Adam Update

2-5-26 – Adam was sent to his Skilled Nursing Facility. Had his care meeting today, they said he has ‘new diagnoses’, one is his heart is regurgitating (mitrovalve), second is a partially collapsed lung. They said it was likely from the intubation (hadn’t heard, no one told me until 2 hours ago (time of the meeting). We of course discussed what they were going to do in order to make sure this didn’t happen again. I’m praying they take it seriously. Thank you all for your faithfulness.

As I scroll FB, I am warmed by those in the body who care enough to pray for others. At the same time I know it’s hard to see all the many prayer requests. But God wants to hear our voices. We empathize, but we need to go to Him in confidence, trusting Him for the right outcome. I thank God for my loving family and friends, answers to prayer for normal, humble Christian friends.

1-28-26 through 1-30 Update

We had a day of laughter. My daughter Tierney sent me a video of her little baby Casen. I held my phone up close to Adam’s face so he could see and hear. At the end, he laughed, so we watched it four more times and he laughed every time. Each time I would suction him. We watched more funny animal and funny baby videos while I watched him laugh until some tears ran out. I think he got cleared up quite a bit from the laughter 😊

Here is the video that started it all:

That evening they told me they were taking Adam to step down to telemetry (at some point that night). We went home with a new room number (that they gave us). Yesterday after many calls (the front desk didn’t know, telemetry didn’t know. They sent me to ICU to find out where Adam was, and they told me it was not telemetry but med one.

So, I called a few minutes later to find how he was doing this morning. (I wanted particularly to see if he had any more issues with O2 saturation and tachycardia – he had several events the day before. The monitor kept beeping  O2 (84 sat) and flashing tachycardia (abbr) and AFib, but the nurse felt it was monitor error.

I told the nurse I would not be coming in because I wasn’t doing well, but Adam’s long-time good (and very faithful) friend Amber would be down to be with him. She told me they had sent him already for his swallow test, and had some trouble with the nectar, so they said he has to do honey thick (which is what he has been doing). He was going to shortly have his first meal. (Since then he has had many – I have written over a couple of days). He is also off of O2, and seems to be breathing well and congestion lessening.

That night I got a call from a doctor trying to shame me about not having a DNR. He asked if the ‘group home’ he was in was not giving him proper supervision to him. I let him know it was skilled nursing, and I of course agree it was terrible he swallowed whatever it was. He asked me again then how could he get this? (Obviously I don’t know).

I tried to keep my calm, as his tone seemed a bit testy and almost accusatory towards me (it was  odd, I didn’t take it personally really, but at the same time I wondered about the way he spoke to me, as if I were responsible). And he seemed to be expecting an answer. So I was thinking of what had happened over the past week at the hospital and replied, ‘Well, from what I’ve seen over the years and many (many) times in hospitals, nurses and doctors both, tend to use the bed as a table. And in fact here in your hospital, there have been four different times I’ve had to remove something that was left on the bed (he changed the subject quickly not wanting to hear it seemed).

The first time I found something was day 1 when I came in and checked his hands (for swelling and to make sure the restraints weren’t too tight). He had his hands clenched. I gently opened them thinking he was stressed, but inside he had a couple of gauze pads with blood on them. I took them to the nurse and told her, and she casually said, “Oh, I must have left them when I took his blood”). The other three times, two separate times I found white caps (likely from the saline solution), they were left right by his hands. The next was a larger orange cap, and even though he was restrained, a couple of times they either loosened him or he did, and was able to reach his nasal feeding tube. I let them know about that too as he reached for it while I was there.

Anyways, the doctor launched into why Adam needed a DNR. He said if this happened again, he could be in a “much worse situation.”  He brought up how he might need trached and some other things. I’ve been through this before with my late husband, mom and dad both — the pressure for DNR’s. One doctor cursing out in the hallway, loud enough for everyone to hear, about putting a ‘f—-g 80 something year old on a vent. The ICU nurse came in later, told me he had worked respiratory for 18 years, and how I had done the right thing, he said, ‘you always secure the airway first.’ My dad lived through the UTI/pneumonia many more years.

Anyways, with the doctor, I didn’t think it would be of benefit to continue, and he was very forceful. I told him I would think about it. He said, “Well of course we would still treat him.” I had nothing more to say, realizing it is basically the opposite in my experience. I just thanked him and said goodbye. I pray for them all. It’s a hard job. Some have gotten apathetic, but there are some who are conscientious and caring.

Each ICU room had nurses names on the doors (not the patients), so as I walked the long hall (his room was last), I prayed for the name of each nurse, each day. Our prayers matter.

I appreciate continued prayers. Much is going on, I’m tired, and I haven’t felt well, but I know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, so thank you for praying.

As always, even if you are sure you know where you are going when you die, please read this again. It helps prepare you with an answer of the reason of the hope within you, and it’s a reminder of His beyond amazing grace.

PS: (if you want to leave a reply/comment, scroll to bottom of page). Please note that all comments are pending until I come in and approve (I have had many comments that are not so nice, some vile, some false doctrine, so I had to change the setting to pending until I could see it.)