Breathless

I was all prepared to write a long post explaining the series of events between Monday and today, as I know there are gaps and I will want to have it written somewhere. However, we had a little drop in the "good news" department today.

The infectious disease people called from Brackenridge and said the bacteria in Parker's cyst was called VRE. It is a cousin in type to MRSA in that it is highly resistant to antibiotics. Parker is now in isolation. This is mainly to protect the other people since he already has it. So when we go see him we gown up and wear gloves, then we disinfect when we leave his room.

Sound familiar?

He also has a little more fluid in his lungs, which is of concern as well. We asked to see the surgeon because we understand him better than the Critical Care Specialist (who is obviously brilliant, but a little difficult to read as far as how serious things are .... everything is very grim, which I am sure is part of his intellect and his field of work).

Dr. Garcia came and said he isn't outrageously concerned about these things, the VRE was already present in the cyst on his pancreas. It isn't a brand new bacteria, it is what was causing the septic infection. They were just now able to identify it because they were growing the cultures at the other hospital. It is a highly contagious bacteria and very difficult to treat, but apparently Parker's will, the prayer, and his youth are fighting it already as his white cell count is down even a little more today.

Dr. Garcia also explained about the additional fluid in his lungs, and isn't surprised to see a little more in there today as part of a process the body can go through. He reminded us that Parker's disease is very, very complicated with a lot of twists and turns they don't normally come across in this magnitude, but fortunately, going into this he was young and healthy.

Parker now has an infectious disease specialist working on him. By the time this is over he will have had just about every specialist there is as part of his team. His temperature remains stable on its own, his heart rate is down to the 120's (which is GREAT compared to Monday and Tuesday when it was in the 180's) and his blood pressure was up to 101/45 last time I was there. It had dropped as low as 75/35 at one point (that is the lowest I saw it). SOOOOO scary.

James went over and got a room at Seton League House which offers clean rooms with showers, laundry privileges and free parking for $15 a night for people from the hospital who are from out of town. I haven't gone to sleep there yet because, even though it is a 5 minute walk, it feels too far away still. I may go tonight if the news improves. Otherwise I will continue to sleep on the chair in the ICU/Surgical Waiting Room. It would be more restful if I were a contortionist.

Last night some jerk comes over to me about 4:am, flips the back of his hand on my knee and says, Hey you got a cigarette?

Are you serious??? Really???? Did you see the sign that says ICU Waiting Room? Do you know that means people in here don't sleep because they are praying so hard to keep their loved ones alive, and you're going to wake me up and ask for a cigarette????

The night before there was a family in here with about 15 family members who were jamming out to music coming from someones laptop, and complaining quite loudly that they had to pay for things from the vending machine. They don't give you that for free? What's that s*#&?

My patience is waning.

Last night I was looking for a blanket and this little ten year old boy laying on one of the recliners offered me his. I told him thank you but no. This morning he came to talk to me. His Mom is in ICU. She had gastric surgery years ago and ever since then has suffered from ulcers. She just had surgery to fix the them because she had been throwing up blood for a week. We talked about which nurses we liked, which we didn't like, and he told me he thought it was interesting that all the nurses he especially liked were tall, not short, and he was sure that meant he would marry a tall girl someday. I asked if his Mom was tall and he said, Well not right now because she's laying on her back.

He asked me if I would come meet his Mom after I saw Parker. I told him I would be very happy to and was pleased he asked me. Now I can't go meet her because I don't want to carry anything weird in there from Parker's room, but when I see the boy I'll tell him I want to wrote a note to her. He is a lovely child.

Even in the midst of anguish and pain and worry and grief, God shines a little light in my corner of the room in the form of a child.

I love you Parkie, keep fighting!