day 8

Look at these two....like peas and carrots. Jimi has been a part of our family for over a decade now. He and Sarah were high school sweethearts. Then Jimi went on his mission to Florida and it was a common sight to see Sarah writing him letters, sending packages, and giddy with excitement when she would come back from the mailbox with a letter from her Jimi. We were laughing the other night remembering when Jimi sent her a package. Sarah was ecstatic. She carefully opened the package and found a box inside. She opened the box to see a stuffed alligator head! Now most girls would probably freak out and possibly a Dear John letter would soon follow...not Sarah. She loved that little alligator head. It was proudly displayed on a shelf in her room. Then when they bought their condo, it was on top of their entertainment center. I think I would have gone for a different decorating accent, but it meant the world to Sarah.

I have mentioned before in a post how great Jimi is. How great he is to know and be related to, but also even greater is how he treats Sarah with such love and tenderness. Jimi has had a crash course in nursing, medicine, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, and physical therapy this past week. I am so proud of how he has handled everything. He has developed such a great rapport with everyone caring for Sarah. He is so positive and happy. Sure there have been some very tearful and scary moments, but Jimi is always the first to wipe his tears and then smile and laugh. There have been some dark times, but more recently those are far being eclipsed by happy ones.

When Sarah was admitted, she wanted me to take a picture of her in her hospital bed. The next day when she was on bipap, she wanted another picture. Here she is on the way to the ICU with a big mask over her face and a big smile that you can see only with her eyes. When things were so scary, I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of her intubated. When the downward spiral of events seem to halt, one night I took a few pictures. I won't post them out of respect for my sister. I'll let her choose what to she wants to do with them. But, let me explain one of the pictures of Sarah and Jimi. I was sitting in a chair a little further back in the corner of the room. Jimi is sitting right by Sarah holding her hand and talking to her. With all her tubes, machines, and wires, he is looking at her like she is the most gorgeous girl in the world. It has got to be the sweetest picture of what love is all about....through thick and thin, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse...but most importantly for eternity.

Jimi is Sarah's knight in shining armor. He gives her so much strength....even more so now. I have always admired the love they share. Sarah got married before me and seeing the marriage she and Jimi have was something that I wanted in my own life. This morning, I got off of work and stopped by the hospital. I was sitting there talking to Sar...she is much more aware of things now. She responds when we talk and touch her. I told her I would stay till Jimi came. I asked her if she was excited to see Jimi and she nodded yes. I then told her that he was probably on the Interstate and she smiled (it cracks Sarah up that Jimi always says, "I'm on the Interstate 15" instead of I-15).

Another good day to report. Like I said, she is becoming much more aware. She is still very sleepy, but responds much quicker. She will open her eyes, nod her head, smile, move her arms and legs. She wakes up panicked and we have to explain about the ET tube and she will usually settle back down and then go back to sleep. It is so hard to see her restrained, scared, and uncomfortable. Having someone there helps her calm down. She needed a whiff of Propofol last night to help her sleep. Today they turned it back off. She is on a vent setting that is allowing her to be in more control of breathing on her own and then the vent will kick in to help her initiate a breath or breath deeper. Her PEEP was turned down to 9 and her respiratory rate is also down which is good. The RT wanted to be a little more aggressive with weaning the vent today, but her doctor is being more cautious. Her lungs have been so sick. They really need the time to heal. As much as we and Sarah want that tube out, she still very much needs it.

Her labs were stable with no big changes. Her chest x-ray looked a little better. She is continuing to get IV fluid to help flush her kidneys. When someone has been really sick, cells that have been attacked by the virus and the virus cells themselves die. In addition, her muscles haven't been used in a while and a process called rhabdomylisis occurs where the cells lyse and die. Excreting these cells through the kidneys puts stress on them. This is probably why her creatinine has been a little high. She seems to be in the recovery phase of her illness and all her body systems have taken a hit. It will take time for everything to heal.

She sat up by the side of her bed twice today with PT. She wasn't a fan and was wiped out afterward. They put her vent back on assist control so it would do most of the work tonight to let her really rest. They are going to try to walk her in the next couple days. She will be bagged by the RT so they don't have to roll the vent beside her. PT will also work with her for a couple days when she is out of the ICU to help her transition to home when the time comes.

One of Sarah's favorite quotes is by Dr. Seuss.

"You know you are in love when you can't sleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." Thanks to Jimi, I would have to say my sister has been sleep deprived since the day they met.