An Aging Trans Woman

Room didn’t come available. Status unchanged. Psychosis still pretty bad. She really needs to get some peace and quiet. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

Originally posted at http://wyldraven.dreamwidth.org/551959.html

Tags: lasarina hospitalization

Doctor says lasarina is medically stable enough to leave the ICU. That should help with the psychosis. He’s going to transfer her today to the IMU (intermediate monitoring unit) if he can get a room. That would mean a private room without all the lights, noise, craziness of the ICU. It would also mean I could stay in the room with her overnight. All of these are good things.

Don’t get me wrong, she is still very ill. But at this point, I will gladly take any step in the right direction, no matter how small.

Originally posted at http://wyldraven.dreamwidth.org/551897.html

Tags: lasarina hospitalization

It is indeed Proteus, just as I predicted. But what I didn’t predict is that the Candida is also present again. Barbara is not lucid today. She is restless and uncomfortable. She is intermittently hallucinating. She is this close to ICU psychosis. I know, because I have seen it before. I am exhausted.

I won’t lie, the worst times for me are when I have to deal with the altered mental state. It’s too much like other things I saw growing up with very ill, very elderly, family members. Intellectually, I know what it is, and that it’s not all that big a deal. That doesn’t change the gut level emotional reaction. It’s frightening. It hurts to watch it. And yet I know, if I am not here, it will get exponentially worse.

I would love to nap, but if I do, I’ll repeat Sunday night. I didn’t go to sleep until 5am Monday as a result of a 90 minute nap Sunday afternoon. So I fight to stay awake, and maintain some sort of normalcy to my routine. As if normalcy and ICU can ever coexist. Thank the Goddess that at least I don’t have to worry about the pets this time.

Originally posted at http://wyldraven.dreamwidth.org/551492.html

Tags: lasarina hospitalization

In my gut, I knew it was premature. Gram-negative rods took hold overnight. She is feverish and sick again. Whatever this one is (I’m guessing Proteus), it’s apparently not affected by Tigecycline, so they’ll be changing her to a different antibiotic later today.

Originally posted at http://wyldraven.dreamwidth.org/551196.html

Tags: lasarina hospitalization

Barbara’s blood cultures have turned up the culprit, and the plan now is to narrow in on this with a specific agent, rather than the initial broad spectrum stuff. Prognosis is good. She is expected to recover, though this (like other instances before) will have weakened her again. Her fever is more controlled and she is resting more comfortably.

ETA: She is doing much better, and has been almost fever free for the last couple of hours. For those asking, the culprit is yeast in blood (candida sepsis) and urinary tract. She is being treated with broad spectrum antibiotics through the night, with a powerful IV anti-fungal (micafungin) ordered for the AM.

She actually just woke up shivering from the cooling blanket. It has been discontinued for now.

Originally posted at http://wyldraven.dreamwidth.org/550672.html

Tags: lasarina hospitalization

We are still waiting confirmation, but it appears she may be fighting sepsis again. Fever over 104, heart rate high, sleeping pretty much all day. Pneumonia got her down here to the ICU, but it’s the sepsis that will keep her.

Originally posted at http://wyldraven.dreamwidth.org/550495.html

Tags: lasarina hospitalization