Hi Everyone,

Today brought waiting, waiting, and more waiting. Hence, why you've gotten not 1, but 2 blog posts from me today. Well, we saw all of her docs first thing this morning. Pulmonology said they wanted to drain more fluid again. They are adamant about getting all the fluid out of there and trying to avoid doing a chest tube thing. The majority of the rest of the day was spent waiting for her to go get another thoracentesis (chest drain). The Queen was extremely uncomfortable most of the morning. She was the most uncomfortable I've ever had to see her. She was very short of breath and was coughing a lot. We were told by multiple people that a productive, phlegm producing cough is a good thing...as horrible and nasty as it may sound when she is coughing. So, the coughing is a good sign. The Infectious Disease Doctor came down and he said he is going to keep her on antibiotics just to be safe. These antibiotics will help get out any of the pneumonia that may still be lingering. All of the doctor's together seem to agree that this is all just the ending phases of the pneumonia working it's way out of her lungs. As we are all learning, this is just a long and arduous process.

So...fast forward to 4PM. I get a call from Oconee Co. Schools telling me all after school activities are cancelled due to the threat of severe weather. Shoot, I thought to myself....I have to get back to Athens. So, I abruptly (and very reluctantly) left the hospital to head towards Athens pre-storm. Good decision, I must say. We had intense rain and wind all over GA and I made it back just in time. Pretty crazy stuff. So, I made it home and got Queen Jean updates from Jan and my dad. Turns out, they drained a ridiculous amount of fluid off of my mom's lungs. 600 cc's on the right side and 1200 cc's on the left side. This is INSANE. They drained 1200 cc's TOTAL the last time they did this. So, moral of the story....the good news is that it explains why she was so uncomfortable. The scary news is that we don't know why the fluid KEEPS coming back. It should be done coming back by now, yet here we are again. So, tomorrow they are going to do a bronchoscopy which will involve putting an itty bitty camera into her lungs (via going down her throat) to see what's going on. They think there may be some intense mucus plugs (areas of concentrated mucus...gross) which they would be able to suction out. This still doesn't completely explain why the fluid keeps coming back. So...they will do a chest X-Ray on Wednesday to see what's going on with the fluid and then we will go from there. There may be a need for a chest tube, but we're taking this one day at a time and not worrying about that until we get to Wednesday.

Please, please, please....we need mega magical prayers and good vibrations for NO MORE fluid in and/or around her lungs. Let's just focus on that one for right now.

Love and hugs to each of you,

The Queen's Royal Court

"If Jan Were Here..."

This the the phrase that echoed in my head day in and day out this weekend. I constantly thought about what Jan would do in the situations we found ourselves in over the past few days. Jan got a well deserved and much needed break from Queen Duty this weekend. She was able to hang out with her precious little grandkids. They spent quite a bit of time reading one of my all time favorite children's books, Pete the Cat. If you have little kids in your life. GO BUY THIS BOOK! I guarantee they will love it. It comes with a catchy little musical read along song. You'll be walking around singing, "I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes" all day!

A lot of you are probably wondering who Jan is and why we keep talking about her. Well, let me tell you a little bit about Jan. Jan is one of Nancy's friend's moms (got that?). Over the past year, Jan has swooped in and become a HUGE asset to our family. Jan has accompanied my mom to all of her chemo appointments over the past year. At these appointments you sit and sit and sit. You watch chemo drip into my mom ever so slowly. You try to claim to most comfortable chairs in the chemo room. You try not to be depressed because (despite the beautiful views of Atlanta) it is a pretty overall depressing place. You combat the depressed feelings by talking about families, children, and funny stories. And Jan has tackled this process alongside my mom and dad. I also have to mention that my mom has so many other wonderful friends. Nan Fran took her to every single chemo way back in 2000 when all this shit began. We are so thankful for all of her friends. My mom has such an enormously large group of friends who have done hundreds of small things to make her happy. Childhood friends, College friends, High Point friends, nurse friends, my friend's moms, Nancy's friend's moms...the list is endless. You know who you are, so rather than me thank each and every one of you individually, give yourself a big old hug from all of us and The Queen as our giant thank you :)

Jan always tells my mom that she is looking for volunteer opportunities in the Atlanta area. My mom is quick to tell her that her volunteering is now strictly in the form of helping our family. No shame in saying that we need volunteers in this family. On top of her normal chemo help, Jan and my dad help each other out in many different Queen Jean situations. When my dad goes to doctors appointments, Jan comes along and takes notes and asks questions that we may have overlooked (did I mention that Jan used to be a nurse so she is able to ask A LOT of questions that we would never think of). This allows my dad to focus on my mom and make sure that she is ok. Did I mention that we are SO thankful for Jan? Having a family member who has cancer involves a lot of extra stuff for the family. It is so, so, so, so wonderful that Jan is able to help out. This extra help allows my dad to continue to be able to go handle things at Mike's and get things done around the house. Right now, my dad and Jan take shifts at the hospital. It is so nice that someone can be with The Queen all day without getting burnt out. We are all feeling exhausted after many sleepless nights and long days at the hospital, but having that extra person who also knows the entire medical history is a huge, huge, huge help.

Jan has taught all of us a lot about the process of being in the hospital, dealing with nurses, important questions to ask, etc. She knew we would be shocked with the move from ICU to a regular room. She knew we would be even more shocked with the move from hospital to rehab. Luckily, she anticipated these shocks and prepped us ahead of time. Jan has taught me how to be assertive in medical situations (something The Queen would be very appreciative of us learning). It is amazing how you really NEED to have someone who is an advocate for patients when they are in the hospital. So, did my dad and I demand an X-Ray or visit from the Doctor at 7PM on a Saturday night when we were at Rehab? Yes we did. And we were successful. I attribute a large portion of this success and newfound assertive-ness to Jan. Another large part of it obviously also comes from the fact that this is our mom and wife and we will all do whatever we need to do to make sure things are taken care of.

Jan always says, "just kick me out when you need family time." We have yet to kick her out of any situation because she is a part of our family. Ask any of the 3 aunts that have been to visit or my grandmother and I think they would all unanimously agree with that statement. Nancy accidentally referred to her as "Aunt Jan" when talking to someone, but I can't think of a more perfect title for her (aside from Queen Angel, of course).

So Jan, THANK YOU from every single one of us. This blog post is just a teeny tiny way for me to express our gratitude for everything you've done. I just had to brag on you. All 64 of the blog's followers now know what we've known all along. You are a true Angel and we can't imagine going through this process without you.

Now if only you could write this volunteering off as a tax donation.....

On behalf of ALL of us, we love you!

Change in Path...

Hello All,

Well, as I told my mom this morning, this new development isn't a setback, but rather a change in her path to recovery. Unfortunately, The Queen experienced trouble breathing again towards the end of yesterday (Saturday) and this morning. We had an X-Ray ordered while she was at Rehab and the X-Ray showed that she had "infiltration" in her lungs. Infiltration means there is some type of bacteria or fluid in her lungs. To make an EXTREMELY long day short...after an ambulance ride back to Northside, we spent the majority of our day in the ER to figure out what was going on. The ER doc was the same doc who saw her the first day she got here and boy...did she look better to him! The ER doc ordered a CT scan to make sure there was nothing else causing the shortness of breath. CT scan looked good, but he said she didn't quite look well enough for him to send her back to rehab. He called the on call doctor for the oncology office and we all breathed a sigh of relief after talking to him. The oncologist basically said that her lungs just weren't quite ready to be working at full capacity on their own yet. This go around, the infiltrates (bacteria and/or fluid) are in her lungs as opposed to being around her lungs. This is why they didn't do a chest drainage thing again. He said that in cases like hers, (where the pneumonia was so bad) it can take the darn lungs 4-6 weeks to fully heal.

Patience. Patience. Patience.

After about 6 hours in the ER (crappy bed, only 2 chairs for visitors and 3 of us, no tv...see where I'm going with this?) she was moved back to her exact same room that she spent the last 2 weeks in. It's almost like our room got a wonderful cleaning, and then they were like, "ok, you can come back Ms. Jean!" So, here we are again. We're all feeling as though we never left and the past 3 days are literally a whirlwind. Nancy and I took turns spending the night at Rehab by sleeping in 2 chairs pushed together. We are happy we won't be doing that tonight.

All in all, the hospital is where my mom needs to be right now. She had some SEVERE issues coming into the hospital 3 weeks ago and those issues just take time to fully recover from. It would have taken a healthy person a long time to recover, not to mention a person who was in the midst of undergoing chemo and radiation. We are all very content with this move back to the hospital. We know she is in the best hands. We know they will get this figured out. We know we will all (try to) be patient. We know she can do it.

Prayers and good vibrations for a speedy recovery, CLEAR LUNGS, better breathing, and a continued good attitude.

My mom is the strongest person I've ever met. There's nothing stopping her here....she just needs more time. We can do that.

Tomorrow will bring visits from all her top docs. Oncologist, Pulmonologist, Infectious Disease. We can't wait to have them back :) This weekend business is rough and requires a bit more patience than usual....

I leave you with a pic of my mom's favorite dog (please note the sarcasm and remember that she and Sam are not BFF) posing next to daffodils in GA. We had some beautiful weather this weekend (which my mom did enjoy for 30 minutes yesterday!) and Sam had quite a nice time outside.

Love and hugs,

The Queen's Royal Court

Exactly 3 Weeks Later...

AND THE QUEEN IS OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!!!!!

She isn't quite ready to go home yet, but she's going to a rehab place.

If you know this Amy Winehouse song....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LTPRJqt2z4

.....Then you'll appreciate my sister and I singing this wonderful rendition

(even though you can't see us):

Well, Hospital Time kind of makes me think of "Island Time" but not nearly as beautiful and calm. We went to the Cayman Islands 7 (?) years ago to visit Aunt Betsy and Uncle Scott since they got to live there for a couple years. On that trip we learned that Island Time is typically 2-3 hours delayed from any time that you originally planned on doing something. And the locals typically say, "Don't worry mon, it's Island Time," or something similar where they try to make Americans chill out. Anyways, Island Time is relaxing except for when you really want to go somewhere. Hospital Time is not relaxing, so I don't really know why I'm comparing these things. But...the only similarity is that Hospital Time always seems super delayed when you really want to go somewhere. Obviously this is not the case in critical situations. When The Queen was trying to leave ICU...Hospital Time kicked in and we had to wait for a room and then wait for people to come move her. In the situation of leaving the hospital....major Hospital Time! At 12:00 this afternoon they told us she would get to go to Rehab today. In my mind, I thought we'd be out of here by 2:00. Wrong. They said it wouldn't happen until 4:00. Then it was 5:00. Then it was 5:30. Then we didn't arrive at Rehab until 6:15. Ahhhh!!! I'm very patient with little kids but not at all with adults. So I got quite antsy to say the least.

The ambulance ride to the Rehab place was literally under 2 minutes. Not even kidding. For the first (and hopefully last) time ever, I got to ride in the front of the ambulance. The paramedic and EMT were super nice and chatty so I learned all about their families and kids and job. There are no rearview mirrors in ambulances. Instead, there is this really cool camera thing in the front of the ambulance that allows you to see what's happening with the patient in the back. Then, when you reverse in turns into one of those 'see what's behind you' cameras.

We thought the move from ICU to normal hospital floor was a shocking change of scenery but let me tell you...the move from the hospital to rehab is like a Vermont winter vs. a Georgia winter. Super different. But it will be ok. She has a roommate who's name is coincidentally also Jean. We all keep reminding The Queen (and ourselves) that this is TEMPORARY. It is kind of depressing because everyone is literally really old. Like really old. Like 95. Don't believe me? Look at the activity calendar for tomorrow (Nancy and I got a good laugh and my mom got a great eye rolling session in):

There's a few young-in's here and there who were probably in car accidents or something like that, but for the most part...it's a whole lot of older people. Including someone that we know (but that's a great story for another post). So, we are all getting adjusted and trying to remind The Queen that if she works super hard, the next step is HOME aka her Castle. We are just so, so, so ecstatic that we are out of the hospital and that the next step is home. We are ridiculously proud of our Queen for how far she has come.

Aside from all of these major changes, The Queen had a great day today with everything else. She ate a grilled cheese and I didn't even have to be stern to make her eat. Physical Therapy came in and she had her best day yet. She walked about 6 feet (give or take a little) and then turned herself around and walked back to bed. We have all noticed remarkable differences since Wednesday when they drained the massive amount of fluid off her lungs. Not only with her energy level, but she just seems more comfortable and not so unhappy.

Please send your magical prayers and good vibrations for strength, continued clear lungs, a good attitude, and a QUIET roommate.

Excited love and hugs from ATL,

The Queen's Royal Court

Hi Friends and Family,

Slowly but surely, things are continuing to move in the right direction in the world of Queen Jean. Yesterday, she got 800 cc's of fluid drained off of each lung. Again, this explains why she was so uncomfortable and unhappy over the past few days. I can't imagine having all that fluid in my lungs...I would be uncomfortable too. So they drained the fluid and then let her rest a lot yesterday. She managed to eat an ENTIRE grilled cheese for dinner yesterday (including the crust!). Keep prayers and good vibrations coming for clear lungs, appetite, deep breaths (this will help her lungs), and mental strength for physical therapy.

Jan is finally giving herself a well deserved break from hospital life and is hanging with her grandkids for the weekend. I took a couple days off school to come home and make an attempt to fill in for Jan and my dad, although I definitely don't have the skills to accomplish this very well. I am going to try my best though. Nancy will be home too, so maybe we can combine our efforts to be successful caregivers. Tonight when I saw The Queen, I could immediately tell that she looked so, so much better from this past Sunday when I saw her. Her breathing had slowed down and she was so much more willing to try foods and work on her exercises. While I was there she ate half of a grilled cheese. I've been sternly told (by my mother) not to push too hard on the food thing, so I'm going to try to take a chill pill. We've learned that smaller amounts of food more often will be more feasible than 3 large meals a day. I think we could all take a hint on that one....this is coming from the girl that just had a Chef Jeff meal of chicken, lentils and spinach.

Things continue to look up around here. We can't thank you all enough for your thoughts, prayers and support. She is still requesting no visitors because it is too exhausting to even think about talking to people. We will let you know when she's ready for all your smiling faces!

I promise pictures will come now that I'm back on duty. Just give me a couple days.

Love,

The Queen's Royal Court

Coasting Along

Hi Everyone,

I wish I had some super exciting news to update you all with, but we are kind of holding at status quo. I've gotten daily updates from my dad and Jan. The Queen is getting another draining of fluid off her lungs Wednesday morning at 10:00. We are all anxiously awaiting for this to happen so that her breathing can be easier and hopefully calm her down. Her anxiety levels are very high (mine would be too if I was stuck in a hospital with nothing to do but think, think, think) so everyone (with the help of some lovely pharmaceuticals) is trying their hardest to help her calm those nerves. She continues to work extra hard on eating which we are all thrilled to see. She has discovered some favorite foods including turkey sandwiches, hummus, and Arby's milkshakes (high in calories!). She is continuing to work on standing and taking baby steps and gaining her strength through leg exercises and lots of other different physical/occupational therapy exercises. Anyways, for now, keep the prayers and good vibrations coming again for no fluid on the lungs, strength, an appetite, and positive attitude. We love you all and thanks for being so wonderful to our family during this adventure.

Love,

The Queen's Royal Court

Tiny Update

I'm rather sleepy tonight, so here's a brief and dull update:

-Catheter got taken out early this morning. Yeah!

-Had a hard time breathing today, so the doc thinks the fluid may be back in her lungs. This means possibly another draining of the fluid tomorrow after she gets a chest x-ray

-Still working on eating and moving

-Got up with the help of a walker today with her physical therapist

-Prayers and good vibrations for appetite, movement, and a positive attitude.

Sorry this was so boring, but hopefully it gives you all a quick recap of our day so you don't feel clueless.

Love and hugs,

The Queen's Royal Court

It's a Beautiful Day...Again!

Hi World,

The Queen had a big, big day today. I'm pretty sure she probably wishes that I did not come back to Atlanta to see her because I am a bit of a work horse. Jan is WAY nicer than I am when she pushes my mom to do more. I am not nearly as nice/sympathetic but I am really trying to work on it. Her appetite is just so tiny and small and I know that she can't gain strength until she gets nutrition. Lucky for me, I have a class of kiddos that all have some 'aversions to eating'. I reminded The Queen that I spend ALL day, EVERY day using different tricks to get kids to eat. I think this probably pissed her off a lot. For example, I told her I wouldn't get the nurse to get her back in bed until she ate 3 bites of her sandwich. She was not happy with me to say the least. Thanks to a tip from Nurse Nan Fran, we created a chart to document what The Queen eats every 2 hours. I will say that when it is all written down on paper, she did do a pretty good job eating today. She had 2 of her favorite protein shots that my dad hunted for all over Atlanta. She had an entire PB&J, 1/2 a banana, and some crackers. This doesn't sound like a lot to a big eater like myself, but this is a major accomplishment for The Queen. Everyday, we will build from that amount of food and continue to get her the nutrients she needs to be strong.

In terms of movement, we pushed her hard today. She sat up in a chair for over an hour and took a few steps on a walker with her Physical Therapist. The most exciting event was a trip outside. We had every member of The Royal Court here to venture out into the PERFECT Atlanta weather. We loaded up The Queen and sat outside for about 20 minutes. They let us loose this time without any nurses to accompany us! Unfortunately, I was so preoccupied with the excitement that I forgot to take pictures. But take my word for it...she looked great and was much happier after some nice Vitamin D.

Nancy couldn't resist the temptation to test drive her wheels for the afternoon:

The Queen says hello to all of you. I'll send my usual request....prayers and good vibrations for Queen like strength, a positive outlook, and a giant sized appetite.

Love to you all,

The Queen's Royal Court

Hi Everyone,

Today brought many exciting things to the world of The Queen. She was able to get her chest tube removed! Woohoo! This is going to get her headed in the right direction towards being more mobile. The Queen also ate an entire peanut butter and jelly sandwich made by Queen Angel Jan. We knew some of you may not believe this, so we have proof.

She ate everything but the crust:

In other news, my mom got a visit from one of our favorite ICU doctors today. There is a funny story about this doctor. I feel like it's ok for me to talk about this simply because it makes me look stupid and he seems like a pretty lighthearted guy. This doctor's last name is Silverboard. For the LIFE of me, I cannot remember his name. I referred to him as Silverbald (note the picture below) to another doctor. It went down like this: I said, "Yes, Dr. Silverbald had talked about ____." Other doctor says to me, "You mean Dr. Silverboard?" Um, yes. Yes, I did mean Silverboard [insert me feeling super awkward]. Me not being able to remember his name has been a consistent problem for me throughout this entire hospital stay. I'm working on it! The Queen agreed that I could post this picture from today. Isn't she looking wonderful? Better and better each day. No more feeding tube in her nose and today was her last day of IV antibiotics, so no more pole to drag around with medicines dripping into her IV. Anyways, here is The Queen with Dr. SilverBOARD.

Jan realized that we did not have any pictures of my dad on this lovely blog (aside from him behind a newspaper). So, here is a picture of my dad and Aunt Betsy "conferencing" in the conference room. They were probably discussing how they could compete with the world champion grocery bagger who happens to be from Burlington, VT. Aunt Betsy is so proud to be able to say that she lives in the same town as this champion bagger. She is SO proud of this that she told every person she met in GA that she lives in the same city as the world champion grocery bagger.

Continue your prayers and good vibrations for strength, good appetite, and no fluid on the lungs.

Happy Weekend!

Love and hugs to everyone,

The Queen's Royal Court

Short But Sweet Update

Hi Everyone,

The Queen had a 'blah' start to her day (for lack of a better word). Based on reports from The Royal Court, it sounds like she was just generally not herself this morning. Well, around 2:30 this afternoon, she had 900 cc's (I think the is the abbreviation for the measurement of liquid drained from your lungs? Not sure on that one) drained from her left lung and 600 cc's drained from her right lung. Well, no wonder she felt yucky! Post drainage, she was looking better and feeling better. She is taking protein shots and eating calorie filled foods to get all those dietary things in order. Things were looking up this afternoon in terms of her appetite and mood, so that is promising. Continue those prayers and good vibrations for food intake, happy moods, and clear lungs.

In other news, Aunt Betsy (my dad's sister) came to visit for a few days from snow covered Vermont. I know that my mom, my dad, and Jan are happy to see a new face around here. Clearly, Aunt Betsy is a member of this family because she hasn't even been here 24 hours and she is already breaking rules around the hospital.

Nancy and I are headed back to see The Queen tomorrow after school. Hope that all is well with all of you this evening.

Thank you for all of your support.

Love,

The Queen's Royal Court

Let's Eat

Hi Everyone,
This is a short and sweet update all based on info from my dad and Jan. She is doing very well today. She took five steps to go from her bed to a chair with the assistance of a walker. I think she is really scared to put weight on her legs because she feels so weak. This is a huge step (haha literally) for her though and she's only going to start walking farther from here. She had her chest X-Ray today and there is still some fluid in her lungs. The Doctor said he wants to keep the chest tube in until he is more confident that the fluid is gone. They will do another X-Ray tomorrow to check on the fluid again. He said the key to getting rid of the fluid is moving around and eating. These are the two main things that are The Queen's biggest struggle right now. The Doctor said that she needs more calories and protein, so Jan and Chef Jeff are working tirelessly to find really fattening food that The Queen thinks is appetizing. Her appetite is not what it used to be, so they are going to try to get her on some appetite enhancers. When Jan left tonight, The Queen did ask for an egg McMuffin and a PB&J sandwich, so that is great news. Prayers and good vibrations should be sent for calories, protein, increased appetite, and strength to help with walking. Phew....I'm asking a lot of you people tonight ;)
Since today is a slow news day, I thought I would share with you an adventure that myself, Nancy, and some dear friends are embarking on in October (my mom may have mentioned this to a lot of you). Before this crappy hospital situation began, we all decided to participate in The Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk to honor my mom. You've probably been wondering why this blog is called "Queen Jean." Well, my mom specifically asked that our team name for the 3-Day Walk be "Queen Jean's Supreme Team." Hence, the reason the blog is called Queen Jean. Anyways, here is a link to another blog I wrote awhile ago explaining why I wanted to participate in the 3-Day Walk. Since I wrote that blog, a lot has happened. We created a team. We now have 7 members. We've already raised $2,619.27. I hate, hate, hate asking people to make donations because it's awkward, the economy sucks, and I generally feel bad. But I do feel as though this is a perfect situation to get the word out about this massive fundraiser we have undertaken. If you feel so inclined to donate, CLICK HERE and then you can choose who to donate to. It doesn't matter who the donation goes to because in the end it all evens out. But I highly recommend donating to those who may have a lower amount in the "raised" column :)

We all thank you in advance for any donation you are able to contribute. Even $1 from lots and lots of people can go a long, long way!

Love and hugs from Georgia,

The Queen's Royal Court

Keep Calm and Carry On

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to "The Debbie's" in California for this new life motto. I think The Queen will take this to heart in the near future. If you can't read the bottom, it says "Her Royal Highness Queen Jean." Such a perfectly simple sign that is inspiration we can ALL use on a daily basis. I feel as though I can truly say this after my first day back at school. I'm going to make one that says, "Keep Calm and Carry On, Princess Abigail." In case you haven't thought about it, Nancy and I have dubbed ourselves as Princesses' and my dad as the King. Jan still gets the one of a kind Queen Angel title.

On the medical end of the spectrum, The Queen had a good day. She slept much better in this new room than she did in ICU. Probably because they don't come in and bug her quite as much. She will get a chest X-Ray tomorrow to see if the fluid in her lungs is going away so that she can lose the chest tube. If the fluid is still there, there is talk of a "Pleur-Ex (??- don't google this. I can't remember the name and I may have made it up)." My understanding is that this would be more of a portable chest tube. We've got to get The Queen strolling about and the chest tube she has now makes this a difficult task. She ate a royal breakfast today consisting of Cheerios followed by some apple slices prepared by Chef Jeff. The hospital food isn't the most appetizing thing in the world (can't blame her on that one) so The Royal Court is working on getting her food she likes. There is talk in the near future of moving her out of the hospital and into a rehabilitation place. This will ensure that she gets lots and lots of Physical Therapy to help get her strength back which will bring her one step closer to going HOME. So for tonight, send those prayers and good vibrations for no fluid in her lungs and strength, strength, strength.

Love to everyone,

The Royal Court

Movin' on Up

Hi Everyone,

The Queen had a big, big day today. Her morning began with the nurses removing her feeding tube, so that's exciting. Now it's up to us to make sure she gets all the food and nutrients she needs. The most exciting news of the day is that The Queen got to move to new quarters. Despite the fact that I was nervous and anxious to leave our safe and comfortable confines of the ICU....it was a giant, enormous step that she was well enough to be moved to a 'regular' room. I reluctantly said my goodbyes to all of the ICU staff and had to keep reminding myself that it was a GREAT sign that we were LEAVING the ICU. I'm beginning to think I've become some sick and twisted person who loves ICU but I promise it is just because I love the people and quality one-on-one care that is there ;) It's amazing what you can accumulate after 11 days in the ICU. We used a cart (similar to what you use to move into a dorm) to tote all of the Queen's treasures up to her new room.

Some exciting news is that the new room has a view fit for a Queen. Her room (again, very fittingly) looks out onto The King and Queen Buildings. Even though our family refers to them as "The Almost Home Buildings" (because when we see them it means we are almost home) the rest of Atlanta refers to them as The King and Queen Buildings.

The Queen got a visit today from an Occupational Therapist who worked on brushing her teeth and washing her face by herself. She was able to do both of these things all on her own, which is amazing. The upcoming hurdles will be gaining her strength back to complete everyday tasks like walking and getting out of bed. I know that she will succeed with this (look how far she's come...) but there is definitely a long road ahead. Send your prayers and good vibrations for physical and mental strength in the coming days.

Now, on to another subject. If you know my dad, you know that he reads the paper religiously every morning. He and Jan both talked about how they always read the paper no matter where they are or what they are doing. Ever since February 4, neither of them have been reading the paper like they normally do. They both said that they mentally weren't ready to be reading the paper cover to cover. Today, look what I caught both of them doing:

I would say this is another sign that we are headed in the right direction. In addition, Nancy headed back to school yesterday and I am off to work tomorrow. That being said...if the updates are shorter and less frequent, it is ONLY because I am back to teaching my little preschool friends who wear me out. I will try to keep you all as up to date as possible, as this is what The Queen would want.

Thank you all again and again for the love, prayers, and good vibrations.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,

The Queen's Royal Court

It's A Beautiful Day

Hi Everyone,

The Queen had quite a grumpy start to her day. She was generally irritated at anything and anyone who tried to talk to her. She kept telling the doctor she was ready to go home. One of her wonderful doctors told her he would offer her a compromise. She couldn't go home but she could take a trip outside. Thank goodness this compromise satisfied The Queen. It took 2 fabulous nurses and 3 members of The Royal Court to get her outside. Let me tell you....it was so, so worth it. Atlanta was a perfectly sunny 60 degrees with a slight breeze and crystal clear blue sky. There is no medicinal replacement for good old Vitamin D. We spent about 30 minutes basking in the sun and then The Queen decided it was time to go inside for the day. She didn't want her royal skin to get burned ;) This outside time turned her grumpy day into a great day.

Before we trekked inside, she ASKED us to take some pictures to put up on the blog. After we double checked with her about 15 times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating, she kept telling us she really did want pictures up. I think she wants all of you to see that she really is doing great and looking good.

When we made it back inside The Queen received a visit from the Speech and Language Pathologist. The SLP evaluated her swallowing and vocal chords. The SLP found that The Queen was able to begin eating soft foods (ice cream, yogurt, applesauce). This was HUGE news because The Queen has been complaining of being hungry. Well, she got quite the feast tonight. The hospital prepared mashed potatoes, squash, and some sort of pureed meat? I told her not to touch the meat, but she told me that she "needed it." She's a better person than I am. But for someone who has not eaten in almost 2 weeks...this is a gourmet meal!

Today was a big day because The Queen was crowned with her Royal crown. Thanks to the Collins Family for providing the crafting supplies for The Queen and The Royal Court.

She L-O-V-E-S her crown.

Send those prayers and good vibes for a continuation of the good that we are seeing. Thanks to all of you for being beyond wonderful and supportive. We love you all.

Love,

The Queen's Royal Court

Exciting News

Can't believe I forgot to include this in the last post....

Nancy found out today that she got into GA State which is where she will transfer in the Fall. She's been thinking about this for awhile and is super excited that it's official.

When The Queen heard this news, she raised her arms as high as she could (which isn't that high) and said, "awesome, awesome, awesome!"

Good Job, NJ ;)

Chips, chips, chips

Hi Everyone,

The Queen is trucking along here. Earlier this morning they did another thoracentesis to drain out fluid from her lung. This time, they kept the tube in her right lung so that it could continuously drain the fluid out. Hopefully this will make breathing easier and slow down the amount of breaths she is taking per minute. Again for tonight: prayers and good vibes for the fluid drain thingy to work and make her breathing easier! Friday night, she overheard her night nurse saying that she doesn't actually fit the qualifications to be in ICU anymore (but now that she has the drain thing, she needs to stay). The Queen does in fact still need a lot of nursing attention and it is best for her to stay there right now. Well, ever since she heard this, she is really, really, really wanting to get out of ICU. We all tried to tell her that the doctors and nurses are so great in ICU and that she really is receiving the best one-on-one care she could possibly get. She told us that, "she was going to leave but we could stay here." Hahaha. She is as high as a kite on pain killers and is saying some funny things that are making all of us laugh. She is being very secretive and is trying to sneak ice chips, or "chips" as she calls them. She is allowed to have a few ice chips at a time but it only amounts to about 1/2 a spoonful every now and then. Well, this just drives her crazy. She constantly says, "chips...chips...chips..." She puts on Mean Jean eyes when we tell her she can't have any chips. I was the one holding the chips a.k.a. gold this evening. When I left the room, she motioned for my dad to come closer to her and whispered that she wanted him to give her the chips. Needless to say, she did not win. The DR's worry that she could aspirate (choking and making the water go into her lungs) which would put us back at square 1. That being said, we aren't breaking any rules on that DR's order.

So, if you know me you know I love fascinating things. The postal system, airports, hospitals (newly added), etc. Well, within the hospital I have found my favorite new fascinating thing. In the picture below, you can see a cut out thing in the wall. After some investigating, I learned that this is essentially a way cooler version of the tube in the drive-thru lane at the bank. This tube can catapult medicines, paperwork, etc. ALL over the hospital. You put a tube in the box, enter where you want it to go, and BAM! It is sent wherever you want all over the hospital. So cool. I would love to see a behind the scenes TV episode on how that works.

And finally, just so that you feel like you are with us, here are the doors to the ICU. The woman who I like to call the "keeper of the door" has a very important job. You have to pick up a phone anytime you want to go back to the ICU, tell them who you are going to see, who you are, and then they check with the nurse to see if you can come back. Quite the process. It's like a fort. The Queen's fort? Yes, of course. Why am I just now thinking of this?

That's all for tonight.

Hope that everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Love and hugs,

The Queen's Royal Court

It's doing this weird underlining thing again...sorry.

"Cancer is Nothing Compared to This"

These were my mom's exact words today. I think that just gives you an idea about what a crappy situation this is. Not many people can say that cancer is a walk in the park...

First of all, we are so happy that we are where we are this Friday as opposed to last Friday. The Queen has come a long, long way. Today began with some nervous worries that she may have to go back on the ventilator. But alas, we made it through the day without having to go back on the "vent" (as they call it around here). She hated, hated, hated the BiPap machine (leaf blower in your face analogy) so they switched her to getting oxygen through her nose that is warm and moist. This will prevent her from feeling dried out (I think?). So far, this is doing the trick. Send those prayers and good vibrations for strong lungs again! Who knew lungs were such a bear to repair? Oh wait....Nancy knew this. Our family and lungs clearly have some issues. Anyways, she was really uncomfortable with the noise level and kept trying to take off the oxygen to talk. With some typical Queen Jean bargaining, she wrote this note to Ken:

It says: "Ok Ken, how come no one else needs O2 and I do? Can't we take an hour break? $50"

Obviously, Ken couldn't make this happen. But he did call the respiratory therapist and she lowered the O2 level so the noise wasn't quite as bad. So I would say her bargaining worked....

It's no surprise to us that she is ALL up in the nurse's and doctor's business. Anytime they walk into the room, her eyes and ears perk up. She asked us to bring her a notepad so that she could start writing down questions. This is SO normal of my mother that we are all finding it hysterical. She is notorious for taking notes at any major medical appointment. Here's yet another example:

Let me be clear that she can in fact talk. It is just so strenuous that sometimes writing things down is easier and less exhausting. Jan aka Queen Angel is helping my mom to be calm and relaxed. Jan used to teach breathing techniques to women who were pregnant. Jan has been a HUGE help in so many ways (I'm saving that for another post) but today, getting my mom to focus on breathing slow and taking deep breaths was her biggest job ;) Her hard work got my mom to slow down her breathing and really focus hard on deep breaths through her nose.

Nancy thought this would be a good little something to make you all smile.

Here are our cousin Drew's precious little boys in the Vermont snow (thanks to Aunt Betsy for the picture):

And here are the remnants from the snowstorm that SWEPT Atlanta yesterday.

Don't you all worry. Like true Atlantan's we've stocked up on bread and milk. We will be fine.

Continued thanks for everything from snacks to hugs to good vibrations.

Love, hugs, and happy Friday to you all,

The Queen's Royal Court

The Queen's Throne

Hi Friends and Family,

Well, well, well. The Queen was controlling people more than ever today. She made it to her "throne" aka weird medical chair thing! She was sitting straight up telling the therapists and nurses that they needed to, "explain things to us." When she realizes how much we all actually know, I'm going to laugh really hard. Her CT scan looked good and the pulmonologist says the pneumonia is almost all gone. They were very impressed with how great her lungs look. Even though they look great on the scan, it doesn't mean they are as strong as we need them to be yet. So for tonight...send those magic prayers and good vibes for good breathing and strong lungs. She's been getting some quality time with the respiratory therapist to work on using different breathing machines. Now that she's been in a chair, she loves to sit upright because it makes it so much easier to breathe. Their goal was to keep her in the chair for an hour and she said, "no, I want to stay here for longer." She ended up sitting in the chair for 2 1/2 hours which is so great. She is being hilarious. She is lucky she is a Queen because we're all doing whatever the hell she wants us to do for her. I think she's earned that :)

It's definitely hard to watch her struggle with the breathing. She is clearly so uncomfortable and it is taking every ounce of her energy just to breathe. It really makes me take for granted how naturally breathing comes for us. Speaking of air...the air in this waiting room is really dry and is causing my dad and I to cough. We are not sick (no worries) but we just have this dry cough. We both made the mistake of coughing in front of my mom (we were wearing our masks, so no contamination was happening). You would think that after 23 years of being her daughter, I would have learned to never, ever cough in front of my mother. At the sign of any abnormal breath, cough, or sneeze, she typically always makes me go to the doctor or at least call to see if they will send in a prescription. Even in her very sick state, she managed to say to my dad, "You and Abby are getting sick. You need to leave here and not come back until you are better." Needless to say, no more dry cough from the dry air in front of her.

The Queen had a great day and she is slowly but surely making huge progress. It's hard to believe that it has almost been a week since this crisis situation began. We returned to a small sense of normalcy tonight. My dad cooked a delicious dinner (chicken w/ good sauce, homemade mashed potatoes, asparagus) and Sam got a bath thanks to Nancy. We are all pretty flat out exhausted at the end of the day, but it's nice to come home and just take a break.

Lots of love and hugs,

The Queen's Royal Court

Come on, Lungs!

Hi Everyone,

Today is going along just fine. They did a CT scan of her chest this morning to check on her lungs. The CT scan showed fluid in her right lung, so they did a thoracentesis (giant medical term!) which is essentially manually draining the fluid in her lung with a needle. They were able to get some fluid out, but not as much as they had hoped to get. She is still breathing pretty quickly. We need her breathing to slow down and get under control so that she doesn't overwork her heart.

We've had a lot of people calling to see if they can visit the Queen. The ICU Doctors and nurses are recommending that we let her rest as much as possible right now. Her body is in overdrive and needs to calm itself down as it heals. Please hold off on visits for now. Her job is to get better and our job is to keep her as rested and as healthy as possible so that she can get better. I promise I will let you know when she is ready and upbeat enough to let you visit her in her castle :)

In other news, we totally "pulled a Jean" today. We made (and by 'we' I mean Mrs. Collins- thank you!) Mike's brownies to give out to the nurses and staff in the ICU. My mom is always taking brownies and coupons to all of her DR's and Nurses when she goes in for appointments. Like she always says..."there is no one better to have on your side." So, we are just doing what she would want us to do. Bribery? Maybe. Does it work? Of course. Duh. They are the best brownies in the world. And is it a little free advertising? No comment....

Don't you want to join us? We know how to have a good time assembling Brownie bags.

Love and hugs to everyone. Send prayers and good vibrations for solid breathing and for those lungs to take a chill pill.

Love,

The Queen's Royal Court

Slowly Stepping in the Right Direction

Hi World,

As I posted earlier, we started our day off with a bang by getting rid of that stinking ventilator. As the day went on she started breathing heavier and was just having a harder time breathing than the DR's wanted her to have. This is obviously to be expected because she has freaking pneumonia. This afternoon they put her on something called a BiPap machine which is similar to what someone with sleep apnea would use. All of the nurses reassured us that this is not something horrible or awful. It is a mask that goes over her face and a loud machine pumps air/pressure/other things I don't understand to help her breathe. It's kind of an in between from having just oxygen or being full fledged on the ventilator. It was described as feeling like having a leaf blower in your face. Sounds awful, yet better than the tube down your throat. When we went in to say goodnight to her, she was off the BiPap, but they are thinking she will do some time on it, some time off it, etc, etc. until her lungs are stronger. They are also working on getting all the crud/fluid out of her lungs. She is working on doing this by coughing and suctioning, but it's just a long and slow process. So for tonight...prayers/good vibrations for strong and clear lungs. Since she had a harder time breathing today, they let her rest instead of trying to get her out of bed. They are hoping to get her up and at 'em tomorrow and will call in a Physical Therapist to help with this. She will probably be seen by an Occupational Therapist and a Speech Pathologist as well. I'll be interested to see how these therapists work in hospitals because I've only seen them in action in a school setting.

We are all remembering that every single person has told us you don't just shoot yourself out of the ICU with no issues. There are hiccups and bumps along the way and that is to be expected. Brandon (head nurse who is awesome) reminded us today that she's in the ICU and that's really never good. From our perspective...we want her to stay with them in ICU as LONG as she needs to. These nurses and doctors are ridiculously attentive. She is essentially getting one-on-one care and even though we want her out of there...we are all hesitant to leave our "comfort zone." I would assume it's like when you have a baby (thank goodness this is just speculation). You want to take your baby home but don't want to leave that "safety net" that is the hospital.

Well that's all for tonight. First post in a while without pictures. Sorry about that! I will try harder tomorrow to poke around the hospital and find picture worthy things.

We love you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Love,

The Queen's Royal Court

Superwoman

This totally qualifies as important enough information for a mid-day blog update:

She's been EXTUBATED! Around 10:30 this morning they took her off of the ventilator. She is on oxygen to help her breathe, but this is so, so much better than being on a ventilator. She was more than ready to have that tube OUT. This morning she was writing "tube out!". She's still got a lot of 'crud' in her lungs so they are really working on her coughing that up. She is totally in control of her mouth suctioning thing (it looks and sounds identical to the thing they suction your mouth with when you go to the dentist) so she is able to suction out all the crud on her own. They are hoping to get her sitting up today and possibly work on standing. She needs to get those muscles strong again since she's been laying down for 5 days. Her response to that was, "good, so I can use the toilet." We were all so excited about this new development that we just wanted to be with her. She very quickly told us that she, "gets anxious when we just stare at her." So, we all decided we would let her rest and when we came back it would be in quick visits to just say hello and then we would leave her to rest. She is able to talk (and it is encouraged that she work on it) but her voice is super raspy sounding and it takes careful attention to figure out what she is saying. But by golly....she is talking. Five days later. Even still, my mom would want us to continue to be cautious. She is still in ICU. She is still very sick. But obviously, this is a huge, huge improvement from Friday. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your magical prayers and good vibrations. The Queen got 2 stickers today because it was such a big day. We will keep you posted if anything new comes up.

Giant Hugs from the ICU,

The Queen's Royal Court

Nurses Make the World Go Round

Dear World (our blog is being read in Alaska so this is an appropriate greeting),

Medical update first, then we'll get to the fun stuff. The Queen is off of all the pressors (thank you Jan for the correction on the spelling!). This is a-w-e-s-o-m-e. She is still peeing and all of her "vitals" look good. Her heart rate and blood pressure also look great. She was being a bit bossy today and managed to nonverbally ask the nurse if she (my mom) could suction out her mouth by herself. Seriously Mother? She made an attempt, but got her heart rate and blood pressure going a little too high so the nurse gave her some "happy medicine" to calm down and go back to sleep. They also came in today to do an echocardiogram which is essentially an ultrasound of her heart. When she came in on Friday her heart was only functioning at 20%, which is basically heart failure. We want it to be anything near or around 60%. Tonight we ran into one of our favorite nurses Brandon (who is in charge of all the nurses) and he told us that he looked at the echo and it was at 66%. He warned us that it was not signed off by a DR yet, but it was his professional opinion that it was at 66% after he read the information. I would literally trust this man with my life, so I believe him. So, needless to say...it is SUPER important that this all continues! All of your prayers and good vibes are working thus far, so if you're wondering what's next and what you can do....it would be to pray/send good vibrations for a continuation of the good that is happening.

Now. I am a bit superstitious (another trait from the Queen) and typing things on my blog could be too superstitious for me. But...I will let you all know that there is TALK of taking out the ventilator in the next couple days. TALK. She's still in ICU people, let's not get too overly excited (I am really typing this to reassure myself of this). BUT...superstition aside, this is all really, really, really great news and she is definitely beating every odd that was put against her. I'll tell you the statistic on a day when I'm not quite as superstitious as I am right now. Until tonight, she has been pretty sleepy overall and her nurses recommended that we let her rest, so we told her that her jumping jacks and lunge exercises could wait until tomorrow. Only if she keeps being a good patient.

Daniella, Lisa, Ann, Ken, Petrena, Brandon, Emily and Annette.

These are the names of the most fabulous nurses in the universe. I feel like I've gained 8 friends just from getting to know them. And let me tell you...nurses really do make the world go round. Or at least the world that is the ICU at Northside. These nurses are fabulous and are always very good about keeping us updated on what is going on with the Queen. They all take time aside from their complicated work to put things into "dummy terms" so that we can understand what is going on. Each one of these nurses has earned their fair share of hot dogs for life. Thank you times a million again to anyone who is a nurse, who is thinking of becoming a nurse (KtMo!), or anyone who was a nurse (Jan and Nan Fran). I will say that the job of a nurse is similar to that of a teacher. Very important but often very under appreciated. I hate that we're all learning it in this situation, but I'm glad that I can now recognize the importance of nurses.

I wanted to show you a special sneak peek of the room we have taken over. Literally. Taken it over. No one else has walked into this "family support" room since we staged the takeover on Friday. I'm sure people are probably thinking, "wow...those people need A LOT of support." Haha. Below is a picture of my bed. I waited to post this until today because I knew people would tell me I needed to go home. Well, tonight I am going home so now nobody can say anything. This lovely bed is made up of two love seats pushed together to form a square. Cutting edge technology and the wave of the future for beds. Just wait. Luckily, I had my sleeping bag in my trunk from a lesson at school (the kids pretended it was a mitten, climbed in, jumped out...it was precious) so it has worked perfectly. I'm thinking about recreating this situation at home. The past two nights I've slept for almost 7 hours with no interruptions. Sometimes I don't even sleep that well in a real bed.

Now, for your entertainment....I've taken some pictures of the calendar Nancy made for my mom's birthday. We had planned on giving it to her this weekend when we celebrated her birthday. We kept our plan...but had some (minor...) changes in the weekend. We did in fact give her the calendar on Saturday. Nancy will probably kill me for this one, but here she is sitting like a big girl and taking some time reading. How cute.
And another classic/favorite picture is one of my parents on their wedding day. Be sure to take note of my dad's glasses. Oh wait...you can't miss them. We always try to do a madre/padre picture for August because that is their Anniversary month.

And last but not least, I took a little visit away from the hospital today to see one of my favorite furry friends, Sam (shout out to Davis and Colby- miss you puppies). He was so excited to have company that he was jumping and squirming all over the place (although, if you know Sam this isn't abnormal behavior for him...). I'm attempting to upload a video for the first time. If it doesn't work, sorry in advance. I don't know how to fix it.

Here's what my mom had to say when we told her we would be back later:

OK Mother, I guess we won't bring Sam to the ICU ;)

And here is what my mom sees when we visit her. At first we weren't sure if she knew who we all were because you can't see our faces. You know you've spent too much time in a hospital when you have a "favorite" type of mask. We all like these yellow ones better than the blue ones that you have to tie behind your head. Lame, I know. What's more lame is that I thought I should smile for this picture.

Thanks again for everything. You are all beyond amazing and we could not ask for a better support system.

Hugs from Northside,

The Queen's Royal Court

From Nancy: Hi everyone. I know that Abby has been in charge of the blog and she takes a lot of pride in this thing. It took some convincing to just get the computer out of her hands for me to type this. I wonder who she gets this need to be in control from?? Take a guess....Anyways. I just wanted to personally thank you all for the thoughts/prayers. My mom is the strongest person I know. So even though this progress is so surprising, it really doesn't surprise me that she could do it.

Love you all!

--Nancy

She's A Champ

Hi Everyone,

We had quite an exciting day in the ICU. I know....you're probably wondering, 'how in the hell can the ICU be exciting?' Well...the ICU gets really exciting when the Queen is able to be weened off one of of her two "pressers" (which is the fancy medical term for blood pressure medicine)!! This is great news because as we've stated before we needed the prayers and good vibes for her blood pressure to be stable without the medicine. So good job internet world...your prayers, thoughts, and vibes are reaching the Queen! Her other presser was lowered a lot from earlier this morning, so this is also good news. Night Nurse Emily's main job tonight will be to ween her off of the other presser. Although we are beyond excited, we all are keeping in mind that she is still very sick and has a long way to go. But she is definitely headed in the right direction.

We got an exciting visit from my mom's oncologist (aka cancer doctor) today. I say exciting because this doctor has to be one of the most beloved women by my mother. Seriously. She might as well be famous my mom loves her so much. She can only speak super positive words for this doctor and the entire Atlanta Cancer Care (shameless plug) staff. Anyways, we got to talk to her doctor and she said that she is "cautiously optimistic only because it is Jean" that she will get herself out of this ICU. She said that she stopped doubting my mom a long time ago because she has her own agenda. And my goodness...she is making that agenda quite clear. Her oncologist was explaining the process of Xigris to us. Xigris is the magic medicine/potion that is VERY new technology used to reverse sepsis (my understanding is that sepsis is a giant infection to the blood stream and basically the entire body. Google it and you will see that it is super dangerous). They told us on Friday that my mom fit the extreme qualifications for Xigris. Friday was such a blur that I couldn't tell you what those qualifications were, but she did fit them. Anyways, oncologist doctor told us today that my mom was the FIRST person she has EVER recommended for Xigris. So, to all you fancy schmancy medical students and researchers....thank you for having smart brains to come up with technology like this! This is a 96 hour medicine, so tomorrow will be her last day on it. The fact that her blood pressure is becoming stable w/o the pressers is proof that the Xigris is working. We are still continually thankful for the quick response time of everyone and especially for this magic medicine/potion that we love. Just one more great story from the oncologist. I was telling the doctor just HOW much my mom loves her. And her response was, "well, you know your mom is like a pet to us. She gets whatever she wants from anyone in our office." If you know my mother, you know that this is literally one of the greatest things she could ever hear. She is totally the lady that brings Mike's brownies to the doctors and nurses. And hey, I guess all those brownies paid off and now she can be known as their loyal pet :)

That was a lot of writing but blogs are only fun if there are pictures! Below is the poster Nancy created with the letters for my mom to point to. She hasn't been using this quite as much since her writing is so clear now. Notice the "for real" box at the bottom. Rather than spelling "for real" every single time she can now just point to the box.

When you walk into the hospital there is this silly but precious sign of these two little kids dressed up as doctors saying "shhh!" You have to look carefully because the background of the picture is blurry, but Aunt Jenny just couldn't resist imitating the kids in front of the sign. Never a dull moment around here.

We love you all!!!

Love,

The Queen's Royal Court ;)