Thursday, September 4, 2008

Tachy

Nope, that's not a misspelling, it's one of the 75 different alarms that came up on the monitors today, while Pete was having so many arhythmia's that he ended up using up all the paper that prints them for the chart. Tachy is short for Tachicardia, which happens when the heart rate is 175 or more.

The day started just fine. I walked in and saw that the infuser was down to one attachment and that was just for medications (at one point there were 5 separate ones). They were trying to get him off the infusers altogether so that they could move him to a regular room. All that was just fine until the PT folks came into the room and sat him up for maybe 10 minutes. He had done ok with this just yesterday, but today is after all another day. When they went to lay him down his heart started doing all sorts of weird stuff, that I just figured was false readings because of all the activity associated with getting him sitting up and rearranged on the bed. I thought that until I looked over at his nurse who was standing there watching the monitor screen like a hawk. During the hour or so that we watched it, his rates were between 79 and 180, sometimes going from 79 to 135 with nothing in between. There is a different alarm when it reads Tachy, and it's a little more, well, alarming. Dr. Volpi came into the room to check on him just as the floor doc was working pretty hard to get his heart rate stabalized. It was suggested that he stay in the NICU another couple of days since all that got this going was sitting up for 10 minutes. Dr. Volpi concurred and changed his release order.

When I went this evening, his rates were all back to normal and we had another attachment for the infuser to give him some IV heart medication.

I bought a little bitty recorder that will do a 30 second tape of Anna to take to Pete. She sang her abc's on it and said, "I you daddy" at the end. I played it for him when I got there. Poor baby is running a fever and has some sort of sinus infection. After she's over that, I'm going to see about taking her to the hospital and sneaking her into the NICU to visit Pete. I think he needs to see her and she needs to see him. I have told her that Daddy was at work, but then he got sick and he's getting better. I think she's fine with that.

Continued prayers and well wishes are much appreciated. Barring something else happening with his brain circulation, it would appear the stroke has resolved itself. The hard work now will be rehabilitation, and considering sitting up caused all this havoc today, it will be a good bit of hard work, but worth every second. I believe this will be much like going on a diet, you work really hard for a while before you see any results. We need to keep pulling for Pete to keep working. I told the PT's that I'm not one of those obnoxious spouses who think they are "being mean" to him, I know they need to work him hard in order to bring him back to himself. I have no doubt Mr. Hardhead will not let any of us down. After all, his mind is completely unaffected by all of this, he is still Pete. Now that's a good thing.

6 comments:

Diana from Dallas said...

I am sure he will listen to the recording over and over and over.
I bet Anna will not even notice all the equipment and such. She will just be so happy to see Daddy

Navasha said...

I'm excited for Anna to see Pete and for you gys to be together again.

He's going to get back to the Pete he's supposed to be. He's a tough dude. How else could he handle a house full of chicks? ;)

Tricia said...

Keep the updates coming. I am sure he will love hearing Anna's voice. Does your digital camera have video? When my brother was in rehab after his accident I videoed his 6 week old and brought my laptop in. He really enjoyed being able to see him even when he couldnt actually visit.

Many prayers that Pete will be out of ICU soon!

Amy said...

Thank goodness the stroke issue has resolved itself, those prayers have been answered! As hardheaded as Pete sounds, and with extra incentive to get home to his Anna I am sure he will tackle his PT head on, even if there are some grumbles along the way!

Tina said...

I am so glad he is continuing to do well. We are all praying for him.

Linda said...

I love it that you made him the recording. I bet that gives him all the incentives he needs.