Only Limited Forward Progress

I went to see Alison today (Tuesday) at U of MD Hospital, 6 days after my last post about the MICU (last Wednesday). After a week in Medical ICU, Alison was moved on Sunday(?) to the North Hospital floor 13 East Room 20. She is in a single as she is still calling out, though I heard she slept last night until 6am. That did not help with her level of awareness today. Her speech is very muddled ie she is not enunciating and is repeating the same thing over and over. They have placed a nurse's aide in Alison's room "full-time" last night and today to see if they could quiet Alison down.

Alison's temperature is down. Per an email from Reenie, Alison's vitals are stable. Her BP had been fluctuating but is under control now. Her temperature has been
under 37.5 (99.4). EKG, CT scan of her head all normal. Nursing said Alison did not appear to be in pain. I got them to again brush her teeth and we did a "hair wash in a cap" - She really liked the warmth from the fluid in the cap and the head massage but she really could use a real shampoo. Everyone, ask for one to do with Alison when you are there.

We had a visit from Speech Therapy who had performed a third barium test barium test and cleared Alison for honey foods. So she had started to eat. But this morning, Alison was so sleepy that nursing restricted her to no food again and had speech therapy return. Nursing is concerned about whether Alison will swallow the wrong way. Given that Alison isn't eating today, she is not being given meds. So the vicious cycle continues.

The G.I. department also came in and are starting their assessment for the peg tube now - they had to wait until Alison's temperature and blood pressure were stable. It may be put in 2-3 days once they talk to Reenie. They want to do a calorie intake study. I explained to GI that in her cognitive state Alison cannot eat enough to sustain herself. She needs real nourishment, not just IV fluids and electrolytes etc. I think the last time I saw her eat was during my visit of Jan 14. Alison's scale on her bed says she is 146lb.

Then a new intern came in and asked how Alison's cognitive state was compared to normal. I replied that before her brain injury Alison was cognitively normal (shhh, no one call out my little lie). Since the brain injury, she had recovered to the point where I had spend 2 hours with her joking and talking about life and recovery. Over the last 2-3 months, she had declined and had been treated with anti-psychotic meds and had swallowing difficulties. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being at Alison's best post the brain injury), today was only a 3. I shared that I did not know what was causing the degradation of cognitive skills (unless it was ongoing decline from the initial July events).

Alison is beginning to get bottom sores.

HAS ANYONE ELSE BEEN THERE TO VISIT? CAN YOU FILL IN ANY IMPORTANT INFO?