ChloeWatts.com

Sunday.. 12:39 am.. 12/20/09

Today was a fairly good day for Chloe. She had a few uncomfortable problems but they were resolved by about 9:30 pm. Since then she has been all smiles and pretty happy with Dana and me in the room. She and Dana are watching Nancy Drew Mysteries. At one point Chloe said she was getting a little freaked out. I’m not sure why as she has seen it before.

Back to this morning. Dr. Quint was first to drop by and he checked Chloe’s chest. He said she sounded pretty good and said she would be back on the floor soon.

Dr. Nichols showed up next and said for us not to consider coming back to the unit as a setback. They just wanted her to be on the floor so much that they pulled the trigger just a tad too soon. He said she would have another antibiotic started in order to be ahead of any possible infection that may show up on the current culture. He said if nothing showed, we would simply stop the antibiotic but if something did show we wouldn’t be chasing it. He ordered another chest x-ray to compare it with last night. It’s necessary although we’d really like to stop the radiation. She’s had too much for our comfort.

Nurse Ericka came in next and showed me the two x-rays side by side. The morning one was slightly better, showing the grayed out area a little less cloudy.

Then the Big Kahuna, Dr. Dorsen showed up and spoke with me a while. He is still very optimistic for a full recovery. I asked him about the order we could expect things to recover. Motor functions are superficial on the brain stem, so they will come back first. We have seen signs of that already. She is doing much better with her movements which means her long way to go isn’t quite as far now.

The last to come back will be the vocal cords. They are a deep sensory nerve, meaning they are deeper into the brain stem and will take the longest to regenerate. He said there is absolutely no time frame with recovery, it’s just when it is. She has been such an amazing case that anything’s possible.

I let Dana sleep in today. She didn’t need to be here and I didn’t need to be to the class I teach until noon. So at about 9:40 or so she finally turned her computer on to see the time and just couldn’t believe it was so late. Being the only one in the quiet room helped I’m sure. Not to mention that she is completely exhausted. There is a term used to describe the PICU Moms, PICUosous. It’s a real condition that just robs them of anything normal. Zombie would be a close similarity. Then add to that the protective gene that kick into overdrive and you have your devoted PICU Mom… or, in this case, Mama.

It’s still amazing how many of you are following this blog. It grows daily and I love all the comments that come through. When people follow the blog, and tell me so, it shows me they really care about Chloe. It’s also the easiest way for Dana and me to keep you informed and keeps us from reliving each day to many people over and over again.

We are all settled in for the night. Chloe has had her benedryl so she should be zoning out soon. MJ is playing on her Hello Kitty CD player. Dana is packing her computer and is off to the quiet room and I’m getting ready to settle into my wonderful recliner. So until next time… and to all a good night…

Blessings,
Ron