Here We Are

Hi friends and family,

My dad, Nancy and I decided this would be a good way to share our experiences throughout this journey with our Queen Jean. She is such an amazing wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. We know that she would want as many people as possible fully informed so that prayers and good vibrations can be sent her way. So, please check this site for updates from all of her hospital crew. Don't expect all tear jerkers for blog entries. My mom would want LAUGHS so we will fill you in on ALL the rules we continue to break during our little getaway at the hospital. We'll also let you know all of the hilarious things she has been nonverbally telling us. It's amazing what her eyes can say :)

Now...let's get the nitty gritty out of the way so we can get to the fun stories:

My mom (being the true stubborn champ that she is) went to school on Monday of this week to teach her little 2nd grade friends. She began having HORRIBLE throat pain which was caused from the radiation scalding the inside of her throat. She described the pain as a 10 on her version of a pain scale (which to us would probably equate to a 20). Can you imagine?! Anyways, she only ate ice chips and Chef Jeff's scrambled eggs. My dad said that Wednesday, Thursday, and early Friday morning she continued to decline. She was forgetting things, having a hard time breathing, and difficulty standing up. To make a long story short, he called 911 around 7:15 on Friday morning. The ambulance was there within 5 minutes and they rushed her to Northside. Again, my mom's #1 rule of life is to live within 2 miles of a major medical center. Yet again, she is right. She stopped breathing on the way to the hospital. When she arrived at the ER the ICU team came down to meet her. They did everything that is typically done within 24 hours in 3 hours. That means all her lines, tubes, ventilator, etc. were hooked up and ready to go within 3 hours. We all believe that this quickness was the most crucial part of her journey. They moved her up to the ICU and we were escorted into this super fancy waiting room for families of ICU patients. We were told that she had an infection and that because of her weak immune system due to the chemo that her body was having trouble fighting off the infection. After lots of tests, today (Saturday) we were told that this infection is actually strep pneumonia. Because they know EXACTLY what the infection is, they are able to aggressively treat it with the correct antibiotics. We were told she was "the sickest of the sick."

We were able to see her and for most of the day Friday she was just out of it. Friday night, Jan Carlin aka Queen Jean's Chemo Queen went in to say goodnight to the Queen. She came RUNNING out of the ICU and said "she's responding, she's responding!" We all raced down there only to be yelled at and told that 2 of us were allowed at once (we'll get to the breaking rules post later). Sure enough, we went in there and she was squeezing our hands and nodding her head yes and no to our questions. She was wiggling her toes for the nurse and following all of the rules.

*Side note...the teacher in me instantly thought: "she's following the rules...she needs a reward." The first thing out of my mouth was that I would bring her stickers. Needless to say, she immediately rolled her eyes at me. But I brought her stickers because she is being a good patient. She picked out purple smiley faces. Each time I give her a sticker, she still rolls her eyes at me. Oh well.

Anyways, today (Saturday) she truly let her Queen Jean personality shine. Aunt Emmy, Aunt Jenny, and Nana are all here because they hopped on the first flights out of Pittsburgh, Boston, and Miami to be with the Queen. Early this morning, Aunt Jenny and I went in to visit her only to find her super awake and alert. Aunt Jenny said, "Jean, did you get some sleep last night?" She rolled her eyes around to look at all the beeping equipment and shrugged her shoulders. I said, "Should we interpret that as 'are you fucking kidding, how could I sleep with all this?'" And of course, she nodded her head with a very strong YES. We also got a double thumbs up this morning when we said, "keep fighting, we love you, and we will be back soon." She is very aware and observant of all the things going on in her room. She waved goodbye to us when we were standing outside the door. She also nodded yes to the question "are you bored?" So, for anyone that knows my mom....you know that these are all typical Queen Jean remarks, which we are all thrilled to see. We got another surprise later in the morning. She held up her finger in a writing motion when Nana, Jan, and the Aunties were in the room. And believe it or not, but she started writing. She wrote some scribbles, but then wrote "Jeff Nancy Abby." En route for us to get to her, she wrote "Fill them" After some questions, they realized she was saying "Fill them in." Oh....if she only knew how overly filled in we are on her medical state....I think she would be proud. What's the first note I got from her? Well, she said, "Have to pee." Crap I thought, what do I say. Then I remembered...catheter...pee...she is peeing...so, I told her all of this and then she was fine. Nancy created an alphabet board on poster board so that she can point to letters to form words, but I'll let her tell you about that later.

This is the longest post ever, but I want you all to know everything because my mom would want you to know everything. We talked to the doctor this afternoon. She is in no way "out of the woods." She has a lot of fight left but they are VERY pleased with the direction things are going. Yesterday, there was worry of organ failure. Today, her kidneys are good (lots of pee) and her liver is good. We need her blood pressure to stay at a good level as they decrease the blood pressure meds. When her blood pressure is stable without the blood pressure meds, then we are in good shape. The last step is taking her off of the ventilator. This is still days away and cannot be done until her blood pressure is stable and where they need it to be. Clearly, this is about as much of an "Idiot's Guide Approach to Medical Care" as I can give. That's why we have Nurse Jan and Nurse Nan Fran to ask all the right medical questions :) So...keep the prayers/good vibrations coming for good (and independent) blood pressure. She is feeling the love and we are constantly telling her how many people love her and how many people are thinking about her. Clearly, she is about as strong as they come. We love you all and cannot even begin to thank all of you for the unending support, phone calls, hugs, texts, facebook wall posts to my mom, food, water, clothes, etc., etc. She is truly loved by all of you and we are sure to tell her that every time we see her. I am going to continue posting as frequently as possible. Please spread the word about the blog. I think this is an easy way for us to communicate to people some of the little things that are going on. We love you all and thank you, thank you, thank you again.

Love,

Jeff, Abby, Nancy, Nana, Aunt Emmy, and Aunt Jenny aka The Queens Royal Court