158 replies to this topic

[Robert Giacometti]

OMG, I am so sorry! Know Jessica is in my prayers along with you and the family.

[momodillie]

I'm praying for Jessica and her family. I hope she recovers with little to no after-effects. I pray that Jolene and Jesse can continue to stay positive and that their energy continues to permeate Jessica's room.

What a scary accident, it really does make you appreciate life. I'm going to go kiss my sleeping babes right now.

[EAH]

FYI, I'm putting the list together tonight for those of us who offered help.

Hey Cyndi,
I can't see my second reply to you on my 'sent' email list..... my MYFOLSOM account is kinda wackadoo. If by chance you didn't recieve it, let me know and I will try to resend it again.

[Devdave]

Keeping your family in our thoughts and prayers!!

[Jolene]

Good morning.

The nurses are currently giving Jessica a sponge bath, changing her pads and sheets and making sure she is comfortable. It feels powerful on some level. On the onehand, she it is hard to see her with nothing covering her but wires and tubes, but also being able to see her beautiful body in all it's glory and knowing that it is healing and still so very strong.... it is a beautiful thing.

Yesterday (Sunday), was probably the hardest and best day yet. It was the best because from the time we woke in the morning and listened to the doctor's rounds, to the time I finally curled up and closed my eyes for a while, the news was the same. her numbers were stable and nothing really flucuated too terribly much. There were still adjusting meds a little bit here and there, but nothing they did caused as many problems as we had on Saturday.

We moved from the overflow unit into the room that will be our permanent room until she is up and ready to transfer to Kaiser for rehab. (The address remains the same.)

One of the things I love about the doctors and the nurses is how they talk about her treatment and/or the little things they do for her physically. They talk about it in terms of "What she likes." There is one med that she wasn't tolerating at a high dose, but stopping it completely wasn't working either, so one of the doctors was saying how she was getting "Just a whiff" of it and "She liked that".

So, when we moved into our current room, her numbers immedidately became just a smidge better than they had been and so of course, the nurses were saying: "She likes this room, she likes this move. She is happy with this move."

And I can understand why she does. We are in the ocean. The theme in this whole section of the PICU is the ocean. There is a whale tail on the wall behind the nurses station, there are dolphins and mermaids on the walls leading to her room. Fish and waves on all of the surrounding walls. And her room is basically THE OCEAN itself. There are cliffs/mountains on the wall and we are in that part of the ocean leading up to the shore. She is buoyed here by the sea. Of course she likes it.

So her numbers have been good. Everything has been stable and yesterday morning (Sunday morning), I asked the doctor if things were better than the day before; and at that time, it had been maybe 6 or 7 hours of stability at the new level, so he realistically told me: "You're trying to get more than I want to give you." but there was a much more positive feel to the round. And that buoyed me throughout the day. I kept telling people, I felt manic all day. Having a little bit of good news was like a little fire burning in my heart that just kept growing and growing, fueled by each hour that passed by with no negative changes.

But of course, it wasn't all good. Yesterday was also the day that I really did hit that realism wall. I mean, as good as the news is, things are all relative. My daughter... my baby... my little mini-me is still laying in a hospital bed, in one of the best hospitals in the US. She is still in critical condition and that kept hitting me yesterday. So, it was a very manic/depressive kind of day.

My friend Barb wrote about her visit beautifully. She talked about the peace in our room and how you can feel all of the positive energy that is flowing her way and she's right. And that is what kept me from spiraling into despair. I definitely had more of my "moments" yesterday, but for the most part it was a good day, filled with stability.

By the end of the day, I asked the Attending Dr.: "Are you ready to give me more now?" (That's what she said!) and he laughed at me, saying that he can't give me more than he has, but yes. Things were good and he thinks that her swelling has peaked. We are now hoping that she doesn't plateau too long and that her swelling begins to come down as quickly as it peaked.

Other comments from visitors continue to be about how good she looks. Looking at her face at this point, she doesn't look like she got kicked in the head by a horse. Her dance coach said that she just looks like her hair was curled and she has pretty make-up on and she is ready to dance; and it's true. Her right had was the size of a golf ball, immediately after impact. It was huge Thursday and Friday, but all of a sudden it started going down and just kept on going down, at the same time, her color smoothed out. We were all amazed yesterday at how quickly her eye looked better. You blink for a second and it seemed like it was better.

Everything is getting better. Time is starting to run together and I kind of welcome that state of things. The less aware of time I am, the faster things will move, I hope. The 48-72 hour window we were originally told is gone. We are at 88 hours now. Before I know it, it will be Thursday of this week and that is one week down. Instead of 4-6 weeks left in the hospital, we will be at 3-5 weeks left.

And just.... thank you everyone. I do not believe that we would have been where we were without all of you. Almost as important as the doctors and nurses skill, are the prayers, energy, vibes, and most importantly, LOVE that you have been slinging our way with mind-baffling speed. I said she is buoyed by the sea in this room, but that was maybe not accurate. Our love buoys her more than anything else. And THAT is where my humility and gratitude lie right now. I have said it a thousand times since we've been here and I will continue until we are old and grey: Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. What you are doing for my girl is more than I ever could have imagined or hoped for. Thank you.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

Good morning, Jolene.

I am happy to hear Jessica's numbers remain stable. I love the way you write, your positive attitude, and the way your sense of humor peeks through. It is so encouraging that Jessica has come through the critical first few days and that the swelling has peaked. May all future signs of change be change in a healing direction.

Hugs,

Deb

[Bill Z]

Good morning, Jolene.

I am happy to hear Jessica's numbers remain stable. I love the way you write, your positive attitude, and the way your sense of humor peeks through. It is so encouraging that Jessica has come through the critical first few days and that the swelling has peaked. May all future signs of change be change in a healing direction.

Hugs,

Deb

Ditto, once again Jolene, thanks for the good news update.

And Jessica, you just keep on going girl. Show us all how strong you are.

[sunnyCA]

Praying that each day will bring more peace, more healing...

While I have never met your family I am thinking of you all. Stay strong!

[rlsliger]

Praying that each day will bring more peace, more healing...

While I have never met your family I am thinking of you all. Stay strong!

ditto what sunnyCA said...

[gm2005]

Thank you for the update.
I am glad to hear that things are a bit better.
We continue to send out thoughts and prayers your way.

[EAH]

Jolene,
I am so happy to hear Jessica is stable. Now her body needs to heal and repair itself with lots of good sleep and all the love and healing energy swirling around and through her now.
We are all sending love and warm healing thoughts to Jessica.

[mynddok]

Jolene, Jessica and Jesse,

I do not know you at all. My wife knows of you through Girl Scouts. As a parent who has been in your shoes with a child in a situation like this just know that you have so many people behind you! My family is sending our thoughts and prayers for a speedy and full recovery!

Before you know it, this too will have passed and you will be talking to Jessica about it many years down the road!

[Folsom Guy]

As a parent I am pained when I see a kid getting hurt...as a fellow human, am saddened by the sadness it causes to near and dear ones....

I sure hope and pray Jessica bounces back from these painfully trying times...she's cetainly blessed to have such caring parents....

[cw68]

Again, if you're wanting to help out but don't know how to go about it, please send me a PM or email to cyndo@hotmail.com with your name, phone number, email address and any other pertinent info.

Thanks!

[Bill Z]

Hi everyone,

I know when I logged on this morning, and there was no new news, I was worried that maybe something had gone wrong, I just got word from cw68 that everything is still going stable and that pressure is reducing. Sounds like Jolene finally got some much needed sleep last night as well.

Just wanted to let you all know.