Kayla Quote: "May good fortune find your doorway. May no trouble travel your way." Unknown
Short Synopsis: There is a load of pressure to get Kayla out of the hospital and lots of detail to work out to release her. They always need hospital beds for those who are sicker and waiting in the emergency room below on a lower floor. The patients are in beds along a hallway when things get crowded and there is never enough room. Kayla is stable so it's time to let her go home. Someone else can have her beautiful single room with the incredible view of the Hudson River and George Washington Bridge.
Long Story: The psychiatrist called me and said we needed a good plan before Kayla would be released to go home. Kayla likes Dr. Marotta, a local psychiatrist, who comes highly recommended. She wants to go see him on a regular basis but she was sidelined by her cardiac arrest April 1. She has been in the hospital for just over 2 months, soon to be discharged.
We need someone long-term who can help Kayla with her panic anxiety disorder and depression; her inability to listen to others and help herself; her pain management without loads of narcotics (she is in chronic pain with her back muscles and shoulders caused by stress and pain at her cannular sites). We have a "pain journal" at home which documents when she takes narcotics for her pain. Narcotics are addicting but very necessary.
Dr. Rocco Marotta is considered the best in the area but he is near retirement and is not taking on new patients so Kayla may not get in with him. Still he has been very helpful. He treats patients at Silver Hill in New Canaan, a private psychiatric facility.
After speaking to the Columbia psychiatrist, I put together all the names and phone numbers of the team who will assist Kayla when she gets home. Dr. Farhana Latif is at the head of the team - she is the Columbia transplant cardiologist and excellent. She never "considers failing" - her words working constantly to bring the good life to Kayla. She says that Kayla is young and will do well. Dr. Marotta is the psychiatrist. Dr. Wirz is the local neurologist to help with treatment for Kayla's migraine headaches, which are difficult to treat, as Columbia will not give permission for most of the medicinal treatments considered by her. For the moment, Kayla is limited to botox injections in her shoulder and neck which gives temporary relief. Next on the team is the psychiatrist from Columbia and finally there is Mike and me. Of course we cannot forget the EMT team from the fire department in Ridgefield and all the fire departments along the highway corridor leading down to New York City. Each will get an alert sheet regarding Kayla and her dependence on the ventricular assist device.
I have my own list of questions which I convey to Rosie. Kayla is complaining chiefly of focusing problems which have gotten worse since this hospitalization. Neuro evaluation? What about the flinching and shaking in her sleep? What is that? Her feet are swolen and they turn black at times and then pink. What is that? Have they done any recent echos to check her heart function? Am sure they have but what are the results? Does she need lasix or is she fine without it?
When I arrive, Kayla tells me that at midnight, the nurse "yanked" her final chest tubes out as they are no longer needed. In the beginning, they run very red from the excess blood escaping and then as the days go by they run clear. Then they are tied off and pulled out but it's a physical process to actually pull them out. It can hurt and did! The nurse could have been a little more gentle and now it's sore. Poor Kayla! And her feet are swollen!
Still, she happily signs in on her laptop to watch Pip and all his shenatigans with his parent birds. She signs in to the comments section as "Shake Your Tail Feathers," her pseudo name. Sometimes when she is feeling poorly, I go in and talk as "Shake," but I always say "I am Shake Your Tail Feather's Mom." There are many people out there who are enjoying watching Pip grow. Many times there are over a 1,000 viewers watching at once. The counter says so!
I bring Kayla's favorite sandwich - a caprese from Parma Deli. It is toasted to perfection - French bread with sliced red tomato, basil leaves, mozarella cheese and balsalmic vinegar. Tasty and always uplifting for the muffin! She shows me the bandaid she wears on the closed trach hole in her neck.
There is more happiness here. My Mom and sister Valerie visit and Kayla loves family. She thrives on people and forgets her problems...
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Violet is doing her own planning in her bird nest. Her offspring, Pip, is getting to be almost as big as she is, extremely demanding and the parent birds are exhausted. Pip and Mama cuddle - wow, that is sweet. Two hawks cuddling. Pip spends all her time stretching her long wings, out and in, out and in and she is knocking her mother with them. Mom looks befuddled and the nest is too small. Pip has mostly adult black feathers with tufts of white fluff between. These wings are not ready to fly.
I go home and plant colorful flowers in Thomas's flower bed at his cabin. I put in some white ones too, his favorite. I weed...
Short Synopsis: There is a load of pressure to get Kayla out of the hospital and lots of detail to work out to release her. They always need hospital beds for those who are sicker and waiting in the emergency room below on a lower floor. The patients are in beds along a hallway when things get crowded and there is never enough room. Kayla is stable so it's time to let her go home. Someone else can have her beautiful single room with the incredible view of the Hudson River and George Washington Bridge.
Long Story: The psychiatrist called me and said we needed a good plan before Kayla would be released to go home. Kayla likes Dr. Marotta, a local psychiatrist, who comes highly recommended. She wants to go see him on a regular basis but she was sidelined by her cardiac arrest April 1. She has been in the hospital for just over 2 months, soon to be discharged.
We need someone long-term who can help Kayla with her panic anxiety disorder and depression; her inability to listen to others and help herself; her pain management without loads of narcotics (she is in chronic pain with her back muscles and shoulders caused by stress and pain at her cannular sites). We have a "pain journal" at home which documents when she takes narcotics for her pain. Narcotics are addicting but very necessary.
Dr. Rocco Marotta is considered the best in the area but he is near retirement and is not taking on new patients so Kayla may not get in with him. Still he has been very helpful. He treats patients at Silver Hill in New Canaan, a private psychiatric facility.
After speaking to the Columbia psychiatrist, I put together all the names and phone numbers of the team who will assist Kayla when she gets home. Dr. Farhana Latif is at the head of the team - she is the Columbia transplant cardiologist and excellent. She never "considers failing" - her words working constantly to bring the good life to Kayla. She says that Kayla is young and will do well. Dr. Marotta is the psychiatrist. Dr. Wirz is the local neurologist to help with treatment for Kayla's migraine headaches, which are difficult to treat, as Columbia will not give permission for most of the medicinal treatments considered by her. For the moment, Kayla is limited to botox injections in her shoulder and neck which gives temporary relief. Next on the team is the psychiatrist from Columbia and finally there is Mike and me. Of course we cannot forget the EMT team from the fire department in Ridgefield and all the fire departments along the highway corridor leading down to New York City. Each will get an alert sheet regarding Kayla and her dependence on the ventricular assist device.
I have my own list of questions which I convey to Rosie. Kayla is complaining chiefly of focusing problems which have gotten worse since this hospitalization. Neuro evaluation? What about the flinching and shaking in her sleep? What is that? Her feet are swolen and they turn black at times and then pink. What is that? Have they done any recent echos to check her heart function? Am sure they have but what are the results? Does she need lasix or is she fine without it?
When I arrive, Kayla tells me that at midnight, the nurse "yanked" her final chest tubes out as they are no longer needed. In the beginning, they run very red from the excess blood escaping and then as the days go by they run clear. Then they are tied off and pulled out but it's a physical process to actually pull them out. It can hurt and did! The nurse could have been a little more gentle and now it's sore. Poor Kayla! And her feet are swollen!
Still, she happily signs in on her laptop to watch Pip and all his shenatigans with his parent birds. She signs in to the comments section as "Shake Your Tail Feathers," her pseudo name. Sometimes when she is feeling poorly, I go in and talk as "Shake," but I always say "I am Shake Your Tail Feather's Mom." There are many people out there who are enjoying watching Pip grow. Many times there are over a 1,000 viewers watching at once. The counter says so!
I bring Kayla's favorite sandwich - a caprese from Parma Deli. It is toasted to perfection - French bread with sliced red tomato, basil leaves, mozarella cheese and balsalmic vinegar. Tasty and always uplifting for the muffin! She shows me the bandaid she wears on the closed trach hole in her neck.
There is more happiness here. My Mom and sister Valerie visit and Kayla loves family. She thrives on people and forgets her problems...
-------------------------------
Violet is doing her own planning in her bird nest. Her offspring, Pip, is getting to be almost as big as she is, extremely demanding and the parent birds are exhausted. Pip and Mama cuddle - wow, that is sweet. Two hawks cuddling. Pip spends all her time stretching her long wings, out and in, out and in and she is knocking her mother with them. Mom looks befuddled and the nest is too small. Pip has mostly adult black feathers with tufts of white fluff between. These wings are not ready to fly.
I go home and plant colorful flowers in Thomas's flower bed at his cabin. I put in some white ones too, his favorite. I weed...
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