| Prayer Request for Doug & Dorothea Family Continued... |
| Original Date Prayer Posted: June 7, 2001 |
|
 |
| Psalms 91:4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. |
 |
|
|
| As a Christian she is totally optimistic and knows God is still a God of miracles and hasn't heard anything from the Lord but to pray in His Will. We keep the CD player going night and day with Praise and Worship Music in his room and are all resolved in thecomfort of knowing that whatever God chooses to do with Doug's life is in His Will and His plan and we have all accepted to receive whatever that plan is being content with His decision even in our grief knowing in our hearts we aren't ready to let him go. We are not living day by day here, we are living hour by hour because things are changing that quickly...heart rate, oxygen absorption rate, blood pressure, excess fluid, blood plateletts, etc., etc. One minute we are so encouraged that something goes down and the next minute discouraged that something is going up...it's an emotional roller coaster with the highs really high and the lows lower than I want to think about right now. Our biggest obstacle today is that in the beginning of Doug's illness...only 4 weeks ago...he had two blood clots, one in each leg. They have him on blood thinners and put in a Vena Cava filter (spell?) so the clots wouldn't move to the lung or brain but this has caused intense pain from the waiste to his toes causing terrible swelling as well. On the other hand it makes every other medical procedure extremely dangerous due to bleeding caused by blood thinners. As an example: Yesterday morning Dorothea left the room for 20 minutes to go take a "shower" in the sink down the hall and when she returned the nurse was changing Doug's IV. IV's are changed every three days and it wasn't necessary to have it changed because it had only been two days for his current IV. The nurse changed it anyway because she already had the new IV inserted in his right arm (when Dot came into the room) so the nurse removed the left arm IV and covered the tiny wound with a bandaid. A few minutes later Dorothea noticed blood on Doug's left hand...in just a few minutes the tiny IV wound bled through four layers of sheets and all over Doug's backside...Dorothea, in her tiredness and frustration commented that she can't leave the room for five minutes due to having to oversee his care. The bottom line was that either the nurse who had changed his IV before had not documented it in his file or this nurse had failed to read the file properly...changing an IV is normally a simple procedure but in Doug's condition you can see how critical a tiny mistake can be...they had to removed the bandaid and replace it with a pressure bandage. Dorothea monitors his every need and justifiably so...questioning dosages, times given, etc. She is amazed at how anyone without a medical background could do this and how they always get exactly what they need. Dorothea isn't demanding or critical just questioning in the kindest of manners causing the nurses to double check and we find they are appreciative of Dorothea's input. Each time Doug's eyes open the first thing he does is look or ask for Dorothea becoming anxious until he's sure she is there...causing an added burden on Dorothea to never leave the room. You can only imagine the burden this is for her...she has only seen the inside of this ICU unit and who knows how long this will continue...day and night, too, because Doug has no concept of this unless we tell him and nights are his worst time...actually from 2-8am...so Dorothea's sleep is caught here and there. But, Dorothea never complains and is constantly by his side and never goes farther than the ICU waiting room to allow visitors some time with him. (Only three people are allowed in at a time.) |
| Dorothea was so distressed that she was just unable to ask the medical staff why it was that color because she said, "Everyday is a day filled with bad news one on top of the other and I just can't handle to hear anymore today." Five or six Doctors come in dailly...Oncologist (2), cardiologist, pulmonary, etc., etc., and it is their desire to make sure she understands, and to help prepare her, for Doug's death. Being and RN she is quite aware but it hurts me that she is reminded four to six times a day through the physicians of their assessment of his critical nature. |
| Page 2 |
