Update #3

Jennifer is amazing! Only a few hours after her tracheotomy she was able to drink from a straw! Her doctor has removed her nasal tube and she will be allowed to eat soft mechanical food. Just this morning we were told that possibly tomorrow they would allow her to try a small piece of ice. Right now she's doing good watching one of her favorite shows. Tomorrow will be the start of something new - physical therapy - getting up and getting in shape for transplant.

Update #2

It's almost 2:45pm and I'm sitting with my beautiful, brave, resilient daughter Jennifer who is resting after receiving her tracheotomy. I like finding positives out of negative situations. So, I feel happy to get to see her face again! She only has a nasal tube which hopefully will come out tomorrow or Wednesday. I'll keep you posted.

Transplant Update

Hi - this is Heather, Jennifer's mom. She wanted me to post an update letting you know what's been happening with her. You probably know that she has been in the hospital for a long time now. It's been 5 weeks and she hasn't gotten any better - only worse. Sunday her doctor called Danny and Kevin and me and told us to come over to the hospital - that he wanted to talk to us in person. Right away I was so upset! When we got there he told us what we already knew - she wasn't getting better - there wasn't anything else that they could do to make her better except get her transplant done. The plan was to take her by ambulance the following day (yesterday) up to Shands where she would be admitted and stay until they had a donor. Yesterday morning they put her on a ventilator and flew her up to Gainesville. She is now number one on the list so we pray that her new lungs will come very soon. This morning at 11:00 she will have a tracheotomy done so that they can get the tubes out of her throat and get her moving around again. Danny and I won't be leaving her side. I promise to keep you updated as things happen. Please keep her in your prayers - we love her very much.

Half way there...

Well its taken 2 weeks but the other day I FINALLY started to feel better thanks to some 3% saline treatments! Along time ago I used to do 7% hypertonic saline treatments but they would cause me to have horrible bronco-spasms and wheezing so I stopped doing them. With this admission I was finding that my left upper lobe was just not getting the junk out on its own no matter what I did so my doctor suggested I try the 3% to see how well I tolerated it. Luckily it went well and almost instantly I was feeling less sticky in my lobe and I was able to clear the mucous out easier! Have I mentioned that I love my doctor and am thankful he is back?? :)

Yesterday, I had another interview with the newspaper for Jen’s Kids. I think its gonna be a really good article I am just going to have to get used to the fact that they want to take pictures of me with my oxygen on to put in the paper. I know that thats really me but I just hate the fact that I even have to wear it all the time let alone be put in a paper that everyone in the town I grew up in is gonna see. I guess that’s just me being vain but I can’t help how I feel.

I got to go out on pass on Sunday. I went with my SIL and we got pedicures and I got my haircut. It was so nice getting out of the hospital for a little bit and the pedicure was complete bliss! Definitely what the doctor ordered.

I missed Oktoberfest this year which was a huge disappointment but hopefully this time next year I can go and not be on O2!! Let me rephrase that...next year I WILL be going without oxygen!!

Well, I guess that’s all I got for now. Monday is 3 weeks I have been in the hospital but I have strong feeling that I won’t be going home then. Especially since the whole first week I was here was basically a joke thanks to the Dr who shall remain nameless. But we shall see.

Have a good weekend everyone!!!