Kerry,1/25/09

All - another day, another adventure, another ....   Have you heard the hit song " Bad Day" by Daniel Powder?   I need a "blue sky holiday" (the second line).  We had blue skies, but it was a bad day in Kerry's first day in her new digs.  Probably because it was Sunday and hospitals pretty much shut down on Sunday.     She was terribly uncomfortable, has far less attention than in Bayfront altho the attention is very good and very skilled -  the nurses do have 4 patients each and they are all critically sick.  The worst part today for Kerry is the discomfort in her back and trying to keep her moving from side to side, and that is made very very difficult because of a terribly injured right shoulder and  a badly broken arm on the left.  Then we add diahrrea to it all to someone who cannot use a bedpan.  This today was our huge issue...    The skin on her bum and dilly ('bits below') are screaming red and sore and changing her and cleaning her up after each episode is a HUGE job.  She had 5 episodes of diarrhea back to back to back from 2pm-7pm... and the nurses were very often too busy,  so nurse Kyla and Mom put on the gloves and to Kerry's great humiliation, did the job.  The whole bed must be changed and then l0 minutes later, again, and we begin the 30 minute clean up job.    Worried about her situation we look forward to meeting with the dietician and the wound specialists tomorrow.  It was a tiring and very emotional day for we 2 gals (John was taking care of home issues this afternoon).  Fortunately John was able to spend about 3 hours at home this afternoon as we are close enough now to come back and forth, about 30 minutes.    We met her night  nurse before we left and she was very interested in Kyla's observations from the afternoon and suggestions for the night.  We all felt very comfortable with her style and her tone so coming home was easier than we had anticipated.  A long tiring and difficult afternoon, so we hope that tomorrow we can really start the trip forward when we see the new docs etc.  Tear report:  lots today!!!!!      Love to all, and thank you for your encouragements,  LYNN, KYLA, and JOHN   PS - Kerry had friends come to see her today (the Haneys and Sandy Young) and these visits elicited HUGE smiles on Kerry's face - these smiles,  tho simple, mean the world to us!  When not to sleepy from meds, Kerry is able to ask very logical and sensible questions - and Kyla is becoming a master at reading lips!  She has been able to figure out most of what Kerry is asking - this is very satisfying for all of us!