Update on Grace, Wednesday, Aug 11

Wednesday. Latest update 9:30 PM.

11:45 AM - We arrived at the ICU to visit Grace as soon as visiting hours opened up at 10 AM, and she was still sleeping.

We talked with the charge nurse (Charlie, this time), and then with Doctor Westbrook (the ICU doc), and didn't really learn anything new, other than additional reassurances that all was okay so far.

Both the nurse and the doctor said they needed to get Grace to wake up soon now, so she could start eating. They said if she doesn't start eating normally soon, they'll have to feed her either through an IV feed or through a tube down her nose and into her stomach. Both of those alternatives are much less preferable to her eating normally, of course. One of the drawbacks to this, though is where she bit her tongue when she fell. This soreness might contribute to her not wanting to eat much, or right away. We'll pray about that.

Charlie (the nurse) said there had been a few issues with her heart rhythms during the night, so they put her back on the heart medicine, and things settled right down and the rhythm was fine now. He confirmed that the heart medicine doesn't have any effect on her staying asleep or waking up.

Jan is still very stressed by the entire situation, and we're both praying a lot for Grace, and I am for Jan to be able to hold on to things and keep it together. It's definitely not an easy time. Sometimes we think this time might be easier for Grace than for any of the rest of us as she's "getting to" sleep through it all.

We're still hopeful, though, that she'll awaken today. This would allow the attendants to give her something to eat, and it would alleviate a huge percentage of Jan's (and my?) worry.

While we were there, even though Grace was still sleeping, we read some cards and emails to her, and talked to her a bit before we left.

Jan has gone back to work for a bit, as her work was really piling up, and we will call the ICU periodically to see if Grace has awakened. If nothing has happened before, we plan to go back for the 4PM visiting hours.

Meanwhile, we continue to pray. Thank you all for your prayers, your caring, and your concern.

3:05 PM - A little bit ago, I got a call from the "case management worker" at River Oaks. She told me Grace's doctors all agreed she could now be moved to a long term care facility, and had okayed her to move to "Select" (whatever that is, I was thinking). I had a bunch more questions for the case worker, but she didn't know much more than that, including that she didn't know whether Grace had woken up yet or not. She said I'd be getting a call shortly from Scott, the (admissions?) nurse at Select.

Okay.

She was right. Less than half an hour later, I got a call from Scott at Select Specialty Hospital, and he told me they were a fully certified hospital, with all the same capabilities as River Oaks, but they were licensed a bit differently under Medicare to handle long-term-care patients. He said don't be alarmed at that term, it could mean two to three weeks.

(I believe somewhere in these two conversations, one of these people told me that Select could also handle rehab, but I'm not sure of that yet.)

After talking to Scott and getting more information, then a bit later talking with Jan and making sure she was okay with it, then talking with Scott again, then hearing back from River Oaks (I know: "Whew!"), we agreed that Grace could and should be moved, and that move could happen TODAY!

The latest word I had (from the case management worker at River Oaks) is that they would be transferring Grace at 3:30 today.

Scott at Select told me she would be moved by ambulance, and the workers and the ambulance would all be covered by Medicare. (Whew on that, too!)

So that's the latest word. Jan and I plan to go see Grace at her new digs whenever Jan gets home from work, probably well after 4PM today.

There are two good things about the new place Grace will be.

First is the location. It's much closer to where we live, only about 10 minutes away instead of 25. For those of you familiar with the area, it's that hospital building between Ridgewood Road and I-55, between the Cracker Barrel restaurant and all the car dealers.

The second good thing about this place is they have no restrictions on visiting hours. So Jan and I will no longer be restricted to the River Oaks ICU visiting hours.

As soon as we find out about other-than-immediate-family visitors, and as soon as Grace is up to receiving other visitors, I'll post it here right away. So keep checking back.

Also, as soon as I find out their mailing address, and the phone number and if/when Grace is up for receiving calls, I'll post that here too, both in the daily blog and on the blog home (contents) page (the page you were at before you came to this one).

I still don't know if Grace is awake yet, but I'll find out soon, and post it here soon as I can thereafter.

Thank you again for your prayers and support. We need to keep praying.

9:30 PM - We went to visit Grace at her new "abode" as soon as Jan got home from work.

There's not much change in her condition - she's still sleeping - but we are fairly certain they gave her something to make her "relax" (sleep) for the ambulance ride to the new facility.

When we got to the new place, Select Specialty Hospital, we had to spend about 40 minutes filling out paperwork, and talking to the nurse who was Grace's nurse at the time, and then, since Grace was still sleeping, we left. I did notice that Grace did not have on the arm restraints as she had at the River Oaks ICU.

The new facility seems fine, and the people seem fine, also. We'll just have to see how things pan out over time.

A good thing about this move is that I don't think they would have released her from the River Oaks ICU if they thought she still needed that level of care.

We'll see how she fares tomorrow, and of course, I'll post updates here as soon as I can.

Another development is that Grace's son Bill is arriving tomorrow. He said he couldn't just sit there in Missouri any more and was going to come here. That will be very good for both him and for Grace, and maybe he'll stay to help Grace celebrate her birthday in two weeks.

When Bill first announced he was coming, I had a moment of panic, remembering that my daughter (Shelley) and her husband (Daniel) are arriving Friday, and they were expecting to use Shelley's old room, which is now our spare room, which is the room Bill usually uses when he visits. But then the light came on for me and I told Bill he was welcome, but I hoped he didn't mind sleeping in Grace's bed. I felt like slapping my forehead and saying "Duh!" Grace certainly won't be using her bed this week, so Bill might as well use it. Guess I better wash sheets tomorrow.

Jan and I will go visit Grace sometime tomorrow morning, and I'll post an update here afterwards. Let's all pray I have some good news by then.