ICU Day 10 - What's Next?

Back at the beginning of May, I was wrapping up a project that I had been working on and was a little unclear on what my next assignment was going to be--how many clients will put up with their project manager working remotely from a hospital room?  About the same time, I was reminded that it was time to change my password on my client-provided laptop.  It seemed appropriate to choose "WhatsNext?" as my password (since changed) due to all the workplace ambiguity at the time.

While the work picture cleared up quickly (my client signed me up for another year-long project), the phrase "What's Next?" continues to haunt us in terms of Shirley's recovery.

Yesterday I reported that Shirley has become very non-responsive.  There are a few things she will do:  wiggle her toes; look at you when you call her name; sometimes she will nod or shake her head to answer a question, but not always.  She seems to have very little muscular control over her arms.

This evening, a CT scan of her head was ordered and then a neurologist was called in for a consult.  The preliminary read on the CT did not show anything obvious that could be causing this state and the neurologist could offer no theories either.  He left telling me that he would consult with the ICU doctors but his recommendation was going to be an MRI in the morning if Shirley's condition is not improved by then.

On a positive note, after a 3-hour successful breathing test, the team decided to remove Shirley's breathing tube.  For awhile, it looked like they might need to put it back in, as she was basically panting for a couple of hours. But then she settled down and is now down to a respiration rate under 30 breathes per minute and maintaining excellent oxygen saturation levels with a small amount of supplemental oxygen.

The final "What's Next?" for today is that this morning I was instructed to wear a protective gown, mask and gloves while in the room. It turns out that in a routine testing of all patients on the floor, they detected MRSA--a resistant strain of staph on a nasal swabbing they did the other day.  They are now culturing out blood samples to see if it is in her or was just a passing bacteria that got caught on the swab.  Fortunately, Shirley is already on one of the few antibiotics that works against MRSA, but it's just one more bump someone put in the road to recovery.

Thank you for all your continued prayers and notes of encouragement and support. I cannot tell you how important these are for both of us.