Weekend Update

Apologies for the delay. I know a great many people follow Sara's Status very closely.

On Saturday Sara had a dad day. In the morning her father, Tracy, came and spent time with her. In the afternoon her step-dad, Mike, spent the remainder of the day.

I talked to Mike last night on his way home. He was going to do the update, but must have just gone to bed. He told me that they just basically hung out. He rubbed lotion into her hands and arms. They watched TV and listened to music.

At one point they had some excitement. Her ventilator failed and that got many nurses on a run into her room. In the flurry of activity a respiratory therapist connected a breathing bag to her stoma and gave her breaths, while someone else tried to figure out what was happening. When anything seems amiss with a patient they activate the code team, and they came running as well. It was quickly clear that Sara was not in respiratory distress and that the machine had simply failed. A new unit was brought in and programmed and the excitement receded, along with her vital signs... Mike said that when he left she was sleeping peacefully.

Daniel and I are up here today. Upon arriving we found Sara sweating and drenched. She had a fever. I went immediately into nurse-mode and started asking about cultures and tests. A few moments later her actual nurses were collecting specimens for testing - urine, blood, sputum. Any fever is an emergency, and I am concerned that the source has yet to be determined.

We got a few ice packs and cool rages and started to bring down her fever. One thing I learned from my mother was how to break a fever. A short time later she was down to 99 and visibly more comfortable. We wiped her down all over and pulled the many layers of covering off of her. Even with the fever down, her vital signs remain higher than normal (pulse/respiration).

Deciding to settle her down, Daniel is now reading to her and I have had her close her eyes and relax.

I went looking for a possible source of infection. I carefully checked the obvious choices (foley catheter, feeding tube, IV site) with everything looking ok. I then noticed that the staples in her belly button are still there. They should have been removed with the staples in her head, days ago. I let the nurse know. Then, while gently repositioning her head I noticed that her right cheek was swolen and red. I had not noticed that before, as she was flushed from the fever.
After touching her cheeks and mouth, it is obvious that she has some infection in her mouth or jaw. I alerted the nurse, who examined her and agrees. She has notified the doctor.

I told Sara that when the doctor comes in to examine her, I will be expecting her to cooperate and open that mouth. She has fought opening her mouth under all circumstances. She did acknowledge that it is her mouth that hurts. I told her that you have to be especially careful with oral infections, as they can cause heart issues and damage.

Daniel is reading to her right now. We are waiting for Dr. Immel to show up and visit with her. Afterwards, we will be giving her a spa treatment. Nice exfoliating bath, nice lotion rubdown, hair cut (even it up), facial, and pedicure. She is looking forward to the whole princess treatment, and we are looking forward to getting her completely clean and feeling fresh. (not that there is anything wrong with the bathing she gets nightly, but it is not as complete as we will do.)