Oxygen hose and Poop Chute gone today!

More progress! She did a test run to see how she'd do without additional oxygen (sample: sats were upper 80s-low 90s, heart rate 115, BP 100/56). My understanding is that she hasn't been on oxygen since this morning. She doesn't have the poop chute anymore, either. Instead, she's just asking for a bedpan whenever she needs it. During my visit, I got to be the "Bedpan Avenger" and help place the thing. I've never done it before, and Denise thought I didn't need to get it as far under her as I did, but the nurse said I did it perfectly. Temps stayed in the 99 range and just went to 100 tonight. No cooling blanket needed, though she did ask for some ice and loves having that clip-on fan blowing on her. She finally watched some of the video of the trip we took to Disneyland two weeks ago. She's been suctioning herself. One of the suction gizmos has a foam swab at the end... sort of a toothbrush. She asked if she could have a real toothbrush, so they're going to see if they can get her one. Before I arrived, PT had her sitting on the edge of her bed for about half an hour. Her balance was so good that she didn't need to use her hands much of the time. Denise told me that a couple people were outside her room cheering for her. PT tried standing her up, but her ankle drop was so bad that her heels couldn't touch the floor. Tomorrow I'm going to bring her Converse high-top sneakers that they bought for her at Arcadia Methodist. The PT lady hadn't heard of that trick, but thought it would be great to get the bend back into her ankles so she can stand. PT was going to get her into the chair, but someone came to do an echocardiogram, and that put an end to the PT session. As of tonight, she was sound asleep shortly after 8pm, and I don't think they even had to give her any sleeping meds.

Only bad news is that she threw up a little. Again, she said that she was trying to cough gunk out of the back of her throat but it made her gag & puke. She still gets to eat ice chips & sip water slowly. It's hard for her to not want to guzzle it. Water is our favorite drink, and we chug lots of it every day. Maybe it could also be considered "bad news" that she didn't get moved out of the ICU today, as the doctor indicated might happen. But that getting into a "regular" room is even within sight has given Denise lots of hope. Us, too. I was going to ask what criteria she has to meet in order to get rid of the trach, but I didn't get the chance to ask. Any RTs out there, please post some general guidelines for when a trach can come out.

I was only with Denise a short time today (the kids woke up at 4:10 am, so I've been out of whack all day). I went home early to get a nap. After picking the kids up from day care, we painted the plaster handprints that they made a few weeks ago. Gracie wanted nothing but pink & purple. Jacob really didn't care what colors he used, or what he painted. I put some of my old t-shirts on the kids to protect their clothes, but I didn't think to give them face masks & shower caps, too. Jacob just about painted the whole side of his noggin blue. After that, one of Denise's friends came over to watch the kids and she helped Gracie write her thank you notes from her birthday party. I feel bad... I haven't even written thank you notes from *my* birthday yet. Speaking of the party, I'd been meaning to post a copy of the invitation that my cousin made. This is the same guy that's helping Denise's blog site by providing the ability to receive email updates, and customizing the guest map. A pretty handy guy to know, and if you like the creativity he put into Gracie's "1960s Mexican movie poster" birthday invitation (click here), maybe you can hire him to come up with something for your party, too. By the way, if I haven't already mentioned it, thank you very much to all the people that pitched in to execute Denise's plans for Gracie's birthday fiesta. It was incredible!