Carrie speaks about her needs

Email from John Brack, the husband of Carrie Brack, BJ newsroom retiree Tom Moore's daughter who is recovering from meningitis.

The fun may be beginning.

John and Carrie

Yesterday she was still pretty “out of it,” opening her eyes occasionally but not interacting or following commands much, trying to pull at her tubes and wires, and working herself into uncomfortable positions in the bed. I was pretty disappointed that she wasn’t coming around, but the staff said that wasn’t unusual after transfer to a new facility.

Her family and I met with Sue, her case manager, who briefed us on how they operate, answered a bunch of questions, and traded expectations with us. Basically, they provide specialized nursing care as needed, and Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapies until the patient can tolerate 3 hours total of combined therapy per day. The average length of stay is 22-30 days. They have care team meetings on Wednesdays to review patient status, and will brief us on their findings and plans on Thursdays.

Her next stop depends on her progress, and could run the gamut from skilled nursing to acute rehab to outpatient rehab to home (nothing further needed). I’m hoping for outpatient or home, but we’ll see. They encourage family/friend support, and will suggest things we can do with her in between their therapy sessions. We’ve started a logbook where we (and the therapists) can note what we’ve observed and done.

Hopefully, we can synergize our efforts and improve the outcome. Her family and I will try to dovetail our visits to spread out her face time and not overwhelm anyone. At some point we'll welcome limited phone calls from friends, but we're not there yet.

She was more awake today, and much more interactive than the last several days. They downsized her trach tube this morning, and she tolerated it well. As she can tolerate it, they’ll continue to install smaller tubes, allowing more use of the upper airway and letting the stoma gradually close, until they finally pull the last tube altogether and let the stoma heal.

She was able to speak a little in a guttural voice as there’s apparently enough space around the trach cuff that air can get past into the upper airway. The first thing she said was “I can’t stand this!” She then said that she needed her bottom cleaned, and that she wanted to be positioned on her side. Both needs were taken care of.

It’s encouraging that she can articulate her needs, which will help to make her more comfortable. I expect this to get better as the speech therapist works with her in the coming days. Another step.

Her sister Kathy stopped in this afternoon and did her nails, and her parents were in, reporting that she was awake the whole time they were there, and was much more aware and interactive than in the past. She said she wanted ice cream, and water. (Pretty soon it’ll be Diet Coke and chocolate!) The Physical Therapist was in and had her sitting up.

This evening she was sleeping when I got there, but was awakened when they came in to clean out her mouth. After that, she was kind of back to yesterday, half-awake and not too cooperative. She still wanted me to kiss her, though, which was nice She hasn’t lost that skill!.

John

Carrie has been transferred to Select Speciality Hospital, 200 E. Market, Room 107.

Click on the headline for an earlier report on Carrie's health situation.