Day 9 – Independent Spirit – Friday, April 14

~8:00AM – We all headed in to the ICU – Kim, Chad, Cyndie, Wade, and Samantha – to spend some time with Sue. The brief from the day nurse, Nurse S (one of our favorites), let us know that she was sleepy enough last night that she did not get her sleeping meds. Of course, that meant that she woke up at midnight, and according to Nurse A, had a party in her room until 4AM. Nice. 🙂

The thought is that if she is not tired around 10:00PM, then they will give her sleeping meds to help her sleep. If she is tired, they will let her sleep on her own. However, if she does not get meds and wakes up in the middle of the night, then they will not give her meds at that time because they do not want the meds to carry over into the day and affect her therapy sessions.

~9:30AM – Sue was sitting up in bed (adjusted to as much of a sitting position as possible), and fairly alert and awake, but she seems depressed and despondent. We are mostly leaving her alone, and when we do interact she waves us off and just seems to want to sit in solitude.

~11:00AM – Samantha and I headed back to the house. Both of us needed to catch up on our work. Sue was still awake and still distancing herself from us.

~12:00PM – I received text updates from Kim and Cyndie. Kim let me know that Sue’s meds include caffeine (to help jump start her a little bit from her grogginess), Prozac (to battle some of the injury-induced depression – common for stroke victims), and Amantadine. The last one is interesting because it is generally given to people that have the flu, but it has been known to help people with Parkinson’s or other neurological disorders. It is thought to help restore the natural chemicals (neurotransmitters) in the brain, so it could of great benefit to patients that have had a stroke.

~1:45PM – Pastor C showed up for a visit. His visits are a welcome break, and the only visits that we are allowing at this point. He sits with Sue and prays with her, and she seems to take great comfort from it. I’m glad he has been diligent with visiting.

~2:30PM – The speech therapist, K, came in for speech therapy. Sue was deep in the middle of a bout of crying which actually worked in her favor. Sue let out a big wailing sob for the therapist to hear, which is a positive to the sadness and fear that she is experiencing. The therapist was happy with the level of breathing and sound that Sue was capable of, and worked with her through the tears. Sue continued to cry, but kept nodding her head to keep going with the therapy (another good sign). Sue was able to demonstrate moving her tongue left and right a few times and was fed a few ice chips. Then the therapist asked her to do a big swallow. Sue put her hand on her throat so she could feel it herself. She did a big swallow and the therapist excitedly asked, “Did you feel that big swallow?!” Sue then said, “My daughters.” The therapist asked, “Do you want your daughters?” Sue shook her head no. The therapist then asked, “Do you want your daughters to step out so we can work on this together?” And she said yes. This was all through cries, but she didn’t give up. Kim and Cyndie stepped out and the therapist continued to work with Sue.

 ~3:30PM – Kim, Cyndie, and Wade cycled between being in the room and being moved to the family waiting room. Most of the time, Sue did not want them in the room when she was working with anyone – nurse, therapist, or doctor. The day nurse, Nurse S, came in to the family room just after 3PM and talked with everyone and shared that Sue was feeling overwhelmed and wanted to be alone. Some of the things that she is going through she needs to just deal with on her own, and she doesn’t want her daughters (or anyone else) to see that level of emotion, frustration, or struggle. As difficult as it is for us, we now realize that our decision to limit visitors to make Sue’s recovery easier includes us. We can be there for a lot of things and we will support her as much as we can, but Sue is an independent person and needs a lot more time alone than we have been giving her. Begrudgingly, everyone left and headed home.

~9:00PM – Kim called in repeatedly from the time she got home until she finally went to bed, but there really was no news. Sue had an exhausting day and slept off and on since the time that everyone left. They were most likely going to give her a sedative around 10PM to make sure that she slept soundly though the night, but only if she was awake at that time. Other than that, she seemed stable until morning.

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