Friday, December 6, 2019

Friday, December 6, 2019

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2006. Mattie was celebrating Christmas in Boston with Peter's parents. There is a hill in front of Peter's parents home, making it a great spot to sled. Mattie was interested in sledding, but not without one of us. Once he tried it, he liked it, but never went on a sled alone. Mattie was an interesting combination of adventuresome but cautious. 


Quote of the day: In a time of crisis, the peoples of the world must rush to get to know each other. ~ Jose Marti


Last night I could tell Peter was besides himself. The neurosurgeon did not come and visit him and his mom as promised and basically he was getting no updates about when his mom's spinal fusion would be scheduled. The thing is Peter's mom was beginning to build up fluid in her lungs from being immobilized. Which of course would lead to pneumonia, fever, and antibiotics. All things that would disqualify her from being eligible right away to have surgery. So Peter knew he had a narrow window to get his mom this necessary surgery! 

As Peter said he did a "WWVD!" What does this stand for??? What Would Vicki Do? He had me laughing, but there is some truth to this! During Mattie's 14 months in the hospital, I knew how to work the system that would be medically advantageous for Mattie. Unfortunately what I learned is YOU HAVE TO SPEAK UP! In fact the loudest voice, sometimes gets the best care. 

With that, Peter wrote emails to his mom's case manager, the social worker, and even called his mom's unit at 1am..... all to press the issue and to demand that his mom get surgery today! It clearly worked, because when Peter got up this morning, the head social worker called him and was connected to the neurosurgeon's scheduling nurse. This doctor cancelled clinic appointments this afternoon, just to take on Barbara's case. 

Peter waited in this depressing waiting room from 1-6pm, during his mom's five hour surgery. A surgery that inserted rods and screws into her spine to re-align it and stabilize it. The doctor told Peter that a portion of the spine was 1cm away from severing her spinal chord. Honestly Barbara got a second chance on life. 

While Peter was in the waiting room, he befriended a family. Specifically a mom whose son came to the hospital with multiple head injuries and had been intubated (means a tube is put into your windpipe to protect your airway and help you breathe) since Sunday. In a crisis, people can actually bond and find comfort from one another. 

The mom I am talking about above, gave Peter this post it note. Peter shared it with me and it made me laugh. 

As of 7pm, Barbara was brought back to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU). The SICU is the multi-specialty medical care center for critically ill patients who require surgery or are recovering from surgery.

I am told that Barbara is no longer immobilized and can freely move. In fact, they are going to get her up and standing tomorrow. Rather miraculous and I can only hope that her pain will be managed well this weekend. As this was always a nightmare for Mattie post-surgery.