Day 17 in the ICU
In support of
The Gonzales Family
View Support Registry
The Gonzales Family
The past week has been quiet and uneventful so my nervous system is more regulated than it was 2 weeks ago. Phew.
Paloma is comfortable and in a much better place than last week. Since she is not sedated anymore, she definitely lets us know if she is uncomfortable in any way. This past week, her providers were focused on her drug withdrawal while trying to keep her blood pressure stable. And this is very much patient specific as it is a dance between giving the right amount of meds while closely monitoring her blood pressure because the withdrawal meds affect her bp.
She was able to practice sitting up with OT/PT and she even sat in her wheelchair for about an hour! It had been 2 weeks since she last sat in her chair so that was another tiny victory.
The GREAT news is that her heart function is BETTER. Praise GOD! Her heart is finally where the ICU doctors and cardiologists wanted it to be, to switch over to a different medicine she can receive through her gtube.
The goal remains the same: get her off the last heart med so she can be moved to the regular floor or even discharged.
The plan also remains the same: get her home and work with hospice for as long as we see fit. More than likely, we will be increasing her nursing hours to 24/7 care, pending insurance approval, of course. But the hospital social worker says, due to this admit and new diagnosis of heart failure, it shouldn't be a problem increasing her hours. Unfortunately, Paloma lost Medicaid last month, which she'd been on for a year, and we came to rely on Medicaid for equipment and nursing as our private primary insurance does not cover nursing at all and is often refused by providers. Fun times. I'm still navigating next steps for her, but this requires us to wait for weeks. I intend to reach out to a non-profit next week to help guide me. I've heard great things about them so I'm hopeful!
With this increase in hours and nurses always being with her and us, we are going to have to rearrange our house. Paloma does not have her own room, technically, as she is in a little nook in our master with her medical bed. We'll have to move her bed out and into the living room before she is discharged. Thankfully, the palliative care team informed us that the hospice team would set everything up at home so all her equipment and supplies would be ready to go for her arrival.
THANK YOU for the continued prayers and support.
Please continue to pray for us as we pray for you, too.
Bl. Solanus Casey, pray for us!
Paloma is comfortable and in a much better place than last week. Since she is not sedated anymore, she definitely lets us know if she is uncomfortable in any way. This past week, her providers were focused on her drug withdrawal while trying to keep her blood pressure stable. And this is very much patient specific as it is a dance between giving the right amount of meds while closely monitoring her blood pressure because the withdrawal meds affect her bp.
She was able to practice sitting up with OT/PT and she even sat in her wheelchair for about an hour! It had been 2 weeks since she last sat in her chair so that was another tiny victory.
The GREAT news is that her heart function is BETTER. Praise GOD! Her heart is finally where the ICU doctors and cardiologists wanted it to be, to switch over to a different medicine she can receive through her gtube.
The goal remains the same: get her off the last heart med so she can be moved to the regular floor or even discharged.
The plan also remains the same: get her home and work with hospice for as long as we see fit. More than likely, we will be increasing her nursing hours to 24/7 care, pending insurance approval, of course. But the hospital social worker says, due to this admit and new diagnosis of heart failure, it shouldn't be a problem increasing her hours. Unfortunately, Paloma lost Medicaid last month, which she'd been on for a year, and we came to rely on Medicaid for equipment and nursing as our private primary insurance does not cover nursing at all and is often refused by providers. Fun times. I'm still navigating next steps for her, but this requires us to wait for weeks. I intend to reach out to a non-profit next week to help guide me. I've heard great things about them so I'm hopeful!
With this increase in hours and nurses always being with her and us, we are going to have to rearrange our house. Paloma does not have her own room, technically, as she is in a little nook in our master with her medical bed. We'll have to move her bed out and into the living room before she is discharged. Thankfully, the palliative care team informed us that the hospice team would set everything up at home so all her equipment and supplies would be ready to go for her arrival.
THANK YOU for the continued prayers and support.
Please continue to pray for us as we pray for you, too.
Bl. Solanus Casey, pray for us!
Lisa Gonzales
5 months ago
Comments