Breathing (& Sleeping!) Again

I feel like everything in my life has been on pause for the last week except for what was going on with my mom, which was on fast forward. My mom went into the hospital last Tuesday for knee replacement surgery, but ended up having some heart complications and just got out of ICU yesterday. But, I just got a call from her that she will get to go home today! I feel like I have been holding my breath all this time and now I can finally breathe.

Pasted below are the e-mails sent out to friends and family updating them on how my mom was doing:


From: Kristin
Sent: Tue 1/25/2005 10:06 AM
To: David ;vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags@; wka; tricia; thmurphy; Lynell
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: YEAHHHHHHH

My mom just called me from the hospital....she is going home TODAY!!!!!!!! Last night it looked like she wouldn't be able to leave until tomorrow or even Friday. But, Wendy is picking her up at noon to take her home. Her heart is still a little bit of an issue, but she will be able to have it monitored from home.

Thank you all for your prayers!!!!!


From: Kristin
Sent: Mon 1/24/2005 9:17 PM
To: David ; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka; tricia; thmurphy;
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


Just got back from visiting my mom. She is doing really well. She is still feeling depressed and like she has very little control over the situation, but she is definitely physically healing. It was fun to watch her walk on her new knee and not have any heart problems. Oh, and they moved her to a new room while I was there. She is now in room 428. I am finally feeling like I can breath deeply and sleep well that she is going to be okay :o)


From: Kristin
Sent: Mon 1/24/2005 3:17 PM
To: David ; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka; tricia; thmurphy
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


They have finally moved my mom out of ICU!!! She is in room 429 now. I got to talk to her just a few minutes ago. She sounded really good. She explained that they are monitoring her heart from monitors at the nurses station and will be treating her heart as a separate issue from the knee surgery. I guess her heart is still acting up. I will be going to visit her after work this evening.



From: Kristin
Sent: Sat 1/22/2005 6:38 PM
To: vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka; tricia; thmurphy
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


My mom seems to be doing even better today. Her heart rate is now back in the 70s (yesterday the whole time I was there it only dropped below 100 once or twice, but was mostly in the 120s). They said that for the most part her heart is rhythmic now, but when they got her out of bed to do physical therapy it started to get out of sync and flutter again. Not as bad as it was yesterday, but still a problem. She was out of bed for about 2 hours today while Dave and I were there and felt pretty good. Her nurse, Fritz, said that she will definitely be in ICU tonight and then if the heart issue doesn't crop up again tomorrow when she does her PT, then she might get to move into a normal room and out of ICU. They are also starting her on another pill that is supposed to help her heart out. She is starting to get depressed and tired of the whole thing. The thought that she will need to have the other knee replaced in about 3-4 months scary for her.

I just called the ICU unit to get an update and I guess Fritz was working with my mom in her room so he couldn't talk to me, but my mom told the lady that answered the phone to tell me that she is sitting up and feeling great! I am so thankful for all of the wonderful nurses at HB Hospital. Everyone has been so wonderful and attentive.

Thanks for your continued prayers!



From: Kristin
Sent: Fri 1/21/2005 10:38 AM
To: David; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: Good News


I just talked to my mom's nurse in ICU, Tina. She said that my mom has had a good morning. 3 different doctor's have come in to see her and check on her so that makes me feel good. They got the catscan results back and they were negative, which is actually positive thing :o) They still have no idea why her heart is out of rhythm and are still hoping that the medications will fix it. She will be in intensive care until at least tomorrow. she does have a slight temp, but the nurse said the doctor isn't too worried about it.



From: Kristin
Sent: Fri 1/21/2005 9:07 AM
To: David; vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


When I left the hospital last night mom my was doing well, but still in ICU. She was in good spirits and not in much pain. The biggest problem seems to be that her heart is in atrofib(sp?), it is beating without any rhythm. Just before I left they told us that all the test had come back negative for blood clots so that is a BIG relief. They also ordered a catscan for her. I will probably be heading back there in a few hours.

-Kristin


From: David
Sent: Thu 1/20/2005 5:05 PM
To: vera; debbee; ldarnall; bill; lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth
Subject: RE: update


Kristin's Mom is doing better so far but still in the ICU. They are
running 4 tests to try to determine the problem. 2 of the tests have
come back so far and have been clear so that is good news. So far, no
blood clots in her legs or lungs.

-Dave


From: Vera
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 12:40 PM
To: vera; debbee;ldarnall; bill;lettybags; wka
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth; David
Titov
Subject: Re: update

We just received a call from Kristin, her mom was taken to ICU because
her oxygen was low and her blood pressure was high. Please keep her in
your prays. Also pray for Kristin, she is on her way to the hospital
now.


From: Kristin
Date: 2005/01/19 Wed PM 01:57:21 PST
CC: "Karen" "Jenny" "Cathy" "Eric 2" "Straty" "Mike""Natalie" "Elizabeth"
"Dave"
Subject: update

I just got off the phone with my mom. She sounded kind of groggy, but I
guess she is doing well. She started feeling itchy today so the nurse
gave her some Benadryl (sp?) and the nurse says that it is the reason
she is groggy along with the Morphine. Physical Therapy came in the
morning and got her out of bed. She said it was painful. She is now on
that machine that will keep her knee in continuous motion. She said
that the machine isn't too bad. While I was talking to her the physical
therapist came is and she had to go. I called the nurses station and
talked to her nurse, which was the same one as yesterday, just to make
sure everything was okay and her nurse said she was doing great.


From: Kristin
Sent: Tue 1/18/2005 5:10 PM
To: verat; debbee;ldarnall; bill;lettybags; vera
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth; Dave
Subject: RE: prayer request


My mom had her surgery today. The surgeon said that it went really
well. He explained that her entire join was totally shot and worst than
he thought including her knee cap. So the new knee should be a big
improvement for her once she is healed. The surgery took 1 1/2 hours.
She was in a lot of pain went she got out of recovery and into her room.
She said that on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the worst pain ever) it
was at about 10+. I stayed with her while they got the morphine set up
and got all her things within arms reach for her and then ran some
errands that she ask me to do. By the time I got back her pain was down
to a 5 on the scale and she seemed to be in much higher spirits. I
talked to her nurse, who was really nice, and she was going to keep a
close eye on her. I left her at about 4pm. She was going to take a
nap.

One really cool answer to prayer was that the hospital she was at for
her back surgery faxed in the reports from the scary episode that sent
her to ICU last time this morning and the anesthesiologist was able to
look them over before she went into surgery. He read the entire report
and so did the surgeon. I guess it was an allergic reaction to a
medication they gave her to keep her from being nauseous. So that
relieved a lot of fears for her.

She is at Huntington Beach Hospital in room 108 bed 2. She was the only
one in the room today. They said that she will have to be in the
hospital for 4-5 days. Tomorrow she starts her physical therapy and
they will put her on a machine that will move her knee continually for 8
hours per day. She will have to be on the machine for a couple of
weeks. The main thing now is that she does not get an infection and
that the pain is not too bad as she starts the physical therapy.

Thank you for your continued prayers!

-Kristin


From: Kristin
Sent: Thu 1/13/2005 11:41 AM
To: vera; debbee;ldarnall; bill;lettybags
Cc: Karen; Jenny; Cathy; Eric 2; Straty; Mike; Natalie; Elizabeth; Dave
Subject: prayer request


Just wanted to let you all know that my mom is going to have knee
replacement surgery next Tuesday, 1/18/05, at the Huntington Beach
Hospital. She has to be to the hospital at 5:30am, but the surgery
doesn't begin until 7am. I will be there from 6am till whenever on the
18th. She will have to stay in the hospital for 4-5 days. The good
news is that for this surgery, unlike the last one, she will have use of
her upper body and will be able to do things like feed herself and talk
on the phone which should make this one easier. The only real worry
about the surgery is that they still aren't sure what caused her to have
all the problems with her blood pressure and stuff that sent her to ICU
after the last surgery. Whatever it was we REALLY don't want it to
happen again!

Thanks,

Kristin