Useful Links to the Sierra Nevada

Tuesday, February 27th

Update

Hi guys,
I'm in a little better moodthis evening so I thought I'd update you on today's news. Yesterday was a very bad day and I took the news of the bacteria very hard. But I'm back to my old self today and I'm looking for the positive things to hang on to.

She is in very critical condition right now, but even with that there are a few positives. They have been able to ween her off of one of the Blood pressure meds and are begining to ween her off of the other. So her blood pressure is stabalizing. Her temp. is also doing better. They have to keep her on a warming mat to keep her temp up, but while she is on it her temp is normal. Also they did an MRI on her head last night and it showed nothing new from her older MRI. There is still a little swelling on her brain, but no significent damage.
They took a look into her lungs today with a scope and found that she didn't have to much fluid in them. The little fluid they did find they suctioned out and will have the labs look at them.

Dr. Millius, who is the resident on the primary team that works with Tammy, has been very good to us and is great to talk to to get information in plain english. He was very hopefull this morning that this new antibiotic and the other things they are doing will work.

Tammy has a long tough road ahead of her. It has been a hard climb from the beginning, and with this setback just got steeper. But we are in it for the long haul. Thanks for all of the comments today guys. It really helps to pull me through.
Steven on 02.27.07 @ 07:21 PM PST [link]

Monday, February 26th

Tammy Update

Hi all,
My news isn't so good this evening. Tammy has had a major setback in her recovery and the odds of her making it have been greatly reduced. A very aggressive bacteria has developed in Tammy's lungs. It is resistant to all of the antibiotics they have been giving her. They are going to try an older antbiotic that is rearly used anymore as a last resort. They are also going back in time and trying treatments from the 1920's before there were antibiotics. Things aren't looking to good.

These problem started to show themselves on Wed. as they tried to take her off of the antibiotics and her temp. began to rise right away. They knew then that something was going on. By Thurs. her respiratory had started to become a problem. By Fri. her respiratory rate had risen to the mid to high 30s. Normaly it was in the 18-20 range. By Sat. Night it had risen into the low 50s and they put her back under sedation and back on the ventilator. She also had a constant temp of 102 on Sat. By Sun. her temp had returned to normal, but on Sun. night it dropped to low, and she was on the verge of hypothermia. By this morning they had her temp back to normal.

We recieved the news of the bacteria today after the Infectious Disease Specialist reviewed her case. I also talked to her liver doctor and it appears that she may not be able to come completely out of her coma. After talking to his mentor, an 80 year old liver specialist who still works, Dr. Runyon believes that there is an underlying cause for her not coming out of the coma. And he believes that she may be in a cylcle that looks like she's coming out of it, only to go back into it a few days later. Does that make sense? I can't explain it very well. He said that when a patient gets into a cyle like this, they rarely come out of it.

So does anybody have a huge miracle we can use? We really need it now. We also need all of the prayers and positive vibes you guys can give us.
I will keep you guys updated. And once again, thank you for all of your support.
Steven on 02.26.07 @ 08:53 PM PST [link]

Tuesday, February 20th

New Update

Hi guys,
Tammy is about the same as she has been. She is awake about 3-4 hours while we are at the hospital and is getting more movements down. I'd say that she isn't moving quite as much as she was about 4-5 days ago though. At that time she was moving her head a lot more than she is now and she was begining to move her arms and shoulders. It seems that she has slipped back in her movements, but it also seems that she is moving to our command more. So maybe it's a trade off. Also, she is moving other things now too. She lifts her wrist and is moving her left foot and toes. It's still slow going, but she's getting there.

Didn't get to see a doc today, so can't really report anything from that front.

Tammy's mom and I will be driving up to Bishop tomorrow so I can get my computer and a few other things from home. We also need a little break from the hospital. So I might not have any more updates for you until Thurs. or Fri.

Big storm on it's way for the Sierra Wed. night through Friday. Up to 3 feet of snow forecast at the momment.

Steven on 02.20.07 @ 05:37 PM PST [link]

Friday, February 16th

Update on Tammy

Tammy is continuing to come back to us. It's slow progress, but there is a little every day. Her liver doctor is concered that it is taking so long to come out of the coma. I guess it doesn't normally take this long to come out of a Hepatic Coma. He is thinking that there is something else going on that's keeping her down. They continue to run test to try to find the answer.
When you think about it, she has some of the top liver doctors in the country, if not the world, totaly stumped. I'm beginning to agree with them that something else has to be going on. Something out of the ordinary. Right now they are testing for Wilson's Disease. With Wilson's Disease your liver cannot process the copper in your body. So the copper builds up and can cause all kinds of problems. In half of the people with Wilson's Disease it's the liver that suffers the most damage. Dr. Runyon also said that this could be keeping her in the coma. We'll see what the results from the test show.
They did some more blood cultures on her and they all came back negitive. So that means the original infection is now gone. But there is something going on that keeps giving her a slight fever. They're searching for that too.

If you would like to send a card to Tammy you can send it to;

Tammy Bourelle
Loma Linda University Medical Center
11234 Anderson St
Loma Linda Ca 92354

They drop the cards off in her room for us.
Please don't send flowers.
She can not have them while she is in ICU.

Once again, thanks to all of you that have commented and sent emails. It's great to know that there are so many people out there pulling for us and thinking about us!!
Steven on 02.16.07 @ 07:51 PM PST [link]

Monday, February 12th

Update

Tammy is still getting a little better each day. Today she had her eyes open for 1 hr 47 min. That's a new record. She is also moving her fingers and hands. And from time to time her arms. Today she was also raising her eye brows a lot. Once when she coughed today her left foot moved. That's the first a foot has moved.
She is still having some trouble with getting a temperature. This morning it was 101.8. They give her Tylenol and it goes back down to normal. The doctor is a little concerned with this and has ordered another anti biotic for her. She had been on three of them, they then went down to one, now she will be on two. He said today that for us a 101 temp isn't much, but for her it is pretty high.

I have to tell you about yesterday. I was holding her right hand with my right hand on the bottom and my left hand on top. She looked down at my left hand. At first I thought she was looking at her stuffed bear i had gotten her, then I realized she was looking at my wedding ring. I lifted my hand and she followed the ring with her eyes. She then moved her head to the left and looked down at her left hand as if to ask where her ring was. I told her I couldn't put her ring on because the nurses wouldn't let me. I didn't tell her that her ring is still in Bishop. It won't be in Bishop to much longer though. It will be on the way here tomorrow. I can't wait to show it to her when it gets here.
Steven on 02.12.07 @ 08:30 PM PST [link]

Saturday, February 10th

More good news

Today our girl had her eyes open for 40 minutes. She was very aware of things. She didn't fixate on me as much, and was paying atention to the TV and to the stuffed bear her mom had. She also moved her head towards me when I called her.

Then later on in the day she began moving her left hand, then gave many good squeezes to my hand and rubbed the top of my hand. She then began moving her left arm and shoulder and before she went back to sleep she was moving her right hand. All of this was with her eyes closed, but she was awake. We can tell when she's awake be her eye movements under her eye lids.
Needless to say we are flying high again today!!

I have just finished reading a great book called Coma Life by Dr Richard S. Darling. Dr Darling has had three liver transplants and was in a Hepatic Coma after the first one. Insted of telling you about it, here is the link to it's wed site;
http://comalife.org/
I will add though, this book has been a huge help to me since I bought it a few days ago. It has helped me to understand what Tammy is going through with her coma and what her and I will go through in the future if she needs a liver transplant. Dr Darling is an insperation to all of us and I highly recomend reading this book.
Steven on 02.10.07 @ 08:49 PM PST [link]

Weekend Update

Hi guys,
The good news continues. I don't know how many of you read Susan's comment (Thanks Susan!!) but on Thurs. Tammy opened her eyes for her first extended periods of time. (The other times she had opened them were very short.)
Yesterday she opened them for a full hour and fifteen minutes. Once again she locked on to my eyes and followed me everywhere. She seemed much more aware of everything in the room yesterday. She would look torwards her mom when she talked. She looked at the nurse while she was talking to her, and she gave the respitory guy a dirty look when he made her cough to clear her lungs. (At least that's what I tiold him.) She also would glance up at the TV.
The nurse got to her to gently squeze her hand and Tammy was moving her left fingers some. She also moved her head slightly and was moving her mouth a little.
So yesterday was even a bigger day then Thurs.
All of her vitals have been good, the infection seems to be on the way out, if it isn't already gone, and the doctors seem causously optomistic.
Once again, thanks to all of you. The prayers and thoughts are so very special to me. And I know they are to Tammy too. I tell her how popular she is everyday.

And by the way,
The picture is from the Upper Owens River looking towards Mt Morrison.

Steven on 02.10.07 @ 08:50 AM PST [link]

Wednesday, February 7th

Tammy Update

Hi guys,
Tammy is currently in what they are calling a Hepatic Comma. It is a comma caused by liver failure. All of her vitals are good and the infection is under control. We are trying each day to wake her and get her to come back to us. Every day she seems a little more active with her eyes. Her eyes move under her lids when we talk to her and the nurses have said they move more for her mom and I than for them. She has opened her eyes a few times. Two days ago she opened them wide for the first time and held them open for a couple of minutes. She has also moved her mouth a few times and swallowed a couple of times.
The doctors have done a CAT scan of her brain and everything showed up ok. Yesterday they did an EEG and last night they were going to do an MRI. Hopefully we'll get the results from them today.
Yesterday we didn't get to talk to her nurse or even see Tammy to much. Her new roomate was in bad condition and was requiring a lot of special attention. So we are hoping to spend a little more time with her today.

Many heart felt thanks to everyone that has sent prayers and good thoughts our way. I get teary every day when I check my email. You guys are the greatest. Tammy's mom and dad thank you all too.
I'll keep you posted on her progress.
Steven
Steven on 02.07.07 @ 09:04 AM PST [link]

Friday, February 2nd

We need your prayers!!

Hi guys,
For the last week my wife Tammy has been very sick in the hospital.
I'll start from the start for you guys.

On Jan 8th Tammy had a hysterectomy. They had found a tumor on her ovaries and were very concerned it was cancer. All went well with the surgery and we found out that there wasn't any cancer. But in the process we also found out that her liver was in bad shape and that she had sclerosis of the liver. She's never been a heavy drinker so we really aren't sure how this happened. We have found out that many different things can cause sclerosis of the liver though.
Her first week of recovery from sugary went very well. She was very sore but doing ok. On the second week of her recovery she began to feel very tired and fatigued. On Tuesday night the 23rd she began to throw up. On Wed. she was very sick and throwing up all day. Wed. night she quit throwing up and on Thursday we went to the doctor. They believed that she had caught a flu bug. She was very dehydrated and they told her to sip as much liquid as she could. Also her blood pressure was very low and they told me to keep a close eye on her.
On Friday morning she was very bad. I couldn't get here to respond to me at all. Her mouth was pulled back in this weird way and she just had this blank look in her eyes. I called 911 and the ambulance came and took her to the hospital.
While at Northern Inyo Hospital we found out that her liver was failing and her kidneys were too. They told me they had to get her to a bigger hospital for her to have any chance of making it.
They flew her to Loma Linda University Medical Center Friday evening. There we found out that she had a major infection and that's what was causing all of this.
On Saturday the 27th things were looking very bleak. We talked to a liver specialist and he was very worried that she wouldn't make it through the weekend. Her liver and kidneys had totally shut down and the had found a blockage in her small intestine that was keeping her from having bowel movements. They were afraid that they might have to operate to remove the blockage but were also afraid she wasn't strong enough to make it through sugary. On Sat. night they called me 4 times in the middle of the night to get oks to do different procedures an early on Sunday morning she had two very bad seizures.
Sunday didn't look good. But I guess when you have a strong family pulling for you and talking to you and more family praying for you all over the country, somebody listens out there.
Sunday afternoon Tammy stated to come out of the sedation and while my mom and I were in the room she yanked up her hand and tried to pull out the tube that goes down her throat from the ventilator. As the nurse was trying to calm her she kept fighting and fighting. Finally the nurse got her calmed down.
This showed us that she still had a lot of fight in here.
Monday she began to improve. Little positives began happening. Her kidneys started perking up, and her infection started going down.
Tuesday, more improvements. They did start to believe that she was in a coma though because she wasn't coming off of the sedation and they weren't giving it to her anymore.
Wed, she was taken off of the meds that kept her blood pressure stable and she also began breathing 100% on her own.
Thursday she was taken off 2 of the 3 antibiotics she was on. and she began to have eye movement under her eye lids. She would also respond to voices by moving and blinking her eyes. But she hadn't opened them yet. Also the doctors started thinking that she wasn't in a coma, but that she was just slow in coming out of sedation. And her white blood cell count was returning to normal, that meant the infection was weakening.
Today, all was the same as yesterday. Her doctors are very happy with her recovery, but she needs to open her eyes before they take her out of ICU.

I had to drive back to Bishop today and bring my mom home. I'm also paying bills and getting the animals taken care of. Tammy's mom called this evening and told me that while the nurse was cleaning out Tammy's mouth she opened her eyes about a quarter of the way. The nurse and Sam (Tammy's mom) tried to get her to open them and Sam said Tammy tried about four times and then tired out. She's close to opening them. Hopefully tomorrow she will.

So as you can see we have had a scary week. But Tammy is doing better everyday. She will have to have a liver transplant. We don't know when, but it will be soon. The doctors told us that until she got the infection under control they couldn't even think about a transplant.

I wanted to tell all of you sooner, but I didn't have any access to a computer. When I go back on Sunday I will have Tammy's laptop with me and I will keep you all informed of how things are going.
Steven

Steven on 02.02.07 @ 08:54 PM PST [link]