Last Night

Last night was an uneventful night which is a very good thing. Marie was very sleepy and had some pain medication so she did not do a lot of communicating throughout the night (although I mostly stayed quiet so she could sleep). This morning, from 5:50-6:50am she was quite alert. She asked me if I heard about what one of her friends said when he got backed into by a smart car. When I said yes he told me in the waiting room he said "how smart can you really be if you backed into me?" Marie quickly corrected me and said, "he said, for someone driving a smart car, you're pretty stupid". Marie thought it was pretty funny on Friday (she told a few of her friends) and she obviously still thinks it's funny today :) The nurses were impressed that she was cracking jokes! And so am I!! That's the Marie we know!!

Marie has a sore neck right now on her right side. At first, the nurses weren't sure what the sore neck was from, so the nurse checked with the Doctor. He said that it is from the position and the restraint that was used on her for her surgery. The nurse said that they usually don't hear about this complaint from patients because they aren't generally alert enough after surgery to say anything to indicate their discomfort. Another good sign! We are giving her neck massages to help ease the discomfort for her.

Marie's left eye has swollen shut since last night. The nurse says this is also a common reaction after the surgery and is not anything to be worried about. When the nurse was asking Marie her pain level she said that she felt like she was hit by a truck. I don't think she knows right now what really happened, we will have to decide what to tell her and when with the help of the social workers here and the doctors. Some people think she already may know what is going on because she is hearing what people are saying even if she is sleepy or not offering a response when it's said. It's something for us to think about for the future.

Before the nurses do anything to Marie they always tell her what they are doing first. For her regular neurological tests they had to pinch her left hand. When the nurse told her what was coming, she said she "didn't like that" and "can't she just tell them the pinch hurts?"

Marie is likely going to be moved to another ICU soon. It is the same thing as this ICU except the patients that are there aren't on ventilators, and they will be able to focus more on rehabilitation. In both ICUs the nurses often only have one patient to look after. They check her bodily fluids, blood sugar, position, mouth (for dryness etc.) and neurological indicators at least every hour, if not more. Dennis noticed that all of the machines in her room look really high tech, (even compared to what we saw in Barrie which looked good too). She is in really good hands here and we feel really, really lucky she is here. We also feel so grateful for the fantastic team of nurses and doctors that are here and for every one's fantastic support. We've heard that all of Midland is rooting for Marie, and we know that Midland folks are just the tip of the iceberg! We are definitely feeling all of your love and support here.... thank you so much!

Laura

PS) If you can, please send a note or a card for Marie to read when she is feeling better. We are also going to make a large collage of pictures for her room, so if you have any good ones you would like to share please pass them along! You can email them to marielynn0705@gmail.com.