Day #9 in ICU

9:15 am - The wound care nurses came to change her V.A.C. dressings. It's incredibly painful for Meghan. They stopped in mid process to contact the ortho surgeon for information and to get an order for stronger sedatives. The plastics guy was here too. Meghan said he mostly poked around and didn't say much that she can remember. After getting strong pain meds, they were able to restart changing her dressings. Even with dilauded and ativan it was a painful procedure. She's being so strong. The wound nurse assures me that the procedure will be less painful each time they have to change the dressings.

The ortho. surgeon came by. They have ordered hyperbaric treatment for her leg. She'll have to be transported to another location for the treatment each day. He says it will be an two hours a day 5 days a week for 20 - 60 days. The goal is to save as much of the skin on her leg as possible.

Her white blood cell count is up and her red blood cell counts are drifting down. They will continue to monitor.

Elbow surgery is planned for Friday evening or Saturday morning.

4:45 pm - She's fought the sleepiness all afternoon but the drugs are winning at this point :) She's awake for about two minutes and then she's out cold again. Even with the drowsiness, PT came and got her up to walk. She walked (sleepwalked?) from her bed to the wall twice and did some leg exercises in the bed. We met Dr. K (hyperbaric treatment dr) this afternoon. He gave her an assessment and talked to us about the treatments. She'll be gone from the hospital for about 3 hours every week day to travel by ambulance to the clinic for treatment and then transported back to her ICU room. To eat today she's had a piece of toast, a bite of turkey, and 16 oz of apple juice. She was willing to eat today but, bless her heart, she just couldn't stay awake. She's running a low grade fever this afternoon and she still has IV antibiotics.

This is for the grandparents! Sorry this picture is such poor quality. This is the best we can get right now since they don't allow cameras in the hospital. She was watching tv last night eating dinner. We have her hair in pigtails.

9:00 pm - she's bright eyed and bushy haired tonight at least she was until Mom brushed her hair out. Mom's now in trouble for posting this picture from last night (Meghan DID NOT appreciate it). She and Caitlin have had a lively evening of conversation and jokey jokey.