I arrived at the hospital at 8am this morning as usual. You’d think I’d learn by now that 8am is their shift changeover period, so I had to wait in the waiting area until changeover was done. Nevertheless, I’m still going to get there at 8am tomorrow in any case. Heather had been on slight sedation overnight (just 2ml/h) and today, staff nurse Kelly was going to be looking after her (with assistance from Sister Emma later in the day)
Kelly told me that Heather was going have her sedation stopped again today and that they also wanted to take her off the ventilator, as she was now breathing on her own. This was great news!
Heather’s mum arrived shortly after and we both had breakfast during the ward rounds
At 9:35am, Heather was beginning to wake up and was given some antibiotics. A short while later and they took her off the ventilator and Kelly replaced her ventilator tubes with a “T” piece that connected into an oxygen feed. She was given 100% oxygen at this point just to help her through the transition.
At 11:40am, she had a blood test where we found out that her bloods were OK and that the infection was coming down. However, they did have some concerns about her high potassium levels. Her oxygen level was dropped, as she no longer needed 100% oxygen and Kelly also told us that they were going to move her into a chair. It would be better for her position and would also help her breathing.
Half an hour later, the blood test results came back and it turned out that her potassium levels were falling on their own, so no need for medical intervention. Another example of Heather fighting back.
At 12:45pm, she had a wash as she had been getting quite hot, so I took the opportunity to have lunch with Mum, who had arrived a few minutes earlier armed with some handmade sandwiches. Much cheaper than buying them as we have been doing for the past few days.
At 2pm after lunch, I returned to the room to find that Heather had been moved into a chair and was a little more awake. In fact at times, it was hard to stop her moving, with arms and legs moving about. She made several motions towards her face with her hand. We think the tube in her nose that’s feeding her food was causing her some irritation, but she seemed to accept it after a while. During the move to her chair, her blood line had come out, so they had to put a manual blood pressure monitor onto her arm. I only gives blood pressure readings every fifteen minutes instead of real-time, but it’ll do for now.
Heather’s Dad arrived at 2:45pm after working in Canterbury during the day, so while he sat with Heather’s Mum in the room, I took a coffee break. I had a headache, so needed a break.
Her parents left at 3:35pm and when the physio came to put Heather back into bed, I walked Mum down to the Fracture Clinic so Carole and Arthur could pick her up at 4pm. They were late arriving due to being diverted at Wincheap (I later found out this was due to a suspicious package that needed to be blown up!)
When I got back upstairs, Heather was sound asleep in bed. I therefore took the opportunity to read a bit more of the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and had a bit of a snooze myself from time to time. Believe me, this is a tiring business.
I left at 6pm as usual, happy in the knowledge that Heather is making great progress. She’s off sedation, she’s off the ventilator and breathing for herself, she’s fighting the infection well and she’s beginning to come round.
I’m not expecting miracles, but it would be nice for everyone if she could wake up tomorrow and talk to us. But, we won’t be rushing things.
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