Home by Thanksgiving!

There is now a real chance that Linda Fordyce will be discharged on Thanksgiving Day and allowed to go home! Today, she actually climbed stairs. Every day brings new possibilities! Little by little, she is getting stronger and stronger. We are thrilled! John is making the preparations with the case manager already, so that everything will be ready for her to come home next week. Physical therapists will make house calls, and she will be able to go to her follow-up appoinments as an outpatient. Hooray!!! M

Diane Here, I didn't want to post over that last bit of great news so I'm adding to the bottom of it. I'm so glad to hear we may be able to have family together with Mom at home for Thanksgiving. Here is a great photo, I just found, of Linda's grandkids all together with their Uncle Dan. Classic!

Mindy's family

I was telling Mom about how well my family are doing in Saipan with me here, and she was so amused by something I said that she suggested I put it in the blog. I had told her that I am usually Thom's human alarm clock, and that sometimes involves screaming and kicking!

Thom has done a great job. He's organized the household chores, shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc... He's getting Brooke to school on time and she now has ballet rehearsals about 5-6 times per week in preparation for Swan Lake on December 5th & 6th. Unfortunately, I can't be there. I usually am very involved backstage and have been the ballet's emcee for the past two years! Brooke is missing her Nana so much. They usually talk on the phone 3 to 4 times a week and are real pals! Garrett is homeschooled and Thom had already taken over his supervision this year since I started graduate school. Garrett has informed me several times that the house is often much cleaner and less cluttered since I've been away! I think Thom has proven his domestic superiority. I hope they don't mind the mess that I will bring home with me next month.

Mom's physical therapy continues to progress. She walked much further yesterday and is making the effort to get out of bed much more often. These workouts do still lead to fatigue and pain, mostly in the evenings, but she is bravely continuing. She frequently refers to how far she has come to remind herself that even though progress is slow, it is happening. Her positive attitude is serving her well.

Diane, Steve, Shannon, and Matthew are making plans to join us next week for Thanksgiving. Diane and I are making some very simple plans for a special meal. I can't remember the last time I was here for Thanksgiving! This will be my first Thanksgiving without my husband and children.

A much better day!

She fed herself breakfast using her fat-handled fork! She sat up on the side of her bed! She stood and sat in a wheelchair for nearly an hour! I washed and cut her hair (we broke the rules; they said we couldn't rinse but she leaned over a basin and it worked). How would you like to wait over a month before your hair was really washed? The only thing they had done was put foam in her hair and scrub it out with a wet washcloth. PT and OT (physical therapy and occupational therapy) came in and gave her some exercises. I was so proud of the way she pushed through the pain in her left arm and kept trying with determination. When it seemed like she was tempted to give up and get back to bed, she went ahead and stood up and used a walker to walk all the way out to the hallway and back, then she sat on a portable potty before returning to the bed. This is great because she looks forward to saying "goodbye bedpan!" She sat up again to eat her lunch and remained seated rather than reclining much of the afternoon. I am so proud of her. It is great to have her not lying flat on her back so much. What is really amazing is that she felt pretty good about all of this. I know we expect her to feel some fatigue later on, but these are major milestones! Linda even mentioned that she can envision herself being at home soon, as soon as she is finally able to get up and down by herself. She is so excited about this progress! She has come a long way since October 8.

Some days are tougher than others

Sunday was a pretty rough day. It may not be pleasant for you to read about this, but just try to imagine how unpleasant it has been for my mother. She has been confined to a bed for more than five and a half weeks, with barely any movement, and her digestive system is not functioning normally. We have reason to believe that the various medications interfere with normal bodily functions as well. She was absolutely miserable yesterday, since before sunrise until late in the evening, with urgency coming on but just never being able to feel like she was finished, and suffering severe abdominal cramping. She was also having that fear of the unknown wall of pain that I recall having when I was in labor with my first child.

Finally, by this morning, she was feeling a lot better and rested well for much of the day. She was even able to sit up in bed to exercise her arms and legs a bit with the physical therapists today. I pray that she may have more good days ahead of her, but some days truly feel like a setback to her. May she rest well tonight, please, God.

Diane very thoughtfully commented that she'd like to order a manicure and pedicure for Mom, and she would definitely look forward to it in the future, but she's not entirely ready for something like that yet. I've worked little by little on sprucing up her toes and fingers since there was still a lot of dried blood and healing cuts, etc... but she tires of any poking and prodding very quickly and I usually am only able to get about 2 to 3 fingers or toes done at any one time. She's still very sensitive. Has she told some of you about what her mother (who we called "Grandmonie") used to say? Her "shock absorbers" are just not working as well these days. It's clear that Mom's shock absorbers are going to bounce back eventually, but she's still very fragile compared to her usual strength. She's lost a lot of weight and her arms and legs are atrophied and weakened from lack of use for over five weeks now, and today getting up for a while caused dizziness and nausea. We hope that working just a little bit harder each day will strengthen her.

Have I mentioned that when I first arrived in late October, Mom was like an infant? She needed us to do so many things for her and she was so incapacitated completely when her ribs were still so sore that she could barely shift her position. As the time has passed, she is regaining more movement to her arms and chest area, and progressing through what you might describe as "crawling" and a bit of "walking." and she is entering the toddler stage, able and eager to do a little for herself yet still very dependent and needs supervision. It won't be long before she's climbing out of her "crib." We are anticipating something like the terrible twos!!! Fortunately, Mom has allowed a little of this type of humor and is good-natured about my interpretation, but we do check in with her about those shock absorbers. She was a very good mother and took excellent care of us unconditionally, so I tell her it's the least I can do to return the favor.

If you've ever tasted that awful Dinty Moore canned beef stew, then you know the taste of what they tried to bill on her dinner menu tonight as "Roasted Sirloin Strip!!!" We just have to say that UAMS was relatively spectacular with the meals they bring to patients' rooms. I hope St. Vincent will improve. Dean and I know that Mom is not a very picky eater. She's pretty easy to please, so we agreed that if Mom didn't like it you know it must be bad!

Vital signs were so perfect the other day that Linda wants to share them with all of you!
Blood pressure was 128/72. Heart rate, 72. Blood/oxygen levels were also much better. I think she had a little anxiety about the removal of the chest tube at first, but there have been no related complications. She’s receiving oxygen daily now and special respiratory treatments that will help improve her lungs. Her breathing seems quite normal and she hasn't had episodes of being out of breath. The Respiratory Therapist told us that the treatment she breathes periodically through a mask causes restlessness in some patients so they are willing to skip the evening treatments so that her sleep will not be interrupted. Anyway, someone comes in at all hours of the night to wake her up for this or that. I don't know how they can expect patients to get well if they can't get a good night's sleep. It's noisy up and down the hall day & night! Sleep is also a remedy. Most of the times I ever get sick is when I'm sleep-deprived, which seems to deplete my immune system. Mom says she wishes she could just lock them out at night or hang a "Do not disturb" sign on her door.

She was up in a wheelchair today and was able to see some of the hallway, get to know the neighborhood a little. She does feel a lot of fatigue after exercise, but she's determined to get out of bed more often and do more normal activities. It will get easier. It will take time.

She’s still suffering from intermittent pains, and we are so sorry when those episodes affect her. The latest is pain in her left shoulder and arm area as well as the left wrist. After not being able to move that arm for over a month, it’s like running a marathon to do a few simple exercises, and it seems so painful. The pain that was affecting her abdomen seems to have been resolved by the removal of the chest tube.

Linda’s dentist made a special visit today (on his day off) to examine a loose tooth, that has been hurting while brushing, that may have become loosened from the impact of the accident. He said it is stable enough to wait-and-see, not likely to become infected, but might have some inflammation later. John was the dentist’s boy scout leader once upon a time.

Helplessness

Tuesday evening, Mom was unable to work the call button. She tried pushing her call button for a very long time. Finally, she resorted to yelling and screaming but noone came. When someone eventually came, she was told that the call system had not been working all day!!! We hadn't known because we hardly ever need the call button when we are already there to help her in the daytime. She looked the person as straight in the eye as she could, lying flat on her back with her neck brace on, and said "You have a responsibility to let every patient on this floor know about this and someone needs to check on them regularly." Unfortunately, the message didn't seem to get through. When John learned of this Wednesday morning, he really let the management know how unacceptable this was. It turned out that upper management had not even been informed of the fact that the system was out! Later, when a technician was in Mom's room, she realized that someone had even lied to her about it. He said that he's on call and could have repaired this 24/7, but she had been told they'd have to wait until the daytime to call for repairs.

Overall, Mom has received rather excellent care from many wonderful professionals at both UAMS and Select Specialty Hospital, and she credits many for having saved her life! It is sad and disturbing when we come across the few staff members who don't practice traditional ethics and standards regarding patient care. Mom was just as concerned for the many other patients on the floor. Many have remarked that medical care used to be more like a calling. Has it become just a job.? How dare they leave helpless, bedridden people alone without any means to call for assistance!

Now, each night before John leaves, he makes sure the call button works but also puts the telephone near Mom's right hand and she has the number for the nurse's station memorized, but it is still difficult for her to dial it with only her four fingers. She's gradually getting some use from her left arm but the left wrist is extremely sore from being idle for more than one month.

According to contract, there will be a total of 21 days in this hospital--halfway there now--before Mom can move to either Baptist Rehabilitation or possibly home. I'm flying back to Saipan on December 10 so I really hope she can make a lot of progress by then. She is more frequently trying to sit up, stand, and walk a bit now. She is so tired of staying in bed! It is so much easier without that chest tube and IV, plus the healing skin graft is allowing her to work the left arm now. Physical Therapists and Respiratory Therapists visit her daily to encourage her to work.

Several friends have kindly agreed to come in for mealtimes since it is still rather hard for Linda to feed herself. This gives John a little longer break through lunchtime and the afternoon. Thank you so much to those of you who can give your time to help. You are wonderful! Thank you, also, for all of you who continue to have Linda in your thoughts and prayers. She is so thankful.

~Mindy

Super Busy Tuesday

Mom was simply delighted while viewing these photos of this chimp's motherly interactions with two orphaned white tigers in South Carolina after Hurricane Hannah. See link for other photos:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1793366.ece?slideshowPopup=true&articleId=1793366

It was a super busy Tuesday. I'm exhausted and my feet hurt! John & I were up since around 4am seeing Leslie off to the airport. I took the morning shift for the first time, and now I understand why some days John just falls asleep like a log even without supper! I'm going to start taking at least one or two mornings for him each week. Thankfully, he says it isn't this busy every day.

Everything tried to happen within the same couple of hours today: clarification about medication mixups and nurses not interpreting doctors' orders the same as they were explained to our patient--got that resolved; clearing up the discrepancies regarding the menu with the dietition; bathtime, which never really finished-was interrupted so many times; lunchtime-barely had time to eat; chest tube removal-finally! and a chest Xray that never happened (and a technician who just wouldn't wait her turn!), an ultrasound--she'll still need a better one with the bigger ultrasound machine later--gall stones not yet ruled out; skin graft dressing changing and a single staple removal-the last one-whew!; and, a thorough debriding of the dime-sized sore on the back of her head which we couldn't believe she didn't find painful!

There was a lot of stress today, but we survived and our patient is doing well. She really enjoyed the above pictures, and she also found time to read cards and receive some welcome visitors today.

~Mindy

Hostel update

The Firehouse Hostel has recieved another good piece of publicity. Check it out:
http://sync.arkansasonline.com/news/2008/nov/11/hostel-takeover/
and
Dean has generously set up his Ebay business to donate a portion of his sales to the hostel through an organization called MissionFish.
His site is http://stores.ebay.com/QUALITY-CORNER-STORE
Anyone with an Ebay sales business can sign up to do the same.

A rare opportunity

It isn't often you catch all four of us in the same place. We made sure of it this time, for Mom.

Sunday/Monday

It's nice to know so many of you are still concerned, still checking daily to see how Linda is doing. Many noticed that I hadn't updated for two days. We've just been so busy. I have been trying to get ahead on my graduate school reading whenever possible. Leslie has returned to NYC. Diane and her family are back in Eureka Springs. It was a nice reunion and Diane will post a photo of the four of us soon. Diane recently started a new part-time job as a personal assistant in Rogers while Shannon and Matt are in school. Leslie is the registrar for a Manhattan art gallery. Dean is still in Little Rock, staying very busy with his Ebay business, and visits Mom most evenings.

Linda's chest tube is finally to be removed today. Hoorah! We've also been noticing that her mobility is greatly improving. She can lie a bit sideways, enjoys shifting her legs a lot more and her right arm and four fingers are much more useful. She usually stands and sits up for a little while each day. You've got to watch out for that sharp, heavy cast though. Some of us have suffered mild bruising & scratching from it!

Today, she is going to have an ultrasound to check if some sporadic sharp pains in the right side of her rib area that move into the upper back may be from her gallbladder. Her rapid weight loss since the accident coupled by some pains that seem to occur shortly after eating any fatty foods like ice cream apparently add up to the possibility of gall stones. We hope that a simple explanation is found and that her pain can be resolved. A website said that gall stones are as painful as childbirth.

John attended a public hearing last evening for the MacArthur Park redevelopment, which includes the Firehouse Hostel & Museum. He was touched by the fact that everyone involved in the project has been tracking this blog and missing her presence. Linda misses you all too and really looks forward to getting back into her life! And, she will! What a miracle!

A day with Diane

I spent the day with my mother today. She was glad to see me and we talked about many things. I told her some of what I remember from the first two weeks and we semi-celebrated her one-month-from-the-accident day. I shared her lunch, she couldn't eat it all and didn't want her tea. I ate her ice cream. I showed her pictures we took of her from the ICU. I asked her if anyone had told her yet "I told you so", she said, "no", so I said, "I told you so." I can do this because I did tell her so and we talked about our conversation when I did, in fact, tell her so.

She is comfortable in her room (she has a nice inflatable bed) but still adjusting to things. She said the nurses have been very nice but she is concerned that some of them here don't know what she went through before she came here and it seemed that a few had not read her chart and were asking her. She didn't want to have to fill them all in, it should be their job to know. She is so sweet with them, however, even if she is in pain or concerned about something. She is always thanking them and asking them, first off, how they are today. It won't take any of them long to realize that she is a special patient with a special family and will easily get special treatment from all of them. :)

My mom is still mi madre. Last time I was here I couldn't talk to her but now I know that she is here, all of her, and she will be back to her normal life eventually. She still has a good deal of healing ahead of her but has come a long way already. She worries for us that she has put us through too much and continues to be thankful to all for your prayers and she knows that they are what has helped her get to this point. She said there are over 50 patients where she is now and tries to remember all of them in her prayers, to share those she is recieving.

She became distressed today over the odor coming from the back of her head and said they had not cleaned or looked at the back of her head since a while back at UAMS. We had them come and clean it and the doctor looked at it. I had never seen the back of neck since her surgery and was surprised to see that her scar is nearly 9 inches long along her entire neck. It has healed up well but she has a small sore at the top, on the back of her head. The doctor said it was not infected but inflamed. This is mostly due to her laying on her head and not being able to turn from side to side enough. A nurse commented that the C Brace they had her in prior to surgery puts pressure that may have caused it. It will be watched and kept clean from now on. They laid gauze on it and had to put a stretchy cap over her head to keep it in place. It looks retro chic. John took a picture. I'll see if I can put it here.

While he was there, the doctor ordered x-rays of her ribs and neck. They really want to remove that chest tube from her side. It seems to have served it purpose and be uncessary but they want to be sure.

I could see the the giraffes in the zoo from Mom's room window.

Family Reunion

Diane's family arrived for the weekend today, and we're expecting Leslie to fly in from New York. Linda's four children will all be present at once. Time for a group photo?

Mom has been very optimistic, cheerful, and good-humored. She also had an opportunity to sit up in a chair for a while, which made her sleepy enough to need a good nap before the grandkids arrived.

We are happy that her swelling has continued to decrease, a little more so in the right leg than the left. She is amused by her unevenly sized knees!

~Mindy

St. Vincent info.

Some of you didn't catch the fact that I modified the earlier post with the new room #.

Linda's room # at St.Vincent is #6008, 6th floor. She was moved to a different room and has a double room to herself for now.

Also, if you find leaving comments difficult on the blog, always try a couple of times. It sometimes doesn't respond correctly the first time.

She is making adjustments to pain medications, different food, and nutrition supplements at the new hospital. She's sleepier since they switched her medication, and has some breakthrough pain but they have other medicine that she can ask for when that happens. We are told it may take a few days to adjust & the sleepiness may only be temporary. We are also adjusting to the new dietician and new foods. It was surprising that no vegetable at all came with meat, rice, bread, and dessert for dinner tonight! Mom loves veggies!

We met her case manager who asked questions about Linda's home and how manageable the eventual transition will be. We are lucky that Linda's legs were uninjured, except for a cut on her left knee that is still healing. It's just a matter of letting her ribs and arms heal up to give her more freedom of movement and be able to hold the stair rail. She is not anywhere near ready to start getting up and down yet. Because she has lain more still since last week is what has helped her skin graft to do so well. It looks great today. The nurses remarked about how much better it looks than some of the cases they've seen.

I think that once she's free from pain, and free from pain medicine, she'll be more alert and have more energy. Let's continue to pray for healing and no more pain! Her color is remarkably improved and so many little things are looking better, that it won't be long!

Mindy and Diane

Here is a picture of Mindy and Diane for those who may not know us or remember what we look like. This was taken about 14 years ago. ~Diane

Moved

Linda has moved to St. Vincent. The room # is now 6008, 6th floor. Select Specialty Hospital allows visitors at any time, but requests that visits are short and limited to only 1-2 visitors at a time because the room is small. Parking in the deck across from St. Vincent is free.

The new nursing staff meticulously removed each bandage, and photographed each of her wounds upon check-in. They were kind to her and treated her gently. She was feeling okay throughout the transfer from UAMS. She maintains a rather positive attitude considering what she's got on her plate!

We brought Casey the dalmation up to her gurney as she exited the ambulance at St. Vincent's Emergency entrance. Unfortunately, he was so nervous due to a lot of noise in the air that he was really too skittish to pay her much attention, but she was glad to see him and initially he turned his head toward her voice in recognition. We believe his body knew she was there and that she's okay. Casey will be just fine, and so will Mom.

Unfortunately, her lungs have still not been Xrayed, and the chest tube is still in. We will miss the staff at UAMS, but we are already getting to know Mom's new caregivers at Select Specialty hospital. Mom was tapping her feet & singing the Merengue tonight after learning that her LPN is from Trinidad!

There was a slight delay when she asked for her medication before bedtime due to the fact they had to take her blood pressure and the new shift's RN & LPN had to first read Mom's chart. She & I wished we had requested it a bit earlier because it took about 30 minutes and she was tired and having the pain in her broken ribs again. She does so well up until the half hour or so before the dose is due.

Moving to Selectcare at St. Vincent tomorrow

Linda will be promoted to Select Specialty Hospital, on the 6th floor, at St. Vincent tomorrow, where she will have nursing care and the potential for therapy, but the emphasis is on wound care and healing, projected to take about three weeks. Afterwards, she'll either be ready for home (with physical therapists and occupational therapists making house calls) or transfer to a live-in rehab. center.

We are hoping to bring Casey to St. Vincent so they can see each other briefly as they transfer from the ambulance into her new residence. Casey will finally know where Linda is! We hope to get a photograph.

She still has the lung tube, and they say they will Xray the lungs/ribs area early tomorrow morning before transporting her to St. Vincent. She will also have daily changing of her skin graft dressing at the new place. Today, they fitted her with a special removable splint to replace the need to recast her left arm daily with each dressing change. No more metal staples are in her skin graft--they were so painful to remove.

The skin graft team remarked that they were amazed at how much better her elbow is healing. Great progress, great relief! Glad they won't have to try again and that it is taking well.

Revelations & Coincidences

We are revelling in relief that something troubling Linda has been revealed. So many of her doctors and the social worker who acts as a liason between the various medical teams and the patient had been telling her about getting her ready to transfer her to rehab., which will be live-in with nursing care to attend to her healing broken places while she pursues physical and occupational therapy. The rehab. may last about 3 weeks, after which she may still move onto regular rehab. if needed before going home. Now, John & I have understood this and assumed it was clear to Linda for several days. Mom seemed fearful of this transition and had been expressing a lot of worry about the possibility of leaving UAMS because she doesn't feel ready and already has such confidence in UAMS staff. However, we finally realized why she was so scared. She had it her mind that she would have to go home so soon and be an outpatient at the rehabilitation facility! She felt rushed to do things like negotiate the stairs at home before she's ready! Once she understood, she sighed with great relief! So did we!

Also, the orthopedic technician came in to change her right arm's cast to a lighter, lower profile one. He let Mom pick the color, blue, and she now has freer use of her four fingers, plus you can see her thumb poking out but still not usable for grasping. I was impressed that his handling of her bare wrist did not cause severe pain and it appears to be healing right on schedule. This man told three amazing success stories about three women who had traffic accidents with similarly tragic injuries who had also occupied Linda's room 435, and were all three now successfully rehabilitated. That gave us great encouragement, and put a big smile on Linda's face!

More great news: the tube connected to the vacuum has been removed after the most recent redressing of the skin graft, so the only tube remaining (apart from the booties air pump) is the tube inserted in her right lung. As of 7:30pm, noone had come to look at it as we had expected, but maybe tomorrow.

Ginger, the social worker, shared an interesting coincidence. She happened to grab an old copy of Arkansas Times lying around and opened it up to the article that featured Linda & John Fordyce and the Firehouse Hostel & Museum! She recognized Mom as her patient right away!

Also, a person known to John & Linda was in a gun shop in Greer's Ferry. The subject of scooters, then the accident, came up and the individual working in the shop asked when & where and it turns out the shopkeeper was the neighbor of the in-laws of the man driving the truck that ran over Linda and knew all about the accident. We have been so thankful that the driver was so alert and his attempt to avoid hitting Linda may have saved her life. She looks forward to meeting him.

Blogging

I modified this website to make it more user friendly. Posting comments is easier now. I encourage you to do so since Linda loves hearing your messages and isn't yet comfortable with the phone! She frequently asks to hear the latest blog updates. John, Diane, & I really appreciate how this great tool has eased the burden of phone messages. This blog thing is new for many of us, even me, so let me know if I can help. It's good preparation for librarianship for me to help others with information technology and social networking!~Mindy

On Sunday, Linda was baffled by unusually severe pain in her side near the broken ribs and the tube in her lung. It may or may not have been a gas bubble, but it was rather bothersome. She remarked that it doesn't make sense to suffer worse pain from a relatively small problem than the pain she's generally feeling in her major injuries! Dr. Ikard, who was on call, came to check in with her about that pain. He spent a long time just giving her a chance to share her feelings and he is a very kind listener. We sure do appreciate all of the doctors, nurses, and technicians. Today, we are expecting a decision to be made regarding the removal of the lung tube, and her Skin Graft cast & bandaging are to be removed and observed again by Dr. Yuen.

John and Aancha, with Casey along, will be interviewed by Sync magazine today regarding the Firehouse Hostel & Museum.

Cece and Pat Bryles placed a tiara upon Linda's head yesterday to celebrate the 47 year anniversary since she was Homecoming Queen at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Thanks for boosting her spirit! Dr. Ikard said, "once a queen, always a queen!"

Casey visits a familiar place

Casey went to the River Market Sat. morning. He recognized the downtown area, whining and crying anxiously. As soon as I opened the door, he dragged me straight to Linda's usual spot where she & Casey spent most Saturday mornings since summer selling T-shirts and promoting the Firehouse Hostel & Museum. Casey enjoyed seeing his friends Judd, Becky, Scott and other vendors whose names I don't know. He looked everywhere for his mama and jumped up, placing his paws on my arms, looking at me emploringly as if to say, "Aren't you going to help me find her? Where could she be?" One of the vendors suggested that we disguise him as a seeing-eye dog to sneak him into UAMS, but they are taking such good care of her that we don't want anyone at the hospital to have a reason for resentment! It will be a great day when Casey's mama gets to come home. (Mom said "just do it" but wise John said, "No.")

I went to the early chapel service, then joined Mom & John's sunday school class at FUMC this morning. They are glad to receive the news that she is steadily improving. They are a warm, generous, deeply spiritual and loving group.