February 11th

Today started out not so good, got better as the day progressed and then this evening went down hill again. This Morning I arrived to see that Jodi was in distress and they were suctioning copious amounts out of her trach. Jodi had asked the nurse to suction her and the suctioning triggered her gag reflex which caused her to throw up the can of nutrition given through her gastric tube half an hour earlier. Because of the trach and her inability to swallow, she cannot control where the fluid that she throws up will go. She sucked a large amount of the contents of her stomach into her lungs.

Later, after she settled down, she actually felt well enough to do all of her therapy and she was able to walk with the walker while being steadied and coached by her therapist. She went from that to the stationary bicycle and then to the standing chair (the one that cranks her into a standing position). She did remarkably well in all her therapies and I was hoping that she would not have any serious repercussions from her morning ordeal.

Later tonight as I was getting ready to go home, her oxygen saturation numbers began to dip and she was having shortness of breath. After I suctioned her trach and upped her oxygen she still did not respond well. I also noticed that she felt like she had a temperature. I called the nurse in and sure enough, her temp was elevated. We increased her oxygen levels from one liter to three liters and she finally settled down. However, this does not bode well for her lungs. I listened with my stethoscope and they sounded full of junk. I am afraid that she has developed another infection due to her morning aspiration. It is hard for me to leave her when she is like that. I would rather be with her if for no other reason than it helps her feel more secure and not so scared. However, I am not allowed to be with her at night. I just have to trust that the nurses will take good care of her. Keep praying, it seems that we are never really out of the woods.