Pneumonia

Friday, August 21, 2009

John, with his tracheotomy, was better able to mouth words to Laverne and Eleanor because the large tube in his mouth is gone. Unfortunately John has pneumonia (he aspirated before he ever arrived at VGH and the pneumonia is an expected complication) the doctors and respiratory therapists are working to remove the secretions from his lungs. Thankfully John is still very strong at this point and we hope that this will pass quickly. Please pray that his treatment will be effective. Also, pray that John's surgical wounds (back of the neck and also the bone graft donation site in John's hip) will not become infected and that his blood pressure will stabilize. He was awake more of the time today and it is a great relief to see John's personality intact, though his short term memory is still somewhat lacking. It is hard for him to get his mind around the fact that he is not able to breathe on his own and that he cannot feel his limbs.

In the morning when Laverne and Eleanor were sitting in the ICU waiting room while the doctors and nurses were doing their rounds, a man whose family had spent much of the past two days there, spoke to Laverne and Eleanor for the first time and asked if things were going well for them. Upon hearing the answer he told them that the life support had just been removed from his wife of 52 years. His children had gone in to the ICU to be with their mom, but he did not want to see her die. As the tears welled in his eyes Laverne gave him a hug and she and Eleanor were able to pray for him and his family.