Journal entry by Terri Flynn —
Well this is the last thing I imagined doing in my life, but here I am. My mom, Karen Mann, is critically ill. Last Tuesday night my dad left the room for a few minutes and upon his return my mom was standing in the family room somewhat in a daze. He asked her if she was okay and she didn't really respond, then he went to take her hand and she collapsed onto the floor. He called 911, upon their arrival she was unresponsive, but was breathing and had a pulse. They put her on a backboard and a rigid collar around her neck. Enroute to the hospital she vomited..being unresponsive she was obviously unable to say,"hey guys I'm going to be sick" so they pulled over on the freeway to deal with her vomiting, after that she was unable to breathe..throwing up on your back strapped to a gurney is obviously not the ideal situation. They attempted to intubate her (breathing tube) but were unsuccessful..so they bagged her all the way to the hospital.(basically forcing vomit into her lungs). They were able to intubate her in the ER. Her labs were crazy, potassium and magnesium critically low. She was in septic shock, ARDS,(acute respiratory distress syndrome), with pneumonia in both lungs.
Mike called me early Wednesday morning telling me what happened and that the hospital just called telling them to come quickly. I obviously freaked out, Mike said we didn't call you at 1am to tell you because you would freak out and jump in your car and drive 3 hours in the middle of the night,,,,he was correct..and knowing my luck I would have had a flat tire in the middle of nowhere!!
Moms white count upon admission was 17.9 (normal is 4-11), the next day it was 35!! It has hovered around in the 20's but today was 29. Her platelet count (cells that prevent you from bleeding if you get cut) has been critically low for some crazy reason. Normal is 150,000-400,000 mom's is 9,000. She has had over 10 platelet transfusions which makes her jump up to 65,000 and within hours its back down to 12,000. Today she received blood because her hemoglobin was 6.9 (normal is 12.0-15.5) Soooooo, she must be bleeding from somewhere??? Her arms and legs are swollen, so a couple days ago they did ultrasounds on her arms and legs, which revealed the fact she has blood clots in both of her arms. She is on a blood thinner for this.
She is on the highest ventilator settings..they turned off her sedation yesterday for about an hour, but when I talked to her and asked if she could open her eyes or squeeze my hands she didn't/couldn't. The Drs have been very honest and upfront with her prognosis..basically we have been told she has a 50/50 chance of making it. with that comes several caveats..they have discussed giving her a tracheostomy soon, therefore she won't be able to eat, talk etc. They have placed a feeding tube down her nose, but long term they will place one in her belly. There is not a rehab/skilled nursing facility near Des Moines that will take a person with a trach on a vent. Being blind adds to the mix. So best case scenario she could end up in some skilled nursing place blind, with a trach, feeding tube etc a hundred miles away from my dad. Sorry but that sounds like a shitty life to me. Her nurse just called and told me that she went into afib (unstable heart rate) and they corrected it and now she is on an amiodarone drip to keep her heart stable. Our family has discussed her future at length and mom would not want to exist like this, she would not be living, just existing. I feel it is too soon for any major decisions at this point.
I created this page so you all can keep updated. I can't keep up with all the family and friends, plus it puts me on an emotional rollercoaster every time I talk to someone. I will update this daily so everyone is in the loop. Please Please understand if I/Mike/my dad don't answer the phone..we just can't right now. I think you can reply to this site, and I will make every effort to answer your questions. I feel like I'm in some crazy movie so please bare with me and my family. We need all the good vibes, prayers etc. If you need to call me you can 816/682/4703
Mike called me early Wednesday morning telling me what happened and that the hospital just called telling them to come quickly. I obviously freaked out, Mike said we didn't call you at 1am to tell you because you would freak out and jump in your car and drive 3 hours in the middle of the night,,,,he was correct..and knowing my luck I would have had a flat tire in the middle of nowhere!!
Moms white count upon admission was 17.9 (normal is 4-11), the next day it was 35!! It has hovered around in the 20's but today was 29. Her platelet count (cells that prevent you from bleeding if you get cut) has been critically low for some crazy reason. Normal is 150,000-400,000 mom's is 9,000. She has had over 10 platelet transfusions which makes her jump up to 65,000 and within hours its back down to 12,000. Today she received blood because her hemoglobin was 6.9 (normal is 12.0-15.5) Soooooo, she must be bleeding from somewhere??? Her arms and legs are swollen, so a couple days ago they did ultrasounds on her arms and legs, which revealed the fact she has blood clots in both of her arms. She is on a blood thinner for this.
She is on the highest ventilator settings..they turned off her sedation yesterday for about an hour, but when I talked to her and asked if she could open her eyes or squeeze my hands she didn't/couldn't. The Drs have been very honest and upfront with her prognosis..basically we have been told she has a 50/50 chance of making it. with that comes several caveats..they have discussed giving her a tracheostomy soon, therefore she won't be able to eat, talk etc. They have placed a feeding tube down her nose, but long term they will place one in her belly. There is not a rehab/skilled nursing facility near Des Moines that will take a person with a trach on a vent. Being blind adds to the mix. So best case scenario she could end up in some skilled nursing place blind, with a trach, feeding tube etc a hundred miles away from my dad. Sorry but that sounds like a shitty life to me. Her nurse just called and told me that she went into afib (unstable heart rate) and they corrected it and now she is on an amiodarone drip to keep her heart stable. Our family has discussed her future at length and mom would not want to exist like this, she would not be living, just existing. I feel it is too soon for any major decisions at this point.
I created this page so you all can keep updated. I can't keep up with all the family and friends, plus it puts me on an emotional rollercoaster every time I talk to someone. I will update this daily so everyone is in the loop. Please Please understand if I/Mike/my dad don't answer the phone..we just can't right now. I think you can reply to this site, and I will make every effort to answer your questions. I feel like I'm in some crazy movie so please bare with me and my family. We need all the good vibes, prayers etc. If you need to call me you can 816/682/4703
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