ChloeWatts.com

Wednesday, Jan 20th, 2010

Suction was the word of the day. It seemed like we were suctioning all day long. The secretions were thinner but more often, so she was not all that comfortable.

She did well again at PT/OT considering all the breaks for suctioning we had. She really gets into the activities and tries very hard. The new brace that they have on her right ankle is supposed to help keep the knee from buckling but I’m questioning its effectiveness. She may even be fighting it more than the knee. We’ll see though. Give it a few more days and, with the weight training she is doing, maybe she won’t need it anymore.

Dana gave her a taste of orange this afternoon and I did see her tongue move a little better than the other day. She’s doing everything she can to develop the mouth and throat so she can eat! She’s even watching the cooking channel non-stop trying to activate something in her brain that will tell her tongue and swallowing mechanisms to WAKE UP! I bought the cake mix today for her birthday on the 29th. That is her personal goal I know. Again, we’ll see. She can, at the very least, taste it even if she can’t actually eat it.

The wound nurse, Ted, had to come back again today. There has been some granuloma on her trach site and silver nitrate is the only way to get rid of it. Even though we have heard this can be very painful, Chloe didn’t flinch during the procedure. Ted is also just great with her. He is a comic relief specialist who has a daughter of his own. So he tells her jokes and does card tricks for her before the procedure to lighten the load.

A personal thank you to whomever is making it possible for me to get my computer fixed. This will be a huge stress relief once I don’t have to take three hours to boot it up anymore.

Bingo afternoon produced three more prizes for Chloe. We are wondering where to put them all. The way they run Bingo, everybody ends up winning something. It’s a great plan on their part and Jessica does a wonderful job with her bubbly antics.

Chloe’s eye still looks terrible but we have been assured that it will get better, although it will take quite a few days. It got bad fast and it will take some time for the meds to help out.

Dana had lots of company tonight. When someone is there to watch Chloe then Dana can get out of the room to talk. It’s really nice when someone who can sit with Chloe drops by, so that Dana can get away and have some quiet time. She really misses that. She tends to be talking All Day Long and it’s very draining. So if you drop by, and know you can make sure Chloe gets what she needs, please feel free to just tell Dana to go find a quiet place for awhile.

We are looking forward to a very peaceful night tonight. It’s great when both of them get to sleep all night. It doesn’t happen very often. There is a new RT on tonight but Dana has already prepped him for Chloe’s needs and the procedures we will accept. There are just too many ideas on how to do that job. I googled the best and brightest websites for information last night. Based on the information I found I’d have to say there are a few of the RTs I’d put back into training.

For those of you who don’t get to read the blog nightly I’ll try and do a weekly recap during the weekend. It will depend on time however.

Be well,
Ron