Since the last blog post, I’ve had my right hip replaced, resulting in a lung clot and bleeding that required four units of blood and a stay in ICU. Recently, I finally had that pesky tricuspid valve replaced and developed pneumonia while in the hospital. I was intubated several times. Because intubation can be damaging to the esophagus, the surgeon cut a tracheostomy in my throat. Apparently, I was very bad post surgery, trying to karate my way out of ICU, and pulling out various gadgets attached to me. One doctor told me they took care of this behavior with some good drugs! 

I was in INOVA Fairfax Heart and Vascular Center! First in ICU and then Telemetry. The nurses were so very good at their jobs and friendly, too. But since I had a trach, I couldn’t eat or drink food or water. I was fed “food” (formula for adults),crushed meds, and water through an NG tube, This was the hardest part of my hospital stay. People always malign hospital food, but INOVA’s is very good! I was bereft. After a couple of weeks I texted our clergy at Christ Church in Old Town Alexandria and told them I had hit a wall. I had a visit from one, and a phone conversation with the Rector. Just feeling their care and love made me feel that I could continue. Interestingly, I felt empowered to pray for the team to remove the trach so I could eat. Shortly after, the surgeon’s N.P. ordered it removed! Meals gave me some structure to my day.

There were several glitches going forward. Even though I was off oxygen during the day, the nurses saw my oxygen go down to 87 some times during the night so they put me back on oxygen while I slept. The surgeon was unhappy with them, but decided to have a sleep study done during the night. I passed the study, which meant I could go home without oxygen. 

Another glitch was that after the trach was removed, the speech therapists suggested that, since I failed the swallow test, I needed to be studied by the speech pathologist. That was done by visiting her lare to be xrayed while swallowing. I was given several different smushed foods to swallow while my neck was xrayed, then liquids. The result was that I could swallow most things, but with thin liquids I needed to turn my head to the left! The team sent an ENT to look at my cords. He came in the evening, when it was dark. He said the left side was “paralyzed”! So I was directed to see an ENT when I was discharged. (I made an appointment and the earliest I could get was at the end of February. I was discharged December 19th!)

It's now April 24th and I finally have an appointment on May 4th. I saw the ENT in February who gave me the order for vocal therapy! But now my  dear friend, Jeanne, is giving singers vocal therapy via Zoom. Which is delightful.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Halloween, preschool style.

Image
Preschool Halloween parade. Parents rush in right before with siblings in tow. Undressing and dressing commence. Little ones cry or stomp, refuse to wear some part of their costume. Parents coax, cajole, praise. Everyone is taking pictures, even we teachers. How many pictures do I have of four year olds in Halloween costumes from twenty years of teaching? We walk in a line down to the school office for our first "treat", an apple, then on to the church office for our second treat, a pencil. Then down to the Social Hall for a few more, only one of which is actual candy. We dance one teacher's favorite, The Chicken Dance. Next we dance to mine, Ghostbusters. I secretly think my choice is much more fun. The children seem to agree. The princesses (they are all princesses this year) grab each others' hands and circle, giggling. The boys bob up and down, not too sure Batman or Spiderman would be caught doing something so undignified. Not everyone dances. Some are already c
Read more

True self-expression

Image
This is a former student (she's going into first grade, now). When I teach courses on young children and the arts, this picture resonates for me. A child who has the opportunity to listen to music, feel it, and respond to it is finding her creative center. In schools, today, children need to learn through all their senses, through their bodies, as well as their minds and imaginations. I teach my college students that American children are several years "developmentally delayed", musically. As a nation we are more music consumers, than music makers. I show them videos of children in other cultures making sophisticated rhythm and music when they are only four and five years old--mostly unheard of here. I emphasize the connection between musical and language development, and how those areas of the brain are close together. We discuss ways to infuse music and movement into every aspect of the curriculum. Before the state cut out the Community College class on Music & Mo
Read more

Charlie

Image
Charlie is our bunny (the picture doesn't do him justice) who is the exact same color as my good friend's late cat, who was a Russian Blue. He is small, and he barely sheds, a rare feat for a bunny, as my family's experience with rabbits amply supports. He is perfect in his Charlie-ness. Our former bunny, Ed (as in Edward Hopper) was perfect in his Ed-ness. Ed climbed up on our sofas and looked over our shoulders while we read. He ran across the family room carpet, not just hopping, but leaping into the air with verve. He hassled our poodles, running under Bear, the more timid one, and then, when Bear tried to escape, running under him again. I believe Ed considered our dogs as his own personal playmates, a conviction the dogs did not share. Charlie is more quiet. How we acquired him was like this: Last winter, Ed became ill. Rabbits are terribly prone to digestive stasis, since they do not cough up fur, but ingest it. We treated stasis for a day or two and then called an e
Read more