Paul's Update: April 11th @ 11pm
Karen's brother, her parent's and I have sort of been splitting duties at the hospital lately. It's an incredibly busy week for me at work, so I have been taking the evening shift and going in at 8:30pm. This is usually a pretty quiet time, but unfortunately as many of you who know Karen will agree, it's a pretty quiet time for her too. What I mean to say is that she's usually zonked out by 9-9:30 on any normal evening, so these days she'd pretty out of it by the time I arrive. She'll never be able to complain about me snoring again.Anyway, Eric has been taking the morning shift, and her parents have been doing the afternoon. They all get to see much more in the way of activity, and are able to get a lot more information than I do at night. So, I have to rely on them for much of my information the last couple of days.
Here's what's going on lately. Karen has been dealing with some blood clots in both her arms and legs. They are treating her for them and watching her very carefully. They are concerned, but I don't think alarmed at this point. We'll see how that goes. They continue to do tests each day, but have not come to any difinitive conclusions as to her long term mental/physical condition. We do know that she continues to move her right arm and leg more, and has begun to move her left arm and leg a little. She is doing well with her breathing off of the ventilator. They have put off changing the feeding tube for now. I'm not sure why. They are planning to move her in the next few days out of the ICU and into another ward as soon as a bed becomes available.
This is a good sign, and I know they want to move ahead with some rehab to get her exercising her limbs. This in no way means that she will be doing any of this on her own -we are still not there yet. However, I am told that today both Eric and a nurse believe that Karen made an attempt to talk. Hopefully she will continue to do this more and more. We will certainly let all know if this happens. Obviously, this would be a major development if it were to continue.
Stay tuned . . .
posted by Karen's Blog @ Wednesday, April 12, 2006
3 Comments:
Thank you for the update. Like Traci said the other day, even small steps forward are just that... steps forward! I pray the days to come bring even more good news.
I've received well-wishes for Karen via e-mail from
Pooped Colt and
Quickchick
They also continue to keep Karen and all of you in their prayers.
All -
Thank you for sharing the updates with us. You are all in my thoughts and prayers throughout the day. You are doing a fantastic job of supporting Karen and each other through this journey.
It sounds like progress is being made. Karen is a trooper. It's good to hear that her discipline is helping with the recovery.
Take care ... prayers continue to flow from Iowa.
Amanda
I just realized the picture you now have up of Karen is one of the two of us at Reach the Beach in Sept. 2005. I hope she received the "RTB 2005" Soundtrack I sent... the music from the DVD I made for the team. A lot of the music I used in the movie were her suggestions so I know she'll like it!
Post a Comment
<< Home