Monday 7/5 - Chutes and Ladders

ICU Day #22 / Hospital Day #55

Kathy is resting after a busy day yesterday. Spoke with the ICU doctor this afternoon for another update. Her breathing is her top priority. Then the infections, then the kidneys and then the ol' bladder. She's gone back 7-10 days in progress. But not as far back as when she first came into the ICU. Since they caught this setback early, Kathy has a fighting chance. But she is still on a high-level of support.

The goal is to get this infection under control and to start to wean her from the vent again. If things go well, then 7-10 days from now, she'll be where she was last Friday. She'll again have to come back down from the neuromuscular blockade and the sedation drugs that are assisting her to stay on the vent at such high settings.

This will probably require a trachesotomy. But it will allow her to breath and to talk to us again. They also are going to start her back on the continuous dialysis as well. Once she's stable, they'll do some more diagnostics to see how to stop the bladder bleeding. But that is a couple weeks off.

The ARDS website has some more information, including a section on understanding ARDS, frequently asked questions and a glossary of terms. Be sure to check it out by clicking HERE.

The best way to describe what's going is to remember the childhood board game of Chutes and Ladders. Kathy is working her way up, sometimes taking a ladder and bypassing everyone's expectations. Other days, she's sliding back down a chute. She never really liked playing that game with the boys anyway. For an interesting history of the game "Chutes and Ladders", click HERE.