One Year Ago Today: 12/24/2012 - The Hospital Room Day Spa

(12/24/2012, Monday) Today went quite well. We only had one bloody stool, and comparatively speaking, its volume was rather insignificant. We started the day with dialysis, and Evie's body managed to give up an entire liter of liquid (net!), which is unheard of (usually her body struggles to provide 500 ml's.) In the past, they have pulled the liquid out during the clean/detoxify process. Today they did a separate fluid pulling process, then did the detoxify process. The results were a significant improvement. The question now is, did the changed process have anything to do with it, or was it simply all the transfused blood from yesterday that made it all possible? Hard to say, but we're hopeful the process is the trick, so we'll do it this same way again, just to see. They gave her another transfusion during her dialysis,to make her feel better and boost her numbers.

The first thing Evie said to me this morning was that she couldn't stop thinking about hamburgers, pizza, etc. That is unfortunate, because she still isn't allowed to eat. I did manage to finagle approval for her to eat ice chips, but basic water is not yet an option. We watched a movie, made some crafts, played some games, etc. Evie was once again cleared of having any nasty bug (such as C-Diff) therefore the contact precautions (masks and fancy robes) are no longer required. She spent the day on a significantly reduced amount of oxygen, although she's back on her BiPAP this evening, just to make the night easier.

We gave Evie another sponge bath today and washed her hair, then moved her out of the bed into her chair At the end one of the nurses helped us out by putting her hair into two "fishtail" braids. Two of the nurses assisted with painting Evie's fingernails--so in a way her hospital room became a day spa today.

Toward the end of the evening we Skyped back home to join in on the Christmas Eve tradition of opening one present. She then played a couple of Christmas songs on the keyboard for her nurses and doctors. We ended the night by watching a few music synchronized Christmas light displays on YouTube, as well as a Hallelujah Chorus flash mob, and several Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Hymns. We then reenacted the story of Christ's birth using the menagerie of stuffed animals and My Little Pony's as characters. We shared with each other what we each felt was the real purpose of celebrating Christmas. It was quality time.

Here's to quality sleep. I hope you all get some too. I'm guessing in her tired state, I'll sleep in later than most of you. Merry Christmas!!!

DISCLAIMER: Posts Labeled "One Year Ago Today" are a record of what transpired when Evie first became ill.  The slightly edited text comes from emails which we sent to family to let them know what was happening, and to keep them updated.  These posts are usually long, but if you want to truly understand what life was like for us, and what led to this point, it makes for great "light" reading.