Friday, April 17, 2009

2:40 PM Update - Fri.



Kate's nurse today asked me if I wanted to hold her! I jumped at the chance. :) After lunch, she got another nurse to help her get all of Kate's wires transferred over to my arms while I sat in a rocking chair. Sweet moment!! I loved it!

Unfortunately, it didn't last very long. Kate dumped a ton of fluids and combined with the small dose of sedative they gave her, it caused her blood pressure to bottom out. The nurse got an intense look on her face and said, "We have to get her back in bed NOW." I looked at the monitor and her blood pressure was around 37/29. Several doctors came quickly into the room and the nurses started pumping her with fluids. It was very tense while we waited for the fluids to raise her blood pressure and while I listened to the doctors giving instructions on which medicines to put into her. I tried to keep it together but wow...it was very frightening. My friend, Karla, was here and quickly stepped back out of the way, watching.

After the episode was over, I looked at Karla and said, 'Am I a wuss, or was that frightening?" She gave me a look that said, 'Uh..yeah, it was frightening!"

Kate is okay now, but I won't be holding her any more today. It was so wonderful to get her in my arms for a few minutes.

She is slowly improving, so that is good news. It's just a slow process. They did not try to get an IV into her, so she was spared that trauma. She hasn't eaten anything by mouth, though, so I'm not sure what they plan to do about getting her lipids (fats) into her body. I'll update you when I hear something.