After spending about 24 hours on the ventilator, Shirley is again breathing on her own, She is getting a little supplemental oxygen, but the combination of a day of being able to rest with the ventilator and two successive days of drawing off 3 liters of excess fluid has made breathing much easier for her.
This afternoon, the Speech Therapist came by can worked with her a little on talking. In order to talk, Shirley needs to take a deep breath, and then the trach tube opening is covered so that when she exhales, the air passes up past her vocal chords. Her voice is very faint, and she can only utter a few words on each exhalation, but it was nice to hear her speak again. Her first words were "one, two and hello" as she was following the instructions from the therapist. When she was told to say whatever she wanted, she got out several words, but the only one I could make out was "Jessie." Jess--I thought you'd appreciate hearing that. :)
She also had her best session in at least a week with Physical Therapy. She sat on the edge of the bed for about 40 minutes and did leg lifts and various stretches.
She is also being weaning off her PCA device for administering IV pain medications. She wasn't using it very much, so they are just going to give her oral (through her feeding tube) medications, which last longer, but don't have the same immediate effect.
All in all, a very good day.
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