How our life journey changed - part 1

A large group of friends headed out for lunch on March 17 for Mr Trifectagirl's birthday.  A celebration that had been a year in the planning.

Half way through, he appeared to be coming down with a fever, but we continued on.  He eventually asked to be taken to hospital, an hour or so away.  So we quickly got packed up and I took him to the main hospital.  I made it to the hospital in 40 minutes.  I won't be surprised if speeding fines appear at some point.

On arival at the emergency department, Mr Trifectagirl went weak just inside the doors, and I couldn't hold him and J, so down he went.  On his face.  Breaking his nose.  I feel bad that my first thought after he was stableised was 'Doesn't matter if his glasses are broken, he ordered new ones Wednesday'.

Family came and got J for me, and I stayed with Mr Trifectagirl for about two hours before I headed home to feed J and rest.  We're used to emergency with his ongoing heart issues, and it didn't seem too bad at that time.  So home I went.   I called and checked in at about 9:30, and he had dehydrated, and they thought he'd go to the high dependancy unit.

At 3am I got a call from the hospital saying Mr Trifectagirl was in the Intensive Care Unit  - NOT where I was expecting him to go.   

Of course, a phone call to my dad, who thankfully lives between our home and the hospital, to look after J, and I was in there about 4am.  I stayed until 6 as they were taking him for scans.  At that point they thought it was an infected gall bladder that required getting an infection under control and surgery to remove it once he's stable - red herring #1.

I returned at about 10am.  and not long after he took a very dramatic turn for the worse.  And that's when everything turned up-side down.

ICU - Week 3

Mr Trifectagirl has progressed really well this week. 

He is being gradually weaned off the ventilator, and his time off is getting longer every few days or so.  He has been taken off IV feeding, and is now fully fed by nasal-gastric feeding, which is another really big step.  

Depression, however appears to be a problem.  An understandable problem, but there.  Being unable to communicate is probably impacting on this.  I have no way of knowing if I'm right at this stage, but I have my suspicions.

So after the suggestions and advice of on-line friends, and speaking to the doctor on duty today, I have made up a communication chart with about 30 words on it, mostly to do with comfort/pain and location; yes/no and please/thank you (because courtesy/politeness is important to Mr Trifectagirl -he'd hate not having that option!!), and entertainment/mental stimulation (TV, Radio, book, on, off, volume, up, down etc).    He'll get a radio tomorrow, and the point chart.  Hopefully that makes life stuck in a bed with restricted movement and unable to speak a bit more bearable for him.

He is in what must be the worst room in the unit - the poor man is stuck in a box.  The section phone where reception volunteers call to see if patients can have visitors or various scans and tests outside the unit are arranged, is outside his room, ringing day and night.  Most beds have either a window, or a view out the window in the room across the hall.  He's in an internal box with no natural light.  Thankfully this is on the radar of the senior doctors in the unit and a move to a window room has been discussed at team meetings, but an ICU is a busy place with a fast turn-over, and shifting rooms isn't easy.  Add Easter and the unfortunate road accidents that happen, and it may be into the next week before a  move could even be possible. 

I've been hesitant to have people other than family visit up till now, just as I've been pretty certain that he would not have wanted friends to remember him (if the worst happened) as a unconscious person on a bed with tubes and wires everywhere.  Plus he is still very weak, and I worry about him getting too tired. 

But he's now conscious and interacting pretty well, so we've started bringing in J to see him each day.  J doesn't cope too well - he can't get down and run around!!!  But he interacts with Daddy, starting 'round and round the garden, like a teddy bear' which daddy always played with him. 

Today the Minister who married us visited, as did a friend for the first time.  Unfortunately he seemed confused when I asked if the friend had visited (we'd discussed the intention to visit this morning), but I'm not sure if that's a communication issue.  Maybe the point chart will help.    If he's coping generally, I'll slowly start letting more friends see him.  It will be good to have the load lifted a bit and for him to get different stimulation.

Something to look forward to is once he's off the ventilator for longer periods they may be able to take him to a courtyard for some fresh air and sun-shine (not that the forecast allows for it in the near future!!).  I'll be asking them to let me know when they're taking him out so I can bring J in and Mr Trifectagirl can watch him run around.   

Thankfully Not a Widow

Mr Trifectagirl celebrated his 46th birthday on St Patricks Day, March 17.  Unfortunately he also suffered the most significant/dangerous complication of a heart procedure that he had had about 4 weeks prior. 

Then he had a stroke as a complication to the complication.

The primary complication damn near killed him and I fully expected to be a widow at the close of March 18.  Thankfully he survived an only option, experimental procedure that saved his life.

Three weeks down the track and we are still in Intensive Care and progressing very, very slowly.  We'll be there for a number of weeks still.

Now that I'm more settled, I plan to blog my ICU experience, and our recovery/rehab experience and finding myself very suddenly, effectively a single mum to an energetic one year old boy. 

Things that go bump

Yesterday morning on our way into church I tripped over on a raised slab of concrete out the front. 

The worst was I was carrying J at the time, and we both went down.  We both have some scrapes and bruises, and I'm a bit sore, but we're otherwise fine.  J bounced back by climbing over furniture in the afternoon, so he's pretty resilient at the moment!

The church has some landscaping plans which thankfully include the repair of this problem.

Although I was carrying J, we will both bounce back.  I'm awfully glad it wasn't one of our elderly members of the congregation who could have had a much worse result.

Pinteresting Weekend

I got a few bits and pieces done over the weekend, and bought some items to work on projects over the next while.

I've been meaning to hang my mother and step-father's walking sticks, plus Mr Trifectagirl's father's hunting horn (apparently a gift).  I finally got them up this weekend.

Plus I bought bits to keep working on a quiet book for J, and to do one of the many menu planning boards all over pinterest. 

I made the rainbow cookies I pinned a few days ago.  According to Mr Trifectagirl, they look better than they taste. 

Thanks.

Things I've Been Meaning to Do - March

Here we go for March...

1 - Following on from February,

• sell the sellable stuff in the car port - even if I only get one item gone!
• back-up those photos
• work in the vegie patch

2 - Keep working on the quiet book I'm making for J.

3 - Get the study into a state that Mr Trifectagirl can use it rather than using the kitchen table.

TIBMTD: February Wrap-up

1 - get rid of a whole heap of crap (for lack of a better term) in the carport. Done, there's a lot more space out there now!!
2 - Sort our my photo files. Baby J turns one this week (eeek - when did that happen!?!). I need to get them both sorted and backed up. ASAP!!  Sorted: yes; backed up: no.
3 - Once the crap is gone from the carport, sell what is sellable (even if not for very much!!).  Not done - just need to get organised to do this.
4 - prep the veggie garden for winter plantings.   Partially done, maybe some more time on this project this afternoon.