Hi all
I visited Annie for 40 minutes in her ICU isolation room on the 30th. She was very happy to see me and I waffled on about this and that until she was tired and then I left so she could sleep. She cannot communicate verbally at all because of the tracheotomy, and though she tried to write it was illegible as she was so weak. How does she look? Weak and tired and she coughs a lot. They are trying hard to get her to breath totally on her own but she tires after an hour or two and then 'rests" on assisted ventilation. I counted about a dozen bags and tubes of this and that going in and out of her body. She is hooked up to innumerable monitors and screens, is covered with a 'cool blanket' that circulates cool air to try and reduce the on-going fever caused by the antibiotic-resistant infections. (On the 31st they began treating her with a 5th antibiotic delivered through a nasal tube.)
On New Years Eve I was camped in my motorhome beside the Goulburn River. Danni's carer Marg (who is, coincidentally, a motorhomer and CMCA member), very kindly drove her down to see me-- and Skye. Danni seemed the picture of health and happiness, was in her element amongst the motorhomes.
On New Years Day, Annie got a new tracheotomy positioned and seemed to be doing better with breathing on her own after that. The doctors are keen to get her 'mobilised' as soon as that happens. The first step will be sitting in a big bed-like armchair.
Cheers, L
