January 8th, 9th and 10th

Tuesday - This morning Brenda did her Therapy, arms and legs. She got a special brace for her right foot that will stretch her foot backwards. She sat up in the stretch chair for about 2 hours. Her breathing has improved. The Doctor is treating her for an infection. His thinking is that this infection could be yeast, he is waiting on the culture results to verify. Her dressing changes were done by her bedside. She is on the ventilator and will be for the next couple of days, they want to build her strength back up. Her burn area is 95% HEALED at this time! The fluid on the lungs still remains the number ONE issue at this time. They did not change her in-line pic, that will probably happen Wednesday.

Wednesday - Brenda experienced a difficult night, she was short of breath. She may have developed a slight case of ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome). Today she received a new PIC. She had her dressing changed at her bedside. In regards to the infection, the Doctor said that the cultures are negative, but he is looking for a fungal infection. They are scheduled to do a culture test Thursday morning and the results should be back by the afternoon. She is receiving Diltiazem. She still is receiving Heparin, but at an increased level. This is to reduce blood clouts which could be the source of the fluids. Doctor Kelly/Perry informed us that the next and last plastic surgery is schedule for Friday at 12:30, it could happen earlier 10 am. At that time they will remove the feeding tube that runs through her nose and place it on her stomach and replace the existing Trach with new, longer one. She is still on the ventilator and will be on it Thursday. She did setup in the Stretch chair for 3 hours, this is a record.

Thursday - Brendahad a restful night, but she was awake off and on. This morning she setup at the side of the bed with her feet on the floor with help of the Therapist and maintained that position by herself two different times. She was trolley-ed to change dressing and clean up. The doctors are still concerned about the fluid on her lunges. They are going down the list of possible causes; Infection, Phenomena, Heart, Blood Clouts, to Kidney. They did a CAT scan of her head. Later in the day they discovered that the new Trach was bad and Doctor Perry replaced the Trach. He used a longer Trach, so they will not do that on Friday. She appeared to be breathing better.