Welcome to Nashville

Hi everyone, it’s Brittany! I made it to Nashville! As I was walking through the Nashville airport, I came across this huge advertisement for Amanda’s hospital. Only the best for our girl! 

When Barkley dropped me off at the hospital Tuesday morning, Amanda was getting ready to do her physical therapy and go for a lap around the floor. She looked great and did fantastic on her walk! Barkley and Larry were running some errands and came by a bit later. Barkley gave me the low down on hospital living and showed me all the places to get Amanda the things she needs (food options, ice and beverage stations, etc.) 

Amanda and I settled in and were busy catching up. I was amazed at how great she was doing and so were all the nurses and providers. I think the “leaps and bounds” she’s made the last few days led them in making some decisions Tuesday to wind down the use of the CRRT machine (helping her kidneys) and to stop the suction on the chest tubes (pulling the excess air that has been making her swell up and be so uncomfortable). Early afternoon Amanda started feeling like she needed air (oxygen) and it became harder for her to chat all of a sudden. I got busy advocating for her and they seemed to make some adjustments to the CRRT machine and they decided turning off the suction on the chest tubes may have contributed to her seemingly instant change in breathing and comfort. At some they did turn the suction back on. Unfortunately, whatever was going on seemed to slowly progress through the night becoming more and more uncomfortable with some pain, feelings of chest tightness/heaviness, heartburn, and somewhat labored breathing. The night nurse was amazingly attentive and they were on top of things early Wednesday morning ordering a chest x-ray and two separate checks on her blood gases. Everything came back “looking okay” as they say but still, to me the change in Amanda was significant and so easy to see. I continued to advocate for her and I have a feeling some providers are slightly annoyed by my willingness to jump in and ask questions with out a medical degree or remind them to go get the pain meds she asked for 20 minutes ago. It’s okay though, I’ll play the “annoying and persistent family member” for a while and then maybe they’ll be so happy to see Barkley when he gets back this weekend. ? It will be like a good cop, bad cop routine! 

On Wednesday morning, they talked a lot about going back to helping the kidneys but haven’t done anything just yet. Our main focus Wednesday was on Amanda getting all of her pills down and making sure she ate a few things so we could get credit for her eating and keep the feeding tube at bay. Wednesday afternoon they took Amanda for a CT scan and thankfully found the issue. One of her chest tubes was twisted shut, so even though they turned the suction back on Tuesday, a huge amount of air built up pushing on her lungs and everything else. They had a surgeon fellow come by and he got it fixed up and Amanda could feel an immediate release. Now she was back on the mend and her body was slowly but consistently improving and by the evening she was talking better and able to take her meds a bit faster. We ended the evening with a visit from Bev. She’s amazing and so much fun to visit with! And a true blessing to Barkley and Amanda! 

Thanks to all for your continued prayers! I’m so thankful that Amanda and Barkley have this awesome network of support. Every prayer makes a difference! ❤️