We have received so many messages over the past couple of days about prayers being said, prayer circles and chains being started and masses being said for Jackie's recovery that we don't think it is a coincidence that she has really seen great improvement over the last two days!
As I mentioned yesterday, my brother Steve flew in from Texas on Friday. He showed up to her room early on Saturday and she was wide awake with her covers off. He asked her if she was cold and she nodded yes, so he got her all covered up. Her being aware of her surroundings and communicating to us is new, and very exciting.
She has the tracheotomy which we had been told will mean she can’t talk until they switch out the tube, yet the nurse did say that their more stubborn patients seem to talk around it. Yes, you guessed it; Jackie is talking around the tube. She told us that she is weak and asked for a cola. When I told her we couldn’t get her a cola she gave me a pouty face. Then proceeded to ask the nurse for a cola when she came in. When the nurse said no she asked, “why can’t I have a cola?” The nurse explained that with the incision in her throat for the tracheotomy she could get the liquid into her lungs which could cause pneumonia, so drinking or eating isn’t an option yet. (She has a feeding tube and IVs for this purpose.)
We shared with her stories of everyone who has been calling, emailing and visiting and if I asked her about someone who I hadn’t met previously she would nod to let me know that she did know who I was talking about and would smile. As the day wore on she started saying she wanted to get out of bed and would try (which she is not ready for). Eventually the nurses told us we were getting her too worked up and had to sedate her to get her to relax and kicked all but two of us out at a time.
While this is all really exciting news she has a lot of work ahead of her. Twelve days out of surgery and she is still well behind where we expected her to be the day after surgery, so keep the prayers coming. We have to get her strength up enough for her to get out of bed and out of the hospital. The longer she is lying in a hospital the more risk of complications such as infection, blood clots and pneumonia. We also need her kidneys to start working on their own, this will be a big hurdle to overcome and it is in the hands of her body and God.
Today the surgeon who put in her tracheotomy will be replacing the tube (not the technical term I am sure) with the next step down which will allow her to talk. And Monday physical therapy is scheduled to work with her. She seems to have a lot of strength in her legs, but her arms are very weak. She can lift them up, but doesn’t have much strength in her hands right now.
Keep the prayers coming; she has lots of work left to do! I look forward to having more good thinks to post in the coming days.
No comments:
Post a Comment