Prayers needed--update 10/20/11

***I Have added more, because this was "Published" before it was finished, be sure to read all the way to the end***
Well this morning has been very eventful, so I'll try to get everything in without getting too confused.
Dad decided to come home last night to get some sleep...Joe brought him home and I brought him back this morning. We were in her room by 7:30 this morning. She had gotten 2 units of blood and bags of fluid with protein to try to increase her blood pressure. It was in the low 80s/high 70s for the top number. The doctors decided they needed to add a blood pressure med and get a ventral blood pressure (what we typically hear about are arterial pressures). They had weaned some of the sedatives in an attempt to make her less sleepy, but still keep her asleep. When the doctor tried to get her to respond, she was still too sleepy.
Her nurse started to put the head of the bed down to hook up the ventral pressure and when she did Mom's heart rate skyrocketed into something called ventral tachycardia (aka "V Tach"). This is certainly a major concern that requires immediate attention. To get immediate attention in the hospital setting, staff call a "code blue". This allows all staff to be on hand to assist as needed. So, Mom "coded" this morning. The response was immediate and the doctors and nurses were able to get her heart back into normal rhythm--but that did require that she was shocked twice. Fortunately, Dad, Granny, and I had been ushered out of the room at that point and did not see THAT happen.
Dad stayed in the hallway until things calmed a bit. They inserted an arterial line (art line) that will give the medical team constant feedback about her blood pressure. They also added a triple lumen central line to get more meds in as needed.
Right now Mom is stable, but she is still quite sick. They will need to help her fight this infection (whatever it is), but in the meantime, that may mean fighting smaller fires that pop up (i.e. blood pressures, heart rates, kidney function, etc.).
Currently she is on: several antibiotics, 2 sedative medications, a med to regulate her heart rhythm, a med for her blood pressures, they gave her another 'booster' for her white count, and I think she's on steriods for something too. In addition, they have numerous lines running in and out of her poor body--she would definitely freak out if she could see all of this stuff, but it is all there to give her the meds and fluids she needs, to monitor her vitals, and to help her excrete all the extra 'stuff' inside. There is no doubt that she is in the best place, getting the best care. There are multiple different medical services consulting with her team and getting information to and from my dad. They are trying to make sure they have everything looked at...and so we wait. Wait for the blood cultures to return the results. Wait for her white counts to come up and start fighting the infection. Wait for her pressures to come back up and her heart rate to stay normal. Most importantly we wait for her to be able to talk back to us and tell us that she doesn't like this tube, or this unit (we know she would want to be on 3 East--you all spoil her), or that she's ready to giddy-up on out of here.

On a side note, we certainly would be remiss if we didn't take the time to thank everyone for the love and concern that they have shown throughout, but especially today. I don't want to name any names for fear of forgetting someone, but you know who you are!! And to Mom and Dad's friends in dietary--those of you in and out of the room bringing her the diet Cokes and the catfish--THANK YOU for the tray of goodies that you provided us to day. You don't just care for my mom, you care for the whole family. YOU are Awesome!!
It's been one heck of a day--a day I'd rather not have to do again--but another day to give thanks for your prayers and to the Good Lord for watching over us!!