ChloeWatts.com

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

December 30th, 2009 Posted in Daily News Post

Here’s brand new start of the blog…. Chloe had a pretty good nights’ sleep last night. What??!!! Yup, she did pretty well and woke up doing well. That’s a great start when she has a great start.

The entire day went pretty much according to plan. PT showed up early and got Chloe started. Afterwards they did a cough assist and took Chloe off the ventilator. She stayed off for four hours.

At 11 am Dana and I were invited to an informational meeting with the rehab staff. While there we were told about the plan of attack and specific goals. All of this sounded very realistic and encouraging. The only bad part was they are looking at six to eight more weeks in the hospital. However, when we leave here they expect Chloe to be only a limited assist patient.

Shortly after we returned from the one-hour meeting she went back on the vent. Then PT/OT showed up. The strength Chloe showed was very encouraging. They made their tests and she really impressed them. Here leg strength has increased quite a bit as well. Then it was time for her to sit up. She did a good part of the work and held her head up by herself for the first time. Then she stayed seated, with help, for 13 minutes.

Next up was speech therapy with Kim. She brought a larynx voice machine and Chloe was able to play with that a bit. It’s robotic in sound but, at least, she will be able to communicate better after she gets the hang of it. We will be getting a loaner of this $700 machine… as long as we put a credit card up for guaranteeing it doesn’t disappear. You better believe we will be keeping an eye on that little flashlight looking unit.

OT showed up to help get Chloe back in bed. With the vent hooked up it’s a bit of a mess of tubes to keep track of when putting her back in the bed. She was worn out by this time.

After her bed bath Chloe wanted home cloths. So we got her fixed up. When asked what she wanted for a shirt there was no hesitation, the Twilight shirt from Ruby Bell. So she said she is wearing it for her friend.

Both Dana and I had a chance to suction Chloe with the single sterile tube. Chloe helps out with her belly coughs. It’s not exactly a cough but more of a huff. Afterwards she went back of the vent for another 4½ hours.

It started snowing while Chloe was in the wheelchair and she had a good view. So while I was coming back from dinner I went out and got her a large cup of snow to play with. I put it in a dishpan to protect the bed but she still played enough to spread it around a bit. The interesting part was we discovered she couldn’t feel cold on her left side. Right side was no problem but the left wouldn’t register anyplace.

Her friend from the cafeteria came through for her again. Celeste came over to me during dinner and gave me a laminated calligraphy of “Chloe” and two bottles of nail polish, blue and green. Chloe lit up as usual. Anything Celeste does gives her a smile.

Another friend I forgot to mention from our last visit was Shirley from housekeeping. She just got out of surgery herself and was on for the first day yesterday. Chloe immediately remembered her when she came in to say hi.

Dr. Shih, who works with Dr. Cockrell, has become one of Chloe’s new favorites. He makes jokes she can relate to. Then Sarah came in and turned all the jokes back on me! Thanks a lot. Thought I was off your bad boy list. By the way, Chris beat you to the room today…

Okay… so here’s a sample: “Why doesn’t anyone want to hang out with Tigger? Because he plays with Pooh.”

By the way, if you are a visitor I must remind you we have started rehab now. That means she has a pretty buy schedule until 4 pm so if you come before then you may not get a chance to visit. Short visits tend to work best with softer voices. She does well then.

We are looking forward to many more good days. Let’s keep working toward the ultimate goal. Thanks for all your help.

Blessings,
Ron