Home sweet home! 

Just a quick post to let you know that Janet is now recuperating at home, away from all the distractions and interruptions of the hospital.  Hooray!  (If any of you have been in the hospital lately, you know it's a terrible place to try to get any rest).  In the next week or so, we are going to be putting together some sort of plan/schedule for how we can help now that Janet is home.  She won't be driving for a while, and definitely still needs to rest while her body continues to recover and regain its strength. 

If you are interested in helping out in some tangible way, please let us know by replying to praying4janet@gmail.com or you can also call or text Kris Esau at (360)798-6144.  I will be visiting with Janet tomorrow and hopefully will get more of an idea of some sort of plan that would be helpful for their family.  Please think about whether you want to provide a one-time meal or maybe you can donate a specific chunk of time to help out once a week until Janet gets on her feet again. 

Right now, we are thinking we can be helpful by:
*Providing meals or homemade goodies or even Subway or pizza gift cards
*Running errands
*Grocery shopping (you would shop and the Dickens would reimburse you)
*Cleaning
*Staying with Janet for chunks of time whenever Mike goes back to work

I understand that Janet and Mike's home church (Kessid) will be providing dinners at least through October 25th or so.  I'm sure dinners will continue to be appreciated! (I will be asking Janet what her family's favorite foods are!) 

I think if we all just pitch in together to provide what we each of us can easily offer, it will add up to a huge blessing for the Dickens.  They have come through this acute-ICU-hospital phase of this journey, but we want to continue to support them as they work toward getting back to normal.

Mike is off work for now and will be taking Janet to her follow-up appointments.  Again, keep praying for those appointments and especially for her left hand and arm.  Pray that she finds the right doctors and that she receives the very best care.

Plan = HOME!

Janet was transferred out of PCU yesterday to room 301.  This should be her last step before being discharged today sometime.  Janet's whole hospital journey started exactly two weeks ago.  In some ways, we can hardly believe it's been that long; in other ways, it feels like the days before all this happened was a lifetime ago.  I know we are all inexpressibly grateful for the miracle of Janet's recovery.  Please continue to pray for her and her family in the coming days as she continues to rest and recuperate and gain her full strength back.  Also pray as she follows up with her hand.  Janet has some decisions to make as far as which doctor to listen to and trust.  She will also have to follow up with the urologist.  Pray for that as well.  Thank you!

I just put the compilation of emails together in one letter for Janet to read.  Thank you for your thoughts.  If you didn't get a chance to contribute, I'm sorry!  You certainly can still email a note, and I will make sure she gets it.

Still lookin' good! Transferred to the Progress Care Unit

Janet had her PICC line taken out yesterday (the line used for IV medications and lab draws) - Yea!  More tubes out!  Even though they wrote the transfer order yesterday, Janet had to wait until six this morning before a room finally came available in the PCU.  She's all settled in her new room now though and will hopefully be able to get some better sleep tonight away from the chaos of the ICU.  The doctors are looking to discharge Janet on Sunday.  She is SOOOO ready to be done with the whole hospital scene.  That is always a good sign that the patient is recovering!  She will follow up with the hand specialist after she discharges.  Keep praying for those fingers!

She's doing well!

Janet is continuing on a good course.  She is losing her tubes and wires and beginning to reclaim her body back to herself.  Oh boy, has it been a long ten days for the Dickens!  It looks like she will be transferred out of ICU today as soon as a regular room becomes available.  They are continuing to just watch her and her lab work as her body mends itself; everything looks pretty stable at this point.  No invasive procedures look like they are needed right now.  If all continues to go well, Janet could be discharged as soon as Sunday or Monday.  From there, it's just going to take time for her to regain her strength and stamina and continue her full recovery.  Janet's left hand and fingers are continuing to look better; the doctors are still cautiously watching to see how that goes.

Doing much better

Janet looks so wonderful today.  She said that she feels perky and has energy.  Her color is great after the blood transfusions.  She's a little sore from everything, but generally feels really good.  She is eating regular food, and she's making lists of foods she wants to eat after she gets out of the hospital.  I told her to make her lists and we can bring the food to her - hospital or not! 

They are just continuing to monitor her blood count today.  She may receive more transfusions depending on her lab work.  They are waiting to decide if they need to do more tests on her bleeding issue.  We can all pray that the internal bleeding completely stops and heals on it's own and that her hematocrit stablizes.  Janet had an echocardiogram yesterday that showed improvement in her heart. Cardiology has signed off and is no longer following her in the hospital.  It doesn't look like Janet will have to be on any long term heart medication either.  Good news!

Keep praying for Janet's fingers on her left hand.  There has been some improvement in the color the last few days.  Janet doesn't want to lose any of her tips!  Let's keeping praying that she doesn't!

Anyway, it so good for our hearts to see Janet's beautiful self so courageously shining through the tough stuff she is facing.  Let's continue to pray for her heart and mind and spirit.

It wasn't the other kidney stone causing the issues...

Janet is okay, but she had a rough night.  She and really everybody could use your prayers for strength and stamina as this is the beginning of hospital week number two. 

After talking to the nurse and trying to put all the pieces together, here is what I know so that we can continue to pray and not take anything for granted.

About midnight last night, Janet's blood pressure and heart rate began to drop.  They did labs in the middle of the night that showed her red blood cell count had dropped as well.  Janet had had some right abdominal/back pain that was increasing.  The nurses were becoming more concerned after they saw the lab results when Janet became non-responsive.  They couldn't find a pulse and called a code blue.  It was quite a flurry of activity as they worked to find out what was causing her to suddenly decompensate.  They gave her medications for her blood pressure.  Janet quickly responded to the medications and awoke to the nurse standing over her beginning chest compressions.  Very scary for poor Janet.  After that, they started blood transfusions, and that is when things began to even out and Janet's heart rate and blood pressure came back into a normal range.

Janet is back in ICU and is receiving more blood transfusions today.  Part of what they have been watching for from the beginning is that Janet is not bleeding anywhere she shouldn't be.  She was at risk for this due to the heparin therapy she has been receiving.  Last night, as I said, her abdominal/back pain increased and her blood pressure and heart rate dropped.  Basically, after a bunch of tests, a CT scan showed that Janet was bleeding from a pelvic vein that burst.  The blood pooling near her ovary was mimicking the kind of pain she had with the kidney stone.  (She does have another known kidney stone that they have been monitoring).  At this point, they are thinking that the bleeding has resolved itself now that she is not on the heparin drip and that the pooled blood will naturally be absorbed without surgical intervention.  The blood transfusions should make her feel a lot better and have more energy.  They are closely monitoring her blood count to make sure it stays stable.

Janet is really tired today, but she is awake and knows everything that happened last night.  I found some hospital earplugs for her.  We're hoping she can find some good sleep somewhere tonight.

This is all I know for now.  Janet has a ton of different doctors rounding on her, each giving their own two cents worth.  Keep praying... Pray that the doctors have wisdom as they tweak her medications and her treatments.

With love and prayers for Janet,
Chandra

Keep praying

Janet was transferred to the progressive care unit yesterday evening, but had to go back to ICU in the middle of the night.  A second kidney stone has been trying to pass, causing more issues.  She had to get a blood transfusion last night as well.  This is all I know for now.