Posting from Mr. B: Yesterday I finally had the opportunity to visit Michael, Marlene and Melissa at CHOC. Melissa was sleeping most of the time I was there, but when I arrived, Marlene leaned over and whispered to her that I was there. For just a brief moment, Melissa opened her eyes about half way, looked in my direction, then went back to sleep. I don't know whether she recognized me or even saw me, but the fact that she reacted to Marlene is a good sign. Melissa's room is nice and bright ... full of tubes, wires, monitors, equipment and loving family members. Melissa still has a blue covering over part of her skull which was removed to relieve her brain pressure. While I was there she was receiving some acupuncture treatments and I noticed that she was moving one foot.
Today Melissa will have a tracheotomy performed and will finally have the breating tubes removed from her mouth. They will connect the ventilator to her lower throat. What remains to be done is to have the portion of her skull put back in place and then to move her to a rehabilitation facility where she can begin the long journey back to functionality. She will still need to have a heart valve replacement because one of her valves is leaking due to the bacterial infection she suffered.
I ended the visit praying with the family and joking with Marlene that I was looking forward to arm wrestling Melissa and to walking her around the rehab facility to help her regain her strength.
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1 comment:
Wow. that sounds like it was a successful visit. Did they have to put her under for the tracke or was it a local surgury? B/c if sheis awake, she can feel pain, so how did they keep her from being in pain?
Katharyn
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