WEDNESDAY EVENING ICU UPDATE: Rhonda was unusually alert this morning when Rachel, David, Tre, Megan and I met in her room a little past 5 am so Tre could bid his mother farewell before flying out of the Charlottesville airport for Chicago and then on to East Asia. She understood us and answered our questions by nodding her head. I asked her if she understood that this was the day Tre was leaving for a week of orientation in Chicago and then on to East Asia. She nodded her head, Yes. I asked if she still gave her blessing for Tre to depart at this time. She again nodded her head, Yes. This was such a blessing for Tre as he has really struggled with the timing of his departure and his mothers critical condition. We gathered around her bed and had prayer together committing our family to The Lord, praying for Gods kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We left to see Tre off and then when I returned I discovered that one of the thoracic surgeons had opened up the right thoracotomy incision because of excessive leaking from the right lung. He attempted to put a wound vac on the incision site but was unable to because of the amount of fluid draining from the wound, which has been too great in volume for the chest tubes to drain. Hence, Dr. Isbell, her thoracic surgeon has prepared me for the possibility that they may have to take Rhonda back to the OR to fully reopen the incision, packing the wound from the inside of the chest cavity to the outside. This was one of the possible scenarios of things that could go wrong post surgery. Thus far, the things he outlined that could happen have happened (i.e. infection, pneumonia, excessive wound drainage, etc.). This afternoon she went to fluroscopy for a new j-tube placement as the stoma site around the tube has been leaking profusely, causing severe excoriation of the skin and circumventing the enteral nutrition desperately needed. The interventional radiologist pulled the old tube and replaced it with a new, larger tube in hopes that the leaking will abate, allowing the enteral nutrition to resume. Since 5 pm she has been undergoing an ultrasound procedure to look for blood clots in her arms. Her arms and hands are swelling really bad, her little hands now twice their normal size, as if she was wearing balloons on them. It has been a very emotional afternoon for me as she has been alert and signing to me about her intense pain. The doctors have increased her pain meds, but I have felt so helpless to rid her of all the pain. She is tentatively scheduled to have another bronchoscopy sometime before the day ends. Because of these developments today the prospect of extubating her from the vent has been postponed as she still needs the volume support from the vent. On the positive side her heart remains strong, she is able to maintain a viable blood pressure, her mean arterial pressure is good, her liver enzyme levels have come down, her kidney function remains viable. She has not given up the fight and is believing with us for her full recovery. Please pray that the bilateral pneumonia, infection, leaking, and draining from the chest cavity will abate. Pray that the third spacing of fluids in the intercostal spaces of her body will reduce, absolving the swelling of her extremities. Pray for her spirit to be infused with hope and for our family to be strengthened in our faith and resolve to keep the faith as we journey together toward wellness and wholeness. May the peace of Christ be with you this evening.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 22:46:47 +0000