April 30, 2015

I just wanted everyone to know that Larry has had a much better day today. No more heart episodes or seizures. They continue to do testing to possibly find out why things happened the way they did yesterday. We are hoping it was just a `fluke` thng that will not be an issue in the future. More information coming as I get it.

April 29, 2015

Today was a very hard day for Larry, and for me. When I first arrived at the hospital Larry was sleeping very soundly and we had a hard time getting him to open his eyes. The nurse was aware of the fact that he was pretty unresponsive. The medical plan was to watch him for a few hours, let him get some sleep and hope he would become more responsive and alert, or that some symptoms would manifest themselves so they would know what was causing it and how to proceed. We knew that his difficulty could be caused simply by his infection or possibly enlarged ventricles in his brain which would mean a shunt. Time would tell.
Then around 11:00 am, while the nurse was in the room doing some things with him, he suddenly had some acute problems and his heart stopped for a short time (about 15 seconds). It was extremely frightening and brought hurried activity and medical personel. It appears he may have had a seizure that caused the temporary problem with his heart. Luckily his heart started working again quickly on its own. They are now doing a continuous EEG for the next 24 to 48 hours to monitor his brain activity for seizures and watching his heart monitor even more closely. If it appears that he may have future problems, and because of his past heart issues, they will probably need to insert a pacemaker to protect his heart from further similar incidents.
Again today, I was made keenly aware of the great doctors and nurses in the neuro ICU here in this hospital. They are incredibly well trained and work so hard for the best outcome for their patients. I am so thankful for them!! Their jobs are not easy and they work through some of the most difficult situations imaginabe. Their dedication shows through in everything they do. I am so grateful for everything  they are doing for us and for the excellent care they give to Larry. They make it so I can sleep at night and find some calm during the day!
This evening Larry was more alert and was resting comfortably. What a day!!

Just a little bump & Happy(?) Anniversary...Yuk!

Yesterday...Monday, Apr. 27th - Although restrained, Larry (fiesty and determined guy that he is) somehow pulled out his feeding tube again today. The rascal! It was replaced in the early afternoon. Otherwise, things seemed stable and encouraging.


Tuesday, April 28th - Just a small bump in the road last night and today. I could tell last evening that Larry wasn´t feeling very good. I talked with the nurse about a few changes I´d noticed in him. About 2:00 in the morning his fever quickly spiked high and his blood pressure dropped. He also had to be put back on an oxygen mask because he wasn´t maintaining his oxygen level. Luckily, with a cat scan, they found that his brain was doing well and not the cause. Looks like he has a urinary tract infection...much simpler to deal with, thank goodness. He was again put on a mega antibiotic which seems to have started to work. He was pretty wiped out this morning but much more alert and coherent my mid afternoon and hopefully will continue to improve quickly.

Today is Larry´s NOT SO GREAT anniversary...5 weeks in the ICU unit!!
We´re done celebrating (ha) ...we´re ready to be O-U-T!!

Awesome!

I was excited today when I walked into Larry´s hospital room to find out that the drain had been removed from his brain! They had clamped the drain the day before to see if his brain could absorb its fluid and so far it seems to be doing so...wow, this is so awesome! I do realize that things could change and he could still need a shunt, but we are so hopeful that things will continue to go well. What a happy surprise. He has done pretty well otherwise to. He was awake a lot during the day and he was able to walk a little with the physical threapists and his vital signs all looked good. A very good day. If everything continues stable there is a chance he will be able to go to a regular room in a few days. He may even be able to go directly to acute rehab. I am hopeful that we will get a plan from the doctors by the middle of this coming week so we´ll know what changes will be upcoming. Thanks so much for your continued prayers. I`ll keep you all posted.

Another change

Seems as though change is the name of the game in Larry`s recovery. In his case, it´s true that there is nothing as constant as change! Because of Larry´s fever, the surgeon does not want to put in the stunt yet. He wants Larry to be `fever free` for 2 days before they feel comfortable doing another surgical procedure. I know it´s best not to take any chances when it comes to infection, so we will gladly wait for a couple more days. Because a weekend is coming, it may not be done until Monday. Larry had a really good physical therapy session today and seemed more alert so we are encouraged about that. We haven´t heard anything more about his evaluation for rehab, so we will continue to wait on those results also. Hopefully, I´ll have more to report the first of the week.

April 22, 2015

Hello everyone. I wanted to update you on a couple of things that are happening with Larry this week. You may remember that the Dr.s had planned to insert a shunt in Larry´s brain the first of this week but he has developed a fever and higher white blood cell count again and so they are going to wait until Friday for the shunt. They feel that this change mght be a flare-up of his lung condition and are testing his blood, urine, and brain fluid to narrow everything down. He was able to walk a bit on Sunday and Monday but yesterday (with the fever, etc.) he was unable to do much. This is a concern because tomorrow (Thursday) he will be evaluated by the acute rehab área here to determine if he is able to do the rehabilation necessary for them to accept him. We want very badly for him to be able to do well with this evaluation as we know that this rehab is `the place` that will be most beneficial to him. Because of the pending shunt and rehab evaluation, we will be praying specifically that he can be strong enough to have both of these things go well. If any of you wold like to join us in prayer, we would appreciate it. Thank you for all you are doing for us. We feel your love EVERY day! 

Sunday, April 19th~~Larry´s lungs continue to improve and he is doing better with his oxygen each day. He is off the oxygen mask and on a canula during the day and maintaining his oxygen level pretty well. He was unable to go without the drain when they lowered the drainage amount, so they will be putting in a permanent shunt sometime in the next couple of days. I felt he had his best day so far today and it was so calming. We are ready to start a new week and move to the next steps of Larry`s recovery.

onward and upward

So sorry for the delay in updates! I know, I`m bad!! The last couple of days we have just been watching and waiting. Here´s the latest as best as we know. His brain fluid again shows a decrease in white cell count which is good. It definitely means there is a positive response to the antibiotics. In the next four to five days they are going to be lessening the amount of drainage each day to see if his brain can assimilate its fluid on its own. If it can, they will take out the drain. If not, they will insert a shunt, which will be permanent.  He still has a feeding tube which will remain until he can swallow better. The therapists work with him each day on that. His kidneys don´t have any infection and are functioning about the same as when he first came in. His lungs are still a concern but he is able to sustain his oxygen level better and has gone from 100% oxygen down to 60% and hopefully will get the mask replaced soon and be able to sustain on just the nasal canula. He still has fluid in his lungs and other questionable areas in his lungs that may be from his previous interstacial lung disease or pneumonia. They continue to work on improvement in that área as I mentioned. Larry is very weak and still has difficulty standing and walking etc. but we are hopeful to see him regain some of his strength as the days and weeks continue. He also has some cognative issues that we hope to see improve through therapy as these other physical things improve...especially his brain. He continues in the ICU until some of these issues resolve but we are hoping maybe only another week or week and a half before moving to a regular room and then on to acute rehab.          
It is inspirational and stressful for me each day as I watch him fight this battle. He is certainly doing better but has a long road ahead of him. I am so grateful for your support, love, and prayers for him, and for me also. They have made all the difference in this past month. We have felt such strength and support from all of you and want you to know that you (each and every one of you) mean the world to us.
As they say, onward and upward!!
As everything has smoothed out somewhat and most likely there will be less to report on in the next days and weeks, I may not be posting as much (as you´ve seen the last couple of days!) but I will continue to post as there are changes in his condition and circumstances and will keep you updated as much as possible. I am finding that I now have lots of things to `carry on` with and time is always at such a premium.
Please check back every couple of days...we want to keep in touch!! Love to you all.

Not much to report today. No results on yesterdays lung procedure or tests. No changes...that´s mostly a good thing, right?!
I´ll do better tomorrow. Thanks everyone.

It was so great to be able to take the sacrament with Larry here in his hospital room this morning. Such a sweet spirit here and such a feeling of peace.
Larry was able to get up and walk and sit in a chair for awhile. Larry´s neurologist came in to give us an update. The white cell blood count in the brain is coming down and it appears that the antibiotocs are working. That´s the good news. The not so great news is that the white cell count in his blood is still up. His lungs are not responding to antibiotics and his oxygen level has been down. They have put him on 100% oxygen.

At 2:30 Larry had a broncoscopy, where they put saline in his lung and suck it back out. They will test the fluid to see if they can identify why his lungs are struggling.  Test results will take a couple of days.  They were worried that they might have to put him on a ventilator during the procedure, but it turns out he didn´t need one!  YEAH!!!

They are still concerned about his kidneys and have done a renal untrasound to check those. They may be sending in an infectious disease specialist later also to see if they can help pinpoint why his white count stays so high. They also did an echocardiogram but we have no results on that at present.

Larry has been keeping busy with all of these procedures and tests. Fortunately he´s been sleeping through most of them. :)

Please keep him in your prayers, we need all we can get right now!

Saturday, April 11

Larry has showed more signs of improvement again today. He sat in a chair two different times. He was more aware and alert and communicated with us more than we have seen for many days. It is such a positive change and we are so grateful. The doctors are trying to balance some difficulties involving his lungs and kidneys. He has some fluid congestion in his lungs and when they try to treat it, to reduce the fluid, his kidneys are affected-so they have to back off for awhile to help his kidneys improve. It is a fine line. He doesn´t maintain a safe oxygen level unless he as a hefty amount of oxygen so we are hopeful that they can clear his lungs for better oxygen flow. We have two weeks of mega antibiotics to treat the infection in his brain and hope that he can get stronger during this time. When that time is passed and they are sure the infection is gone, they will begin testing to see if he can be without his brain drain. He will continue to be in the ICU during that time. We are working hard to get to that point and then beyond.....

Such a day as this (4-10-2015)

It was amazing this morning when I walked into Larry´s room to have him open his eyes and say hi!!
I almost couldn´t believe it. He was more awake and alert than I had seen him in days. It was such a relief. I let myself bask in this change for the better and pray it continues. It is not coincidental that our faithful ward members started a fast for Larry and me last night and I have felt strength, comfort,
hope, and peace from their fasting and prayers along with the prayers of so many of our family and friends. I am so grateful for each one of you.
Today Larry´s drain was replaced and also his pik line along with some other tests and x-rays. He will continue to be monitored closely while the antibiotics are given for the next two weeks. They will also be watching his kidneys and lungs that have showed some signs of difficulty during this time. There continue to be difficult things each day and I know we have a long road ahead but I can´t help jumping up and down a little after such a day as this! 

continuation-Thursday, April 8

Just another short update on Larry. He has continued to be very sleepy and unresponsive. He is stable though, and they continue with the antibiotics and many other meds to help him in his different circumstances. It has been a generally quiet day. Tomorrow they will be changing his pic line and they will also need to reinsert the drain in his brain. It seems that when a patient gets a brain infection, the present drain is considered contaminated and needs to be replaced. We`ll see what else tomorrow brings. Thank you so much for your prayers. We feel them profoundly!

Yesterday afternoon we got the first of the results of Larry´s tests.  He has a cranial (brain) infection.  This was very difficult to hear.  I felt Larry needed a blessing and Jon & Jared were able to come.  Amazingly, our bishopric came to the hospital at the same time, not knowig any of Larry´s new difficulties or circumstaces (such a tender mercy) and Jon gave Larry a beautiful blessing with their support.

Today I want to express my great love and appreciation for the faithful priesthood holders in my life.  Jon´s strength and willingness to use this power to bless both Larry and I during these weeks has been a tremendous strength for us and given us peace. Our son-in-laws are the very same way. They are always there ready to exercise the Priesthood in our behalf. and to help in any way. I love and appreciate them more than I can express. I also appreciate our wonderful bishopric and the way they follow the Spirit in fulfilling their callings and their Priesthood responsibilities. I acknowledge the many, many other Priesthood holder family and friends who are exercising this great power in his behalf.

With this new challenge, we would ask for your renewed and continued prayers for Larry. We will truly need them for the fight ahead. We love you all..and thank you!

P.S. We have now been told that Larry will have to remain in the critical neuro ICU for another 2-3 weeks. This type of infection is a major setback.

Wednesday, April 8th

Larry continued to be quite unresponsive today. We want, so much, for him to be more aware and alert. The doctors would like that to (at this point in time) but he has had some setbacks that have made things harder. The doctors ran more tests to see if they could find anything else that would account for his lack of response. We still hope for a turn around sometime soon. Due to Larry´s scleroderma, his recovery may be more difficult and take longer.
Today, I thought about part of a talk by Pres. Uchtdorf. He said: ``Patience is often thought of as a quiet, passive trail, but patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something..even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring. It is enduring well.``
Larry is such an example of this. He has always been so patient in his affliction... but never passive! He has always practiced `active waiting and enduring` never letting any opportunity pass him by. He has never let fear affect his choices. He is one of a very few people I´ve known who has `enduring well` down to a science. 

After the last couple of days, Larry was fairly stable today. He is very weak, even so, they were able to get him up to sit on the side of his bed for a few minutes and even stand for a minute or two. He hasn´t been up at all for a couple of days so that was good. He had another hard night last night so we were very glad to see him get a little more rest during the day. He hasn´t been very responsive again today and we are so hopeful that he will do better in this area real soon . I miss his ´normal` self and his teasing and fun personality. I can´t wait for him to give me a hard time again!!

Monday, April 6th

Today seemed like a continuation of yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that!! Sometimes everything just runs together and I can´t tell when one day ends and the next begins. This morning Larry´s fever was down. His white blood count had also gone down some which we hope is a good sign. I think I mentioned that he has had trouble swallowing so this morning they inserted a feeding tube. This will help greatly with meds and also nutrition. The nurses told me that he had been awake all night and he did seem very tired and lethargic to me. The doctors decided they needed to do another CT scan and when the results came back we found out that the ventricles in his brain were enlarged which indicates the need to reinsert a drain into his brain again. This was done this afternoon. These brain surgeons are incredible. I am absolutely blown away by what they do every day, in what we have been told is one of the very most technical intricate, and difficult surgeries there is. Luckily for us, today´s procedure was very simple compared to what they did two weeks ago when Larry´s life was saved. How could I possibly ever thank them? We are hopeful that Larry can have a better day tomorrow and begin to take more steps toward recovery.

Sunday-Happy Easter

I sure hope all of you have had a good Easter. I was able to watch some of conference with Larry and it was wonderful to hear from our leaders. I love the strength I get each time conference rolls around. I am so grateful for this time of year and the rebirth of flowers and trees as they bud and blossom. It is so beautiful outside.
Larry has been pretty stable today. He continues with the fever but he was awake and more like himself for part of the day. He has been unable to eat and take his meds (orally) though, so they will start him on a feeding tube tomorrow. They are waiting for another 24 hours to determine if the drain in his brain needs to be replaced. They are also waiting for the results of some of the cultures to come back to rule out other infections. It really is a waiting game until tomorrow or maybe even the next day before decisions can be made in some of his circumstances.
I am so grateful for our Savior and for His atoning sacrífice in our behalf. I am grateful for His willingness to suffer all things so that he can succor us and lighten our burdens. I feel him lightening our load at this time and have faith in his plan for each one of us.
I am also very grateful for our children and grandchildren. Spending some time with them this evening was a joy for me. I couldn´t do this without them. They are my strength.  

A couple of quick updates:

Yesterday (Fri., April 3rd):  Larry had a rough day. He spiked a high fever and his white blood count was abnormal. He was very agitated, shaky,  and disoriented. They did tests to try to determine where the infection might be and found something on his chest x-ray that looked like the beginnings of pneumonia. They have started a strong antibiotic to minimize that. His sodium level was also low so they changed his meds to counteract that. A low sodium level  can have very serious consequences for the brain. They changed Larry´s diet to a soft one because he may have aspirated while eating. This will make it much easier for him to get more nourishment as he hasn´t eaten much for days.
Late Friday night, Larry tried to sit up suddenly and partially pulled the drain from his brain. Afterward, the drain was not working properly so it was removed at about 4:00 this morning. That meant that he had to be monitored closely to see how he would do without it and if they would have to reinsert it.

Today (Sat. April 4th): Larrys vital signs were good this morning and his fever was down so he was much more aware and alert which has been good. He has had quite a lot of pain again but they are able to handle that with pain meds. They will do another cat scan between 2-4am in the morning to see if his brain is still doing okay. His fever spiked very high again this afternoon and they are still trying to get it down with  meds, making his room much cooler, and running a fan in his room. Boy, was it cold in there today. I plan to have a coat with me tomorrow! I`m hoping we will have good news from the cat scan and that his drain won´t have to be reinserted tomorrow. Every day right now seems like a year.

There are many days when I don´t know quite how to report on Larry´s day. His `ups and downs` seem to be happening several times each day and just when we feel he is doing a bit better then something changes the next hour. As a basic update, Larry has had a lot of confusion today and had more difficulty with his cognitive abilities. He has been somewhat weaker the last couple of days also and didn´t get to walk at all today. He has had more pain and so he has been on more pain meds. He has also been very agitated and trying to pull out his IV´s, etc. He will be restrained (we call them reminders) tonight so he doesn´t pull anything out. We realize this is necessary but it is hard to watch.
He has had lower sodium levels today which can be a big problem for the brain so they are changing meds, etc. to bring that back up. What a balancing act this is! I am so grateful for the amazing medical care Larry receives each day in this critical care neuro ICU. It is amazing to watch them work under these difficult circumstances. I admire them so much and appreciate all they are doing. We can´t help but form some attachments to some of them.
Larry is such a fighter and it is evident in this battle. He continues to try so hard and is a calm and compliant patient but still exerts his inner strength each and every day. I continue to be so amazed by him. You would think after all these years I would know all there is to know about him, but I continue to learn from him and continue to be inspired by the strength of his spirit and his physical body. He is such a blessing in my life and I am so proud of who he is.
Hoping for better days to come. Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers in our behalf.

Dad can be a difficult patient....during the night Dad decided to pull out his central line.  OUCH! The doctors put it back in.  The procedure takes about 30 min.

He has been in some pain today which the nurses are staying on top of. He did walk down to the shower.  He was able to sit in a chair for a few hours. He is now resting having been given more pain meds.  He is pretty disoriented and has some short term memory loss still, but the doctors are hopeful that will return. Overall he has had a pretty good day! Thank you for your many prayers and support!