New decor + no bed of roses

Some new decor and a book, all thanks to the generous relatives in Kirkland.Monkey and Toucan having a chat.

New apron hanging on wall.

A book about things that are more fun that spending a week on the ventilator.


Life off the ventilator hasn't been a total bed of roses so far, although Calin's health is continuing, slowly but surely, to improve.

First of all, having stiff tubes stuck down her throat gave the vocal chords and swallowing muscles a bit of a trial, so Calin doesn't really have her voice back yet and according to the nice speech therapy woman who stopped by this morning, it may take a couple days. Until the swallowing and gag reflex are working full speed, it's recommended that she stick with ice chips and crushed popsicles through the mouth, and brown goo through a feeding tube that was re-inserted through the nose. This feeding tube is small and soft compared to the air tube she had, so it shouldn't interfere with the recovery of her fine-tuned eating and speaking skills.

Second, when the ventilator was taken away, so were the drugs that she was on to help her tolerate it, and it seems that with their absence comes a bit of withdrawal. This has included what Calin described as paranoia and feeling suddenly scared yesterday afternoon. She asked me to spend the night in the hospital for moral support, and I think that made us both feel better, even though it meant I got to witness a fit of tossing and turning starting around 4am during which she described feeling "incredibly jittery" and wanting to "jump out of my skin." Damien, the very deep-voiced nurse, was awesome and helped her through it. She got a visit from two slightly tired-looking residents, and an EKG, and didn't seem to have any other issues, so she was given extra Ativan. The Ativan helped either through it's anti-anxiety and relaxant properties, or by being similar to some of the drugs she was on before, or some combination of these factors. The doctors also suggested that jitters could be related to the steroids that she was on as part of the pneumonia treatment, which dropping down today and will only go a few more days. Either the heavier dose of Ativan or the lack of good sleep in the night has had Calin slumbering away pretty steadily for the last 6 hours.

All in all, it hasn't started out to as the most relaxing July weekend that Calin and I have ever had, but I'm sure she'll weather these troubles just like she's weathered so many before. And this episode will be added to the larder of stories to talk about when the voice is full strength, the lungs are fully healed, and Calin and I, along with Monkey, Toucan, and lots of you readers, are sipping lattes and lying on a bed of roses somewhere exotic on the world party circuit.