burn unit revisit

We are back at the burn unit at the University of Utah hospital.  That is a good thing though.  On Wednesday, mom went into the clinic to see how things were going and they decided that it was time to close the wound.  She had surgery on Thursday.  They had to take a skin graft from her thigh.  It went well.  For right now, the graft seems to be taking.  She will probably be in the burn unit for 7-10 days, then we aren't quite sure where she will go.  It will be time for some pretty intensive therapy so that she can start getting up and moving around.

not much update

Sorry I haven't updated in a while.  There just hasn't been much to say.  Mom is doing good.  She is working hard at therapy and trying as hard as she can to get home as soon as possible.

She moved last week to a new room, but is still at the Woodland Park Care Center.  Her new room is smaller and not quite as nice, but it is still a good place.

She went to the burn doctors last week.  They said that her wound is healing nicely but that they probably won't be ready to close it up completely until 6-8 weeks.  She can come home before that though, if she is strong enough to.  We are hoping that in another month or two she will be ready to come home.

She really appreciates all your thoughts and concerns.  We love you all.

moved again

Mom was released from the hospital yesterday and has moved to a different care center.  This one is called Woodland Park Care Center.  The address is 3855 South 700 East, Salt Lake.  She is in room #316.
She is doing really good.  All of the issues that sent her to the hospital have been pretty much taken care of.  She doesn't have the feeding tube anymore so she has been eating a lot more.  She has to share a room at the new place, which is different for her, but it seems like a good place.  Now she just needs to get working on physical therapy again so that she can get strong enough to go home.

two steps forward and one step back

Things have been going pretty good.  Mom is working really hard on rehab.  She is now to the point where she can sit on the side of the bed for about 20 minutes.  They are working on getting her to stand with the help of a walker.  They said that if everything goes well, she could be ready to be released in a couple of months. By then, they should have her to the point that she can transfer in and out of a wheelchair.

Unfortunately, she is now back in the hospital.  They took her in a couple of days ago.  She has a bladder and kidney infection, was pretty dehydrated, and her potassium and blood sugar levels were really high. They are going to keep her there for a few days at least until they get everything back under control.  

It was a little disheartening to have her have to go back to the hospital when everything seemed to be going so well, but it is really just a minor setback.  She should be back up and working in a few days.

new digs

A couple of days ago, mom was moved out of the hospital. She is now at Federal Heights Transitional Care and Rehibilition Center. It is in downtown Salt Lake (about 9th East, 40 South). It is good news that she was moved. It means that she doesn't medically need the care at the hospital. She is not completely done with the hospital. Her wound still needs to be closed so she will be back, maybe even for a short stay, but it is nice to have her out of there for a while. Federal Heights is a very different environment than the hospital is. It is definitely going to take some getting used to, but hopefully it will be a good place for her. We are hoping that it won't be too long term, but we still aren't too sure what the future holds.

appreciating the things you take for granted

Things are continuing to go well for mom. On Sunday, they took the trache tube out. She is now breathing with just a little oxygen going in her nose during the day and with the oxygen mask at night. It is so great to have her breathing on her own. It was easier for her to talk with the small trache tube in than it is now, but she can still talk, and that should be back to normal once the trache hole heals. This weekend, she was also able to eat ice. She was so excited. She has not had any food or liquid in her mouth for almost two months. That ice was the greatest thing in the world to her. It is amazing how something so simple, that most of us would never even think about, could make her so happy. I am so glad she was finally able to have the ice. She is actually eating a little bit of food now too. She can only have soft foods, applesauce, pudding, stuff like that, and she can only have a couple of bites, but it is an amazing start. Other things are going well too. Today they took out her iv port and catheter. The only tubes she has now is her oxygen and her feeding tube. She is working really hard on physical therapy. Right now, we are mostly waiting for her wound to heal and then we will start moving on. Thanks again for all of your thoughts and prayers. We can definitely feel them and know that they help.

she speaks

Things are going really well with mom right now. She had surgery on her wound again on Monday. It went well. They then moved her back to the burn unit. They had been keeping her in the MICU, but the burn unit nurses were taking care of her wound and the burn doctors were still taking care of her, so they decided it would make more sense to put her back in the burn unit. She hated to lose her view, but she loves the nurses in the burn unit, so it was good. They have continued to wean her off the ventilator. Earlier in the week, they had her to where she was off the ventilator all day, with only a tiny trickle of oxygen and were also weaning her off the vent at night. Today, the doctor decided she was ready for the smaller trache tube. They switched it out this morning. When I got there today, they were just trying out the cap for the trache that allows her to speak. They said it could take her a while to get used to and that they would probably only leave it on for a little while. She was so excited to be able to talk though and she got used to it really fast, even having a nap with it on, so they were able to leave it on all day. It was so wonderful to be able to talk to her again. It made her really happy. They said that now they will work on weaning her off of it even more so they can take the trache off completely. Also, now that she has the smaller tube in, she should be able to eat and drink. There is still a little work she needs to do before she can have food, but it will hopefully happen soon. They are also working really hard on her physical therapy. They put her on the tilt table today and had her stand a little. It really wore her out, but was good. Then this afternoon they had her sitting in the wheelchair thing for about an hour. They even made her sit up without leaning back, unsupported for a few minutes. They told her they are going to keep working her hard. It is time for her to get strong again. Today we definitely made some huge steps forward. They were careful to warn us though, that she is still very sick and has a long way to go. Everyone was very happy with her progress though. It is so nice to have such a good day and to move in such a positive direction. Now we just pray that things keep going that way.

Much Love from New Zealand

I just wanted to write and thank everyone for the prayers and support that you have given to my family! I really appreciate it!

Like Alice wrote I am currently in New Zealand until April! I am SUPER HOMESICK and it is hard to be away from mom but this is what she wanted me to do!

It is good to hear that mom is still doing well and still fighting. That brings a lot of peace my way. I know that the prayers of our friends and family are being answered. Please keep an eye out for my family and keep praying!

Love from far away,
Emily

Standing still

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. There just haven't been a lot of important changes to report. There was hope last week that they would move mom to a rehabilitation center and out of the hospital, but it didn't happen. She just wasn't ready. Instead, they moved her out of the burn ICU and into the medical ICU. That doesn't mean much. She just doesn't need the burn care right now, but does need constant care. The good news about the move is that the regular ICU is in the remodeled part of the hospital so she has a bigger, nicer, more cheerful room. Mom has been fighting a couple of infections, but none of them are out of control. She did get an infection in her wound that they had to operate on today. It just wasn't healing the way it needed to and so got infected. It was a routine, quick surgery and went well. It did, however, mean that they had to open the wound up again, which was a little frustrating. That was the one thing that seemed to be getting better, but hopefully this will take care of it and it can start healing again. A couple of days ago, they took mom off of the ventilator for 30 minutes. They were still giving her oxygen, but instead of letting the ventilator breathe for her, she had to do it herself. Yesterday, they took her off the vent for an hour at a time, twice. Then today, they took her off for 3 hours, twice. That means that she was breathing on her own, with a little extra oxygen, for 6 hours today. We were really excited about that. In general, things are going ok, but don't seem to be moving forward much. It is just a waiting game right now, I guess. In other family news, Emily left yesterday for her study abroad trip in New Zealand. She is there safe now, exhausted after her 13 hour flight, but ready for an adventure.