirk write me directions to go to some places but I still get confused.
When I got back she had ordered her lunch and had been doing word searches for the occupational therapist. She was in the middle of eating her lunch and then she threw up. I called the nurse and he gave her some more anitnauseate medicine.Right after she threw up she asked Kyle if she could finish her lunch. What a trooper to want to finish her lunch, I would have wanted to crawl back into bed. She finished her soup that she was eating. Kyle told me that it usually takes about a week to start feeling the effects of the chemo. She then wanted to have a shower so she got up and had a shower. I combed her hair and put into pigtail braids. When I was combing her hair it was coming out pretty easily. She something about it and I told her that she could get a cool wig color that she was always trying to change her hair color to.
She had said that everything is starting to taste not so good. Again Kyle told her that is from the chemo. She went for a walk, when she goes for a walk she has to put all this stuff on so she can't get germs. I will enclose her picture. After her walk Kyle gave her some more medicine and she is sleeping peacefully. Hopefully that will last.
The lung doctor came in and showed us her lungs and wow has she improved. No wonder she couldn't breathe after looking at the ex rays. He said that her lungs are looking very good. She has not been on oxygen all day and her numbers are great.
Thanks Jordan for the purple christmas tree. She loves it and likes looking at the lights.
She woke up and ordered her breakfast and half way through it she said that she was light headed and she was getting nauseated. Her nurse Kyle came in and gave her a high blood pressure medicine, anti nauseated medicine and a pain killer for her head. She crawled in bed and went to sleep for a good 30 minutes and then all the nurses and doctors started coming in.
We finally got her feeling okay so I went and took a shower and went on a quest to find short sleeve pj's that have a button front so they could get to her central line. She gets really hot in long sleeves. Right after I took a shower she called me and I thought something was wrong. She told me the physical therapist was there and he needed to talk to me. I only got lost once going to find the pj's. I don't really know Salt Lake very well. I have had my Dad and Kirk write me directions to go to some places but I still get confused.
When I got back she had ordered her lunch and had been doing word searches for the occupational therapist. She was in the middle of eating her lunch and then she threw up. I called the nurse and he gave her some more anitnauseate medicine.Right after she threw up she asked Kyle if she could finish her lunch. What a trooper to want to finish her lunch, I would have wanted to crawl back into bed. She finished her soup that she was eating. Kyle told me that it usually takes about a week to start feeling the effects of the chemo. She then wanted to have a shower so she got up and had a shower. I combed her hair and put into pigtail braids. When I was combing her hair it was coming out pretty easily. She something about it and I told her that she could get a cool wig color that she was always trying to change her hair color to.
She had said that everything is starting to taste not so good. Again Kyle told her that is from the chemo. She went for a walk, when she goes for a walk she has to put all this stuff on so she can't get germs. I will enclose her picture. After her walk Kyle gave her some more medicine and she is sleeping peacefully. Hopefully that will last.
The lung doctor came in and showed us her lungs and wow has she improved. No wonder she couldn't breathe after looking at the ex rays. He said that her lungs are looking very good. She has not been on oxygen all day and her numbers are great.
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| Some more nurses in the ICU, Jen and Amber |
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| My number one fans, Grandpa & Grandma Beecher |
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| My favorite respatory therapist Megan |
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| This is what I have to put on when I go for a walk. |
Friday, December 3, 2010
MOVING DAY
Alyssa had a kind of a rough night again. All of her stats were good but she felt like she just couldn't get her breath. She is still getting her antibiotics in the iv and she had to have some more palates last night to keep her numbers up. They could have given her some medicine to help her get rid of the fluid but then she would have been going to bathroom every 30 minutes.
The minute that her ex ray was done this morning which was around 7:15 she wanted to eat. She ordered french toast, cheesy eggs, grape and orange juice and mandarin oranges. She ate everything and then went and had a shower. She was so excited because she got to wear "real" pajamas last night.
She is getting better and better each day. She can do more things hour by hour. She still has to really think to do little things. Like opening a can of pop. Her doctors and nurses are very pleased with her progress. Around 11:30 they came and told her that she gets to move up to her old room. She was pretty excited. The doctor asked her if she had any questions. She said that she had one. She was hungry and wanted to know if she could order her lunch. The doctor came back and said that she would be moving at the shift change at 7:00. So she ordered cheese ravioli, dinner roll, chocolate pudding, brownie, strawberry ice cream One of her nurses brought her a rootbeer.
They have changed all the medicine that they could to pill form to try to stop the fluid intake because she just can't take a lot of fluid. The physical therapist has come several times to help her with her balance. She had to walk around the ICU and she had to walk around objects on the floor. She also had to find yellow post it notes around the room. She did really well but you can still tell that she is not quite right.
The occupational therepist is here working with her with her fine motor skills. I think that she is going to fine but she just have to retrain her brain. She is trying to put her socks on and she had to really try to get them on but she did it. She has a hard time though. When she was typing a email to Cheri to thank her for her pillowcases she told me that she knew she needed to type a letter W but she didn't know how to get her finger on the W.
All in all it is a good day. They say that she is doing really well and her numbers are doing good.
The minute that her ex ray was done this morning which was around 7:15 she wanted to eat. She ordered french toast, cheesy eggs, grape and orange juice and mandarin oranges. She ate everything and then went and had a shower. She was so excited because she got to wear "real" pajamas last night.
She is getting better and better each day. She can do more things hour by hour. She still has to really think to do little things. Like opening a can of pop. Her doctors and nurses are very pleased with her progress. Around 11:30 they came and told her that she gets to move up to her old room. She was pretty excited. The doctor asked her if she had any questions. She said that she had one. She was hungry and wanted to know if she could order her lunch. The doctor came back and said that she would be moving at the shift change at 7:00. So she ordered cheese ravioli, dinner roll, chocolate pudding, brownie, strawberry ice cream One of her nurses brought her a rootbeer.
They have changed all the medicine that they could to pill form to try to stop the fluid intake because she just can't take a lot of fluid. The physical therapist has come several times to help her with her balance. She had to walk around the ICU and she had to walk around objects on the floor. She also had to find yellow post it notes around the room. She did really well but you can still tell that she is not quite right.
The occupational therepist is here working with her with her fine motor skills. I think that she is going to fine but she just have to retrain her brain. She is trying to put her socks on and she had to really try to get them on but she did it. She has a hard time though. When she was typing a email to Cheri to thank her for her pillowcases she told me that she knew she needed to type a letter W but she didn't know how to get her finger on the W.
All in all it is a good day. They say that she is doing really well and her numbers are doing good.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
What a day
Alyssa had a pretty good night. She didn't use the cpac mask at all. She got a little fluid in her lungs when they were giving her antibiotics. She was getting a little anxious about it. Her heart rate and oxygen level were fine. We talked her through it and she then went to sleep.
She had the physical therapist came and evaluated her. Helped her do stairs and have been working with her. She is still has a little trouble with her equilibrium, moving her left arm, and processing how to do things. She gets distracted easily. She is 100 percent better than any of the days she has been here. The lung specialist came in and said that she is doing very well. The MRI came back and it was the same as before. They talked about doing another MRI next week. With that being said they all can see the improvement with her and are very hopeful that she will recover completely from this seizure.
The nurse practioner asked her if she remember the last week that she has been here. All she said was that she remembers having seizures and seeing blue lights. We told her that we are glad that you don't remember what has been going on.
My sweet sister in law came and watched movies and visited her. While Debbie was here I left with my parents and showered and went to lunch and went to a quilt store. (Imagine that). It was so good to get away from the hospital. I am sure Alyssa would love to leave the hospital too. When we were coming back from the hospital Debbie called me and said that Alyssa would love some pizza. We drove on a wild goose chase in downtown SLC in quest for a pizza shop. We found one and brought it back. She ate a whole 8" pizza and 8 oz. chocolate milk. She is getting ready to order dinner. We are waiting for the nurse to tell us if she can order from the "real" menu, not the soft foods menu.
When I left she was still on the face mask with humidty. I believe that they had her using 60% oxygen. When I got back she just has oxygen in the nose and barely on oxygen. She doesn't have to have the humidty so her room is very quiet now. She is alot more steady on her feet than she was this morning. The staff here is so excited that she has made so much progress. Her nurse is telling her that they are thinking that if she has a good night she will probably get to go upstairs tomorrow.
Thanks Cheri and Bertie for the pillowcases. They came today and she loves them. She has used all of them for her back and arms. I am so grateful that she has turned the corner.
She had the physical therapist came and evaluated her. Helped her do stairs and have been working with her. She is still has a little trouble with her equilibrium, moving her left arm, and processing how to do things. She gets distracted easily. She is 100 percent better than any of the days she has been here. The lung specialist came in and said that she is doing very well. The MRI came back and it was the same as before. They talked about doing another MRI next week. With that being said they all can see the improvement with her and are very hopeful that she will recover completely from this seizure.
The nurse practioner asked her if she remember the last week that she has been here. All she said was that she remembers having seizures and seeing blue lights. We told her that we are glad that you don't remember what has been going on.
My sweet sister in law came and watched movies and visited her. While Debbie was here I left with my parents and showered and went to lunch and went to a quilt store. (Imagine that). It was so good to get away from the hospital. I am sure Alyssa would love to leave the hospital too. When we were coming back from the hospital Debbie called me and said that Alyssa would love some pizza. We drove on a wild goose chase in downtown SLC in quest for a pizza shop. We found one and brought it back. She ate a whole 8" pizza and 8 oz. chocolate milk. She is getting ready to order dinner. We are waiting for the nurse to tell us if she can order from the "real" menu, not the soft foods menu.
When I left she was still on the face mask with humidty. I believe that they had her using 60% oxygen. When I got back she just has oxygen in the nose and barely on oxygen. She doesn't have to have the humidty so her room is very quiet now. She is alot more steady on her feet than she was this morning. The staff here is so excited that she has made so much progress. Her nurse is telling her that they are thinking that if she has a good night she will probably get to go upstairs tomorrow.
Thanks Cheri and Bertie for the pillowcases. They came today and she loves them. She has used all of them for her back and arms. I am so grateful that she has turned the corner.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Some Pictures of Alyssa in ICU
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| Alyssa with her tent face mask in the ICU. One of the nurses braided her hair for her |
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| Some of her favorite ICU nurses, Caireann & Vanesa |
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| Alyssa & Shannon P. Shannon was Alyssa's nurse quite a few nights. She was always very patient with Alyssa. |
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| Teresa and Alyssa. |
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| Shannon H. & Denece. Denece was with Alyssa when she had her seizures. Shannon showed me how to upload pictures on the computer |
Another day that has been busy
Alyssa didn't sleep very well last night. I felt so bad for her she just couldn't get comfortable. They stopped the medicine that takes all of her fluid out of her body. The reason they do this is because she is not having so much fluid going in and they want her body to try to do it on its own. She was coughing a lot and she was getting filled with fluid. She actually asked for the c pack mask last night. They don't like her to be on that all the time because it breathes for her and she doesn't have to work at breathing.
She awoke pretty scared and I told her that it was good she was coughing because that was good for lungs. Her eyes were all puffy. She asked if Grandpa could come and give her a blessing. I called and my parents came running. She had a blessing and they gave her some medicine to try to relax her. She finally went to sleep.
I was pretty tired so I went back to the hotel and got some sleep. When I woke up I texted my mom and she said that she was doing great. They had given her a little bit of medicine to get rid of the fluid in her system. She was eating mac & cheese, carrots, 2 cartons of choc. milk and chocolate pudding. I guess there was some discussion about her not eating. They didn't have what she ate yesterday. My mom straightened them out on that. We were just leaving the hotel and my mom said come now they are taking her down to have another mri. We ran over to the hospital. We got there just in time to say good bye and we loved her. Mom said that the respiratory therapsit and the nurse were trying to figure out how to take the oxygen into the mri. The respiratory therapist came up with an adjustment so she could take it in with her. It reminded me of Apollo 13 when they had to use different things to bring them home.
She got back from the MRI and she was a little sedated. While she was sleeping my Dad and I went and inquired about hospital housing. They gave me a room that is right across from the hospital. It is not the hilton but it has a bed and a shower. I am so grateful that I can go over there and get some rest and have a shower. I will still stay here at night but I will go over sometime during the day. Alyssa told me she doesn't like it when I leave but I told her I need to take care of me in order to take care of her.
I think we have her schooling and apartment taken care of so now we are set on those things. Kirk called and said that his boss has no problem working remotely temporarily. Permanently he is going to have to check on it. I am so excited that he will be able to come back. The hospital housing will be nice for him to. Hopefully the housing has internet so he could work some over there.
We don't have the results back from the MRI yet. Most of the results have come back from the spinal tap. And they are all negative. The nurse did say that they are sending something to California to test it. It amazes me what they can do with a little fluid from our bodies
Alyssa had a great dinner. She had a whole bowl of potatoe soup, green beans, banana, grape juice and custard. She ate everything except for a few green beans and she is going to finish the custard later to night. She is resting comfortably and watching How the Grinch stole Christmas. We are trying to keep her awake until around 9 so maybe she will get a good night's sleep.
She seems to get more and more each day back of her mobility. She can mover her arms better and she seems to be more coherent. Hopefully that will continue and she climb the next mountain. I am so proud of her. She has been so brave for all the things that she has had to go through. She has a lot of faith.
She awoke pretty scared and I told her that it was good she was coughing because that was good for lungs. Her eyes were all puffy. She asked if Grandpa could come and give her a blessing. I called and my parents came running. She had a blessing and they gave her some medicine to try to relax her. She finally went to sleep.
I was pretty tired so I went back to the hotel and got some sleep. When I woke up I texted my mom and she said that she was doing great. They had given her a little bit of medicine to get rid of the fluid in her system. She was eating mac & cheese, carrots, 2 cartons of choc. milk and chocolate pudding. I guess there was some discussion about her not eating. They didn't have what she ate yesterday. My mom straightened them out on that. We were just leaving the hotel and my mom said come now they are taking her down to have another mri. We ran over to the hospital. We got there just in time to say good bye and we loved her. Mom said that the respiratory therapsit and the nurse were trying to figure out how to take the oxygen into the mri. The respiratory therapist came up with an adjustment so she could take it in with her. It reminded me of Apollo 13 when they had to use different things to bring them home.
She got back from the MRI and she was a little sedated. While she was sleeping my Dad and I went and inquired about hospital housing. They gave me a room that is right across from the hospital. It is not the hilton but it has a bed and a shower. I am so grateful that I can go over there and get some rest and have a shower. I will still stay here at night but I will go over sometime during the day. Alyssa told me she doesn't like it when I leave but I told her I need to take care of me in order to take care of her.
I think we have her schooling and apartment taken care of so now we are set on those things. Kirk called and said that his boss has no problem working remotely temporarily. Permanently he is going to have to check on it. I am so excited that he will be able to come back. The hospital housing will be nice for him to. Hopefully the housing has internet so he could work some over there.
We don't have the results back from the MRI yet. Most of the results have come back from the spinal tap. And they are all negative. The nurse did say that they are sending something to California to test it. It amazes me what they can do with a little fluid from our bodies
Alyssa had a great dinner. She had a whole bowl of potatoe soup, green beans, banana, grape juice and custard. She ate everything except for a few green beans and she is going to finish the custard later to night. She is resting comfortably and watching How the Grinch stole Christmas. We are trying to keep her awake until around 9 so maybe she will get a good night's sleep.
She seems to get more and more each day back of her mobility. She can mover her arms better and she seems to be more coherent. Hopefully that will continue and she climb the next mountain. I am so proud of her. She has been so brave for all the things that she has had to go through. She has a lot of faith.
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