Mom’s Latest Status

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

This post won’t be terribly long.

It’s been a while since I updated everyone on mom’s status.  There really hasn’t ben a lot to tell until now.

Mom has been in ICU for over two months now.  If you remember from my last post, Mom suffered a setback when the vac on her belly, meant to help close the wound, caused a rupture in her intestines.  She was doing great until that point.

She has been recovering from that ever since.  She has been in and out of consciousness, uncomfortable, scared, and not really retaining any memory from day-to-day.  She’s had a rough ride but, thankfully, she doesn’t remember most of it.

Last month they put a tracheostomy tube in her throat to help with the breathing.  She’s been bedridden so long that her weakened lungs were having a hard time feeding her body oxygen and she was stressing herself even further as she struggled for breath.  With the tracheostomy tube, the ventilator can breath for her and she can still be relatively awake and aware.  Before, she had the breathing tube inserted directly into her mouth and that forced the doctors to keep her sedated.

The longer my Mom is in the hospital, the greater the risk of her getting an infection.  So, not surprisingly, she got an infection about three weeks ago.  With a fever spiking over 103 it was serious.  When your body has an infection, the healing process for other wounds, like the wound on her belly, essentially stops as the body battles the infection.

Mom was put on three power antibiotics and an anti-fungal.  The cultures came back and the infection mom had was called pseudomonas aeruginosa.  According to Wikipedia, “the symptoms of such infections are generalized inflammation and sepsis. If such colonizations occur in critical body organs, such as the lungs, the urinary tract, and kidneys, the results can be fatal. Because it thrives on most surfaces, this bacterium is also found on and in medical equipment, including catheters, causing cross-infections in hospitals and clinics.”

You guessed it – Mom went septic and the infection was in her blood.  She’s been fighting that for three weeks now and it finally looks like she is starting to cross over on the other side of it.

Yesterday was her best day yet.  She was awake, aware, and able to communicate.  She is in considerable pain from her surgeries still, confused about why she has been in the hospital for so long, and irritable.  She wants out.

Her surgeon said that if she continues to stay infection-free, next week they will probably perform the skin graft necessary to complete her healing process.

Once that is successfully completed, she will essentially be healing and recovering her strength to go home as soon as she is able.  She’s still very weak, and is not out of the woods yet, but she is a fighter and she is slowly but surely fighting her way back to us.

Thank you all for asking, praying, and wishing her well.