Day 12

1/13/08

No real change in Laurie's condition today.  Her heart rate remains high, between 100 and 105. She is receiving a drug to keep her blood pressure elevated to push oxygen to her brain.   They are still keeping her sedated and cool to minimize brain activity and swelling.  She received a chest x-ray this morning, and when they took her off sedation, her heart rate went over 140, and the oxygen level in the brain went down.  So they immediately put her back on sedation and left her sedated for the rest of the day.

Laurie and the family had many visitors today.  We appreciated all of the well wishes, love, and food.  Thanks Betsy and Melissa for bringing pizza.  Laurette spent a long time talking to Laurie, and I am sure she heard every word.  Jim came in read scriptures to Laurie.   Wende said that Laurie's heart rate went down about 25 beats while he read to her.  Thanks Jim!

Katie and Wende are headed back to their respected universities. I know they will miss seeing their mother, and hopefully they can concentrate on their studies.

Day 11

1/12/08

Laurie opened an eye on command in the morning for the doctors, and did the same again later in the morning when Wende told her she loved her.  This gave the family hope that she is fighting to recover.

When the nurse took Laurie off of sedation, her heart rate went up to 141 beats per minute, so they put her back on the sedation.  It took nearly 45 minutes for her rate to return to around 100.  To minimize brain activity and swelling, the nurse decided to keep on sedation for the rest of the day.  She is still on the cooling pads which also keeps her brain function at a minimum.  The monitors are showing that the intracranial pressure (ICP) is around 4, showing that the sedation and the cooling is keeping the swelling down.

Laurie's lungs sound clear now, so hopefully the pneumonia is mostly gone, however her white  blood cell count jumped 3,000 to 21,000.  The nurse suspected another infection, so they took some cultures to the lab.  We are still waiting to hear the results from the lab.

The monitors are showing that the intracranial pressure (ICP) is around 4.  Anything under 20 is good, showing that the sedation and cooling is working to keep the swelling down.  They are also giving Laurie 100% oxygen to give the brain the maximum amount.

The nurse practitioner talked to us today, repeating the news from yesterday about the procedure and strokes, and she also discussed what Laurie's body is going through now and the risks ahead.  Her heart is working hard to move blood and oxygen to the brain, but also to the infection in body.  Since Laurie has had previous cardiac problems and has a stent, there is a higher risk of cardiac arrest.

So now it appears that it is mostly up to Laurie to fight and want to get well.  The doctors are mostly going to try to keep her from having infections and more strokes for the next week or two.

Again, we appreciate all of the visitors, food, support, love, and prayers.  Please keep it up!!