Doris and Glenn arrived in Arizona on December 30th and spent a day touring around Tombstone enjoying the sites (see cowboy photo). They arrived at their place in Apache Junction on December 31st. The afternoon of Wednesday, January 1st she started to feel a little run down and dizzy. That evening she took some over-the-counter cold med and headed to bed. Shortly after that she was having trouble breathing (throat swelling. Glenn took her to the nearest ER where they gave her a shot and she immediately felt better and was able to breathe, within 5-10 minutes she was again having swelling and could not breathe. This resulted in an emergency tracheotomy and she was then airlifted to Banner University Medial Center - Phoenix.
Once at Banner she had surgery to remove the guide wire that had broken off during the initial attempts to establish an airway at the ER. They also placed a new trach while she was in surgery due to swelling and the desire to keep her airway open. Surgery went the best it could have and she is progressing.
On January 3rd she was moved from ICU to a step down unit where she is currently. She has been able to plug her trach briefly and speak her first words, for now though communication is via paper and clipboard. Overall the doctors are amazed at her progress in the last couple of days and she has proven to be the tough fighter we all know she is!
She is very appreciative of the outpouring of support through the positive thoughts and prayers (which are being shared with her often).
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