We were hoping that Heather could get her ventilator tube out today. Unfortunately, her breathing is just not strong enough yet. It is a bummer, but I would much rather wait and have her be ready than take it out and have to put it back in again. Hopefully she will be ready tomorrow.
In the "good news" department, Heather had her first bowel movement without the help of an enema. Apparently it was quite a doosy too. Sorry to those of you who are faint of heart, but let's just say the nurses had to clean her ankles. I guess all the laxatives, stool softeners, and bowel stimulators did their job. Great for Heather, not so good for the nurses that have to clean it up.
Yesterday they put a wound vac on her abdominal incision site. They say that this device will help her close up her wound and heal about three times as fast as she would without it. Her legs are looking really good, comparatively. The dead parts, which are significant, are all turning black. The skin in between the dead parts seems to be healing and recovering quite well. It looks like they will begin treatment (i.e., skin grafts) on her legs early next week.
She continues to communicate through head shakes, eyebrow lifts, and repeated games of "20 Questions." At times she seems really lucid, but most of the time she seems quite loopy. She sleeps a lot. The doctors say many people are a little (or a lot) psychotic for a while after awakening in the ICU. Certainly all the narcotics, etc. that she is taking don't help much with that either. She really seemed to enjoy seeing her parents last night when they arrived (They went home to Jackson for a few days and just got back last night.). She definitely recognizes familiar faces, and seems most attentive and lucid when I talk to her about Hannah.
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Know that Mark and I are adding our faith and prayers to the countless others in Heather's behalf. Please give her a squeeze for us. Hang in there, Mark.
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