"Busy, Busy, Busy, Thats What We Are"

05-14-2009
1518 Hours

Wow, what a day Wednesday was. Busy, busy, busy.

Arrived to find Dar in good spirits and ready for the day. Therapies began about 9:30, and by 12:30 we were getting ready for our field trip to Marin General to have Dar’s CT Scan of the throat and trachea.

Transport arrived and the attendants knowing Dar from previous trips were amazed at the progress she has made since they last saw her. She laughed and joked with both of them all the way to Marin General. I rode in the front passenger seat.

Lisa Todd was Dar’s attending nurse; Lisa has been with Dar on each of her trips to Marin.

We had a little bit of a wait at Marin as we were bumped by a trauma case moments before Dar’s appointment. Dar rested and listened as Lisa and I talked about Dar’s progress and the leaps and bounds she has made since coming to Kentfield.

Dr. Doherty and Tom from respitory therapy arrived just as we were told the CT room was ready.

The actual plan for this procedure was to remove Dar’s trach and cap the “stoma” and have her perform some specific breathing tasks that would hopefully show that her trach, (windpipe) was collapsing. The first task was to take a quick deep breath and hold it for about 6 seconds. The second was to take another deep breath and hold it for a moment and expel it quickly.

During Dar’s speech therapy earlier in the morning we found that we had to hold Dar’s nose closed so that she would only breath in with her mouth.

It was unfortunate that during the test Dar was not able to hold her breathes long enough to conclusively show if the trach was collapsing. In fact it appears that it is not, this being said we were still able to get some good film for our trip on Tuesday to San Francisco where we will see Dr. Mark Courey, Director of Larynology Voice Center at UCSF.

I really hope that Dr Courey can pinpoint the issues of why we cannot remove Dar’s trach without her o2 sats plummeting. I have done a little internet research and have put some possible causes that I have found in my memory banks and will listen very carefully as the doc does his exam and makes his recommendations. Please pray the Gods hand will be with Dr. Mark. We leave Kentfield around 1:00 pm for our appointment. I will be able to ride in the transport with Dar and her attendentants.

On Friday, Dar heads back to Marin General to have an ultrasound of her bladder. The purpose of this is to confirm if she has bladder stones. The possible stones were picked up during her CT scan of her bladder last week.

If these stones are confirmed a plan of their removal will be discussed. The options are to use medicine to break them up, use a laser to blow them up or if they are too large they might have to be surgically removed. The results of the ultra sound should be in by Monday.

With all that is going on Dar remains in great spirits and as long as she is not in too much pain she is happy, talkative and wants to be out of that bed as much as possible.

Wednesday before I left, Mike Clark, Director of Physical Therapy and I tightened Dar’s new leg splints a little. Dar really likes having her legs in a straight, flat position. As this “tone” in her legs diminishes she is able to move them more and more. It is quite exciting to see her mentally ask her legs to move and ever so slightly they do. Really puts a smile on your face.

Dar’s upper body “tone” is starting to reside somewhat too, Occupational therapists are able to get more range of motion out of her shoulders than what they were a week or so ago. This is positive progress.

Dar’s mom, dad and sister Christine are coming up this weekend to visit. We are all going to look at the Caremeridian facility in Fairfax Sunday. This facility is about 15 minutes up the same road that Dar is on now. We are getting closer to Dar’s graduation to a Skilled Nursing Facility. At Caremeridian Dar will receive continuing therapies on a much more intense scale. The total patient populous at Caremeridian is 12 so you can imagine the attention she will receive. My desire to have her go to Fairfax is so that she can continue to have Dr. Doherty. Although Dr. D won’t see Dar as much she is always available. Medical issues are addressed by the on site Medical Director.

The Fairfax facility if you recall is the facility that John Murphy recently went to and Ryne Spitzer was transferred to today. John is doing fantastic and his mom and dad tell me that it is such a peaceful and quite place, oh, with the exceptions of the frogs. I guess frogs are croaking all the time as there is a creek running thru the property.

You probably caught my reference to Ryne Spitzer moving to Fairfax today. With his move I have now lost all my “texting” buddies. It is going to be very hard now for me to go thru my days not having my ability to check in on Dar when I feel the need. I will miss Tammy, Mark and Rye, along with Peggy, Kevin and John Murphy. These are good moves for all of us but sad in that we have grown so much together and are now apart for a time. The friendships we have nurtured and the support for one another is amazing. My battles are their battles, theirs mine, we have become a family. Just like the Stewarts and us, these are friendships that will never die. By the way Latosha is doing wonderfully. Progressing at home and doing very well.

I should probably let you know that Fairfax is not the only Caremeridian facility that Dar could go to. The facility in Granite Bay near Sacramento has expressed that they too would like to have Dar come to their facility. Granite Bay, 70 miles from our home, smaller facility, (6) beds and only three patients in the house currently. It is my plan to visit their facility one evening after work next week.

Much to think about and much to weigh out. It might be closer for the family and me to visit but ultimately my choices and decisions have to be based on Dar’s needs and not what might be more convenient for me.

Well, that pretty much sums up the events of Wednesday and gets you caught up somewhat. I hope that you will continue to pray as we all travel this road we so affectionately call Dar’s Recovery.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, we love you all,

Dar/Danny