A Few Details

I have heard through the 'grapevine' that there is a desire to get more details on Rachel, her personality while in ICU, Ryan, how he is handling this, her nurses, etc. I'll do my best to answer questions you might be asking and filling in some of those details.

Rachel really enjoys laughing. Some of you know her humor and the things that she thinks are funny. It has been really fun to communicate with her, share stories, and her others share things that make her laugh. Because of the breathing involved, the laughing seems to make Rachel cough better. Coughing and clearing her lungs is a good thing. Besides laughing being good medicine, I am thinking that it is strengthening her body.

Rachel has had a couple wonderful nurses. One of her nurses, Lisa, treats her patients the way she would like to be treated if she was laying there. So, not only did she upgrade Rachel's toothbrush to a 'real' one, she washed Rachel's socks and then she shaved Rachel's legs! Now, that is amazing. Lisa definitely gets lots of points for the time she took with Rachel.

Nurse Erica takes over on the night shift. She and Rachel are friends. I think they stay up 'talking' after Rachel should be asleep ;-) Erica is the one that discovered that Rachel will spell words or sentences out using an alphabet chart and finding the correct letters. Erica always makes sure Rachel gets bathed and has her hair done in the morning. Bonnie (another good nurse) is really good about encouraging Rachel to do things for herself, but at the same time making sure she is comfy. We love these girls!

Not only does Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy come once a day, but most of us that have spent the last 2 1/2 weeks with her do lots of 'therapy'. Being a massage therapist, I do my best to think about the muscles that I would want massaged and worked on if I was laying there. Josh and I read to her late at night. Josh also enjoys doing range of motion with her, especially her feet, ankles, and legs. Mom does a little bit of everything from being verbally encouraging, massaging, range of motion, researching options for rehab, keeping the doctors on their toes, and keeping in touch with everyone who calls.

Ryan does a great job encouraging her to focus on the movements that needs to be done without being frustrated. Rachel and Ryan do resistance training with her arms, shoulders and wrists. It is really neat to see how patient and persistent he is with her. I don't know who adores the other one more, it is fun to watch them interact. If there are several of us in the room, Rachel spends 95% of her time looking at him. When Ryan is here at the hospital, he spends from 8am to 10pm with her. He takes a hour for lunch, a hour or two in the late afternoon and makes himself leave during the shift change around 7pm to leave the hospital to get some fresh air and eat supper. Ryan left this week late afternoon on Tuesday and comes back Friday night late or early Saturday morning.

It must be so frustrating to have your mind work so well, but then to look at your body and see that it does not move when told to or like she wants it to. Not hearing her voice when she is dying to communicate and longing for that taste of food. Rachel was able to sign the alphabet when she first got to the hospital, but for some reason (probably lying in bed for 3 weeks) she is not able to make her fingers move like she needs to to sign. I have no doubt this will come back. The Occupational Therapist said that the first movements to return are large movements, like shoulders, arms, head, and bending the knees, then comes finer motor skills like fingers, balance, etc.

The life-flight nurse that was with her stopped by to visit Rachel. I guess she looked Rachel up on the 'registry' and came and found her. She said she would never forget that Thursday night with Rachel... My mom got to chat with her. Maybe when I return to the hospital, I'll get to see her. I would love to give her a big hug, she is forever imprinted in my mind.

I'll try to write more 'details' later. Hopefully this gives you somewhat of an idea what it is like...

- RuthAnne