Lisa, after spending a restful weekend, was seen by a team of therapists: Occupational, Physical and Speech. She was also seen by the supervisor of the team. These are the three components that will be implemented for the first stage of her recovery. The therapist will be sitting her up; moving her around which this will facilitate Lisa spending more time awake. (I’ll talk about wakefulness a bit later.)
When one is not deprived of one’s faculties, the process breathing is taken for granted. Breathe in, breath out. Stuffy nose? No problem, breathe through your mouth. Mouth closed, okay breath through you nose. Put a trach in place, and then it becomes different, but you know about that. But put a Passé Muir Trach in place and it becomes really different. Lisa now, with the new trach, inhales through it, but exhales through her mouth and her nose. It will enable Lisa to vocalize. Meanwhile her heart and respiration rates are approaching pre-Stevens-Johnson syndrome levels. Although it is observed when Lisa is placed on her right-side the numbers are higher.
Lisa is spending more time awake, and her eyes are open for longer periods of time, and she grinds her teeth which is perplexing; however it must be recognized, she remains unable to meaningfully communicate. She is also exhibiting a small increase of spontaneous movement of her limbs indicating her neuro-pathways are reconnecting at some level. These signs give one hope when one realizes these activities are necessary steps toward regaining consciousness. The staff intends to take 2 – 4 weeks working with Lisa to observe how she responds to therapy. Dr. Kwasneca, Therapy Coordinator will also spend a lot of time with her. The medical staff will introduce sound, smell and touch stimulus and carefully look for “any” response. The stimulus to which she responds will be focused upon therefore Lisa will queue her own therapy.
Michael (Richard's dad)
mlwintory@msn.com
