Husband Update #2

He has now been in ICU for a MONTH!!  He continues to improve by leaps and bounds; it seems to us.  There were some scary moments - like when they wanted to put a PEG feeding tube in.  Once they mentioned the procedure, I noticed his blood pressure started to tick up.  When the OR team came into the room to get him for the 10 minute procedure, his blood pressure spiked so high, I was surprised his heart didn't just explode.

Bonus daughter and I were beside ourselves.  They were finally able to give him drugs to help calm him and were also able to sedate him for the procedure.  What followed after that was a scary high fever that had everyone kind of worried.

By the next day, things had gone back to "normal" (if you call being in ICU for a month and all that entails "normal").

From there, we have continued to see improvements.  Things like, him being removed from the ventilator and placed on a CPAP machine during the day.  Being moved from the CPAP to a vent collar during the day.  All things that he was tolerating really, really well.  But were improvements, that my husband could not measure.  Until today

Today the speech therapist came and placed a seal on the trach.  I'm not exactly sure what the purpose of the seal is; but as I understood it - it would help him be able to speak, and if he can pass the swallow assessment tomorrow, he should be able to start eating and drinking soon.  No sooner did she put the seal on, he was able to speak.

Is it raspy and a little garbled?  Yes.  But otherwise completely understandable.  I think even she was surprised that he could speak so quickly without working up to it.  But apparently, all his muscles needed were still strong enough even after a month of disuse.

I'm not gonna lie; tears sprang to my eyes when I heard him speak.  It was such a big, big step.  Needless, to say he was overjoyed.  And the next thing he asked was "Eat?" And that is when she had to explain about the swallow assessment.  

He informed me later that he was getting excited because, I assume, he could now see a marked improvement in his situation. He also informed me he wanted ice cream and he wants to come home.

He has also started to receive PT and OT.  And I think this is where he is now realizing that he is much weaker than he realized.  Now, it is extremely limited due to the hospital's limited resources.  Because as we all know, the goal is to get the patient OUT of ICU; not keep them there.

Which circles us back to the insurance issue.  They continue to deny that my husband is in need of Long Term Care.  At first they denied us because he was TOO ill and now they are denying us because he's TOO well.  WTF? Despite the doctor telling them repeatedly, that this patient is the perfect candidate for Long Term Care.  

What I don't get, is either way they are going to have to pay.  Either him to remain in the hospital or to go to Long Term Care or in-patient rehab.  So why the denials?  We continue to fight this battle.

But as of now, we are in a holding pattern. So currently, the plan is (while we fight this) to keep him in the hospital; continue to try and wean him from the vent and get him medically healthy enough for in-patient rehab (that the insurance company better damn well approve - at this point I have my doubts). One of the major things that needs to happen to get him into in-patient rehab is getting him off that vent permanently.  They won't take him otherwise.  Currently, he is only on the vent at night - so we are making some progress in that area.

But just being able for him to communicate clearly with us?  Such a huge, huge blessing and improvement.  I am so grateful.