Turning a corner?...

Michelle got out of bed and walked the whole floor yesterday to prove to the therapists that she does not need to transfer hospitals. They agreed that she is strong enough and agreed with her that she can go home without staying any longer in the hospital. She does still have the chest tube because the blood thinners that she has are causing her chest to continue to drain. It is draining less and less each day so it is just a matter of time before they can remove that and within 48 hours she should be home. I am crossing my fingers thinking that we are getting close to ending this recent nightmare. knock on wood, wish upon a star, pulling eyelashes, howling at the moon...any other ideas?

Sigh.....

Michelle has blood clots in her arms from the many, many IV's that she has had over the last two weeks. They are loading her up with heperine (sp?) to loosen things up and they "say" that they should dissolve on their own. They also mentioned to her today that they want her to stay in the hospital for awhile longer, even after the chest tube comes out to rehab her and get her stronger before she comes home. Noone seems to know how much longer that will be but it won't be at the University of Utah because we are not covered there for rehab apparantly. SO, they want to move her to the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray to get going with that sometime in the next few days. If you are planning to go visit her, I will update the blog once she has been moved or as soon as we find out when they are going to move her. STAYING POSITIVE but getting ready to hit something really hard!! :)

Longest stay in the hospital so far

Michelle has now spent 12 days in the hospital making this her longest hospitalization so far. She is getting stronger everyday and seems to be making process. Her biggest hang up right now is that she still has her chest tube in. She was up and walking for really the first time yesterday. I didn't get a chance to see her as I had work and class yesterday but I will be able to see her tonight before heading to the Jazz game and sitting in a suite! (Jealous?)
I'm excited for the night out after visiting with her as this will be a nice distraction from reality for a couple of hours. Like I said she is doing better all the time and will be able to come home within a day or two of her tube coming out. She is on the 5th floor of the University Hospital if you would like to visit her. Please call her and if she is feeling well enough for company she will answer, if not, don't be offended, she doesn't answer all the time when I call either! :)
She has been able to see the kids a couple times now since getting out of the ICU which has really cheered her up and at thew same time depressed her as she really misses the kids and wants to get home to help take care of them. Thanks for all your prayers on her behalf. She'll be home soon.

Out of NCCU

Michelle was moved out of the Nuero Critical care unit na dmoved to much more relaxed room on the 5th floor of the Univ. Hospital. Not sure if they will mover her to Huntsman or when that will happen. She cannot go up to Huntsman without her chest tube being taken out anyway so that could happen in the next 24-48 hours.
She had a vicious mirgraine and a lot of nausea yesterday that really kept her from doing much of anything. She slept a lot of the day due to the valium and antinausea drugs that she was on. She is getting stronger but it seems that everytime she starts making progress, something gets in the way. Still no word on when she will be coming home, best guess is mid week but I wouldn't be surprised to see her stay until next weekend as she is still on plenty of IV painkillers.

Doing better everyday

Michelle is looking better, feeling better and making more and more progress all the time. She was sitting up in a chair today for about 30 minutes, I haven't seen her incision but her Mom said it's a good one. We're planning on telling our Grandkids one day that Grandma got in a fight with a shark.
She is much more alert than she has been and seems to be recalling conversations better than she has the last couple of days. One reason I haven't wanted anyone to call her is because she really still sounds worse than she is. I guess that happens when you have a tube shoved down your throat twice in a week for surgeries?! Hopefully her chest tube will come out in the next couple of days and we can get her moved to Huntsman Cancer hotel..errr, Hospital. She wants to post something really quick so from here on out in this post, it's all her...

just want to say hi and let everyone kow I am doing fine and having more progress everyday. It's hard to have visitors because of the hospitals restrictions. I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Making progress

Michelle had the procedure this morning to get all the fluid and blood out of her chest. It went well, they only made two small incisions on her right side and inserted two tubes to clear everything out. They removed 750 cc's thus far. They say she should be able to move up to Huntsman very soon without a problem. This should help lift her spirits and allow more people to see her without all the restrictions. Also, Huntsman has looser pain management restrictions than the U. Huntsman really does a fantastic job at getting people comfortable without worrying about patients becoming addicts. University hospital is under such tight restrictions and it seems like every nurse is afraid of losing their job everytime you ask for more medication. Michelle's TV in her room doesn't work so she is left with nothing but a wall to look at. It sucks but she knows it is a matter of time before she gets into better circumstances.
The rest of us are managing, it's so hard watching her suffer every day but she is such an inspiration to everyone she comes in contact with. You can tell that she has had it with hospitals, surgeries, drugs, doctor's and nurses, but there is no way she is going to give up anytime soon. Don't bet against her, you'll lose everytime!!

Good and bad today

Good news-They seem to have a good idea of how to control her pain. They did sit her up this morning and they have bed propped up to about a 30 degree angle. She has been able to eat some today, this is the first time since her surgery that she has had a chance to eat anything.

Bad news-The fluid in her lungs has not gotten any better. The tube that they put in her chest isn't working. She has to have a procedure done tomorrow morning to clear her lungs. They shouldn't have to open her up with the exception of a couple holes between her ribs while inserting a camera to make sure they take care of the problem. It is one more thing, like she hasn't gone through enough but this should help her feel better and breathe better. Her right lung has collapsed and this will reinflate it.

I did run up to Huntsman to talk to some of our allies up there to see what could be done to get her a room at Huntsman. The university is a fine hospital but they simply do not provide the same level of care. Michelle hates it there and will be much happier and comfortable at Huntsman where she can order food that is edible and have a staff that specializes in cancer care. Once she is out of the NCCU (neurological critical care unit) we will hopefully have a chance to get her moved. We do not know when she will be coming home, my guess would be in a week from now. I will update again tomorrow.