I "slept" in a "chair" in the ICU. About 4 x 30 minute cat naps.
~ Aristotle Sabouni
Created: 2023-02-25 |
2023-02-19 (Sunday) Bring on the cold
Hypothermia
At some point they thought Melissa's temp was going up a little, and it's protocol to do "normo-thermia" (or hypothermia) therapy -- which involves dropping her body temp to about 96°, Melissa hates the cold. Even in a medical coma. She would shake/shiver tremendously, so they would up the anti-siezure medicines (Luprin?) to make her do that less.
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- Blood Sugar When she came in, her blood sugar was off. But a heart attack can cause that. I also mentioned that she sometimes hits these little boost gel things before/during a run. Since her blood sugar stayed good after that, they eventually dropped that as having much/anything to do with it.
- Best Friends Now! There's no dignity in a hospital. Our friend+nieghbor Vickiewas with Melissa, and they decided Melissa's temp had gone up to 99°, and they decided to cool her temp (brain injuries can't handle any fevers), so they flung off the covers and started putting chilling pads (with a water pump) on her to cool her down. Vicki quipped, "well, we're best friends now". There's no dignity in hospitals.
- Richard In the meantime, Richard was sleeping in the ICU waiting room (where he camped for 3 days). This waiting room doesn't attract the most upscale clientele. And I guess the ghetto-people were loud-talkers and kinda partying all night. Conversations like: "The stupid doctors won't give her pain meds because she's an addict; she's addicted to Meth, not Oxy! What a bunch of dumb fucks!"
Me
I had "slept" in a "chair" in the ICU. About 4 x 30 minute cat naps, in a plywood chair that had some simulated foam covering it, the legs kicked out but it didn't recline, light on, beeping, and a thin blanket while they were putting Melissa in hypothermia. They covered her in chilling pads, and dropped the temp to about 56° in the room. Every time they came in (30 mins or an hour) I was awake. They weren't really expecting her to make it through the night, and I was a bit outta my mind.
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- Still alive They sort of had the attitude that "24 hours without another V-tac?" They seemed surprised that she'd made it that far. I said, “keeping her hypothermic to help her brain?"... the Nurse replied, “Just trying preserve whatever brain function is left”. I’m thinking, “there’s about 1,000 better ways to word that, so thanks for the nightmares”. I chatted with that Nurse later, and she seemed nice enough -- just not bright enough to understand how deep her cuts wounded. I wanted her out of here. Wrong vibe. I'd also given her lots of information from Melissa's Medic-Alert, and I later found out she'd failed to enter any of it, and lost it.
Neurological Test
They did a short Neurological test (make sure she wasn't brain dead) where they took Melissa off sedation a little and said, "open your eyes" and they fluttered. I said more loudly, "Open Your Eyes, Baby!" and she popped them right open. She was still in there. Then they tried to do an EEG, but she was shaking so badly (from the hypothermia), it was inconclusive. Then I pushed them to put her back under (just having her shiver and gag on the vent while awake was cruel). A small taste of hope, that did little to assuage the terror.
| Medical staff has this attitude that since they won't remember whatever they're doing/letting happen (and it'll help them live), whatever they do doesn't count. To me, that feels as distasteful as raping a roofied girl -- just because she won't remember it, doesn't make it OK. It's horrible to watch. |
- Keep working the Transfer to Houston Methodist Mirna was great, she'd worked at Houston Methodist, and was pulling strings to help them get her moved on their side -- and working on the Kingwood side as well. I was calling her Doctor(s) at Houston Methodist, and trying to get them to pre-accept her once we got the paperwork done (I eventually succeeded). I'd also gone home, showered, packed a bag for staying at Houston Meth.
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Tags: 2023 Heart Attack
