Finding A Balance/The House That Mallory Built/Continued Baby Steps

(Post for Tuesday May 1st since Wendy went home and fell asleep on the couch!)

Happy May Day and Happy Anniversary Papa Kenny and Grandma Jan!

I love the night nurses- day shift too, but the night nurses must buy their shoes at a different store than day nurses. I swear there is a Stelth shoe store that only night nurses know about and are allowed to purchase shoes at. When they even enter the store they must be a card carrying member. :) Jen has purchased those shoes. While I was snoozing in the chair Jen was providing "excellent nursing care" to Mallory. I use quotes because Tara, her day nurse, told Dr. Huddleston when he asked what contributed to Mallory's turn around the day we thought we were going to put her on the EHMO Machine, she replied "excellent nursing care". :)

Anyway.... While I was snoozing, Jen was turning down medications, turning Miss Mallory so drainage in her chest wouldn't pool in one spot, talking softly to Mallory, making sure she wasn't in any pain and cleaning up vomit. Mallory's drugs reallly got out of her system and she was fighting the vent tube because it's a bit irritating, and she threw up so old blood and junk. She didn't throw up any of the feeds that are going directly into her stomach through the NG tube, so that was a good sign. They started giving her Pepcid to help with irritation and a bit of Versed to calm her down. It is such a frustrating balancing act. You want Mallory to be awake and starting to move around, yet you don't want her so awake that she is fighting the tube.

Mallory did receive some blood this morning and her numbers look great. Dr. Canter came in this morning and messed with her pacemaker. She was still junctional, which means her heart is not initating it's own heart beatyet. She is still depending on the pacer to do it for her. It's an electrical problem with the heart and nothing to do with the mechanics of her heart. Her mechanics are getting better. That lazy right side is starting to pick up some of the workload like it should and is pumping better.

At 12:30 You started working around the pacer so they turned it off. I came back from showering at the apartment and you wern't being paced. Talk about a shock. I know Mallory heard Dr. Canter talk about her being junctional and she said "I'm going to show him!" In Dr. Canter's words, "it's like building a house, the electricity is working, the plumbing is getting better and the mechanics will be her soon." Amy, You can tell Molly the switch is on! :)

Plumbing. Yes, right now after any care giver looks at her monitor to see what her heart rate, etc. are running, they ask "Is she peeing? Did she have a BM yet?" So today our goal is to work on the plumbing. She needs to continue to pee, not tot much but not to little and she needs to poop. They are going to help her along with that one. Thats why they wear goloves. Ha Ha :)

5pm Rounds: Things are looking better in some spots than others. It's finding that balance again. The Docs have taken her compleatly off another med, and lowered her ven and nitrate rat. They did need to turn her pacer back on because she hasn't peed enough today and she is retaining the fluid so her heart is working harder and it's harder to breathe. They gave her an extra diuretic and turned her vent up just a tad until she starts peeing again. I told you its a game of balance. Scott was afraid Mallory was taking a backwards step. I told him as I was told, it's not a backwards step because not all the lights on the christmas tree are blinking. The pole next to Mallory's bed holds all the medication pumps, 12 pumbs in all. At one point all those pumps were running some form of medication through them and their lights were blinking. Not all of those lights are blinking right now, so that is a big step for Mallory. She is in a good place and well into recovery. Now lets get her off the vent!

Some of you might or might not know this. Mallory not only shares a birthday with her cousin Trey, but with her Great-grandmother Hilda Steinhoff. I love my Grandma Steinhoff so much! I have so many wonderful memories of her and have always told Mallory that Grandma Steinhoff is her Guardian Angel. My cousin Billie Jo wrote to me and said that Mallory's baby steps remind her of the game of "Mother May I" we always played in Grandma and Grandpa's front yard. Grandma would sit on the front porch snipping green beans she had just picked out of her garden and say, "Wendy, take 3 baby steps forward" . I feel Grandma is playing that game with Mallory right now. She's up there saying "Mallory, take baby steps forward today little one, I'll be watching out for you".