Thursday Nov. 11, 2010

Papa is doing SO much better! He ate breakfast well, he was pretty tired today because the therapists worked him pretty hard yesterday. They removed the catheter, the infectious disease specialist (Dr. Skanky - Yes, that really is his name :0) has identified the bacteria and is treating it with the appropriate antibiotics. The Dr. is talking about moving him to a rehab center so that he can get some of his strength back before he comes home. So, things are moving in a very positive direction. I am leaving tomorrow to go back home. The nurse said that the surgeon and the nurses were remarking about the amazing progress that he has made since I have been here and that his vital signs are always stable when I am there with him. (No pressure!) My poor kids need me to go home, at least for a while. I personally think that when I am there the nurses don't have to work as hard :0) I change his bedding, adjust his leads, sanitize everything, use the suction machine when he coughs, keep him comfortable, adjust pillows and blankets, help him change his gown etc... Once I leave then they have to "get back to work". Sometimes when I am there, we don't see a nurse in the room for hours. I really hope that is not the case when I go home. Our Primary program is on Sunday, I am looking forward to that, I would be sad to miss it, even though my dad is asking me to stay... sigh! On another note, we got a message from the state hospital that Krista ended up in locked seclusion for 20 minutes yesterday (Wed.) She was being really hyper and when they tried to re-direct her Krista started hitting and kicking the staff. After they put her in the "re-direction room" (A polite word for the plain padded room with a window in the door for observation :0). I guess that she wouldn't stay in the room and was still "freaking out" so they had to lock the door until she calmed down and it was safe for her to be around other people, which took 20 minutes. I can't believe that it only took 1 week before her first "freak-out", we dealt with this behavior daily but we were really afraid that it may take weeks for them to see any "abnormal" behavior. The psychiatrist said that it won't happen since mentally ill children can't hold it together that long, with the 24/7 observation they are definitely seeing her "true colors" right off the bat. Which is really good since the sooner that she exhibits all of her behaviors, the sooner they can start to treat her disorders (which is still a very long road).