10/5 Morning Update

Hi Everybody,

The transition to Baird 4 has not gone as well as hoped. Courtney was in agonizing pain all last night and didn’t fall asleep until 7:30 this morning. The source may be withdrawal symptoms, we were hoping to keep her off as much medication as possible, but her body has reacted so violently without regular doses.

The pain comes over her in waves, at times her eyes are wide open with fear or tearfully wincing in pain. She flails her legs and right arm around so wildly she breaks out in a sweat, it’s a struggle to keep her from hurting herself.

Julie and I sat bedside trying calm her down, nothing worked. Courtney would calm down for a few minutes only to break into fits. Her movements have been jerky, her hands clamp down on anything in reach. She tosses back and forth and nearly slumped out of bed a couple times. Julie stayed in her room overnight and I grabbed some sleep on the 3rd floor.

We conceded the nurse’s offer of morphine; two doses had barely any effect. The doctors eventually placed her back on Atavan, a minor tranquilizer, and after two doses she finally settled down and fell sleep. One glaring concern is whether Courtney is suffering through seizures again, its hard not knowing for sure. It’s also hard to see her body contortions and to see her bare down so hard she cries, when does she ever cry?

Walking from Courtney’s room through the hospital corridors, the patients are mostly elderly folks, lying in bed or in wheelchairs, watching television and talking with visitors. A hospital is no place for her. There’s nothing typical about these circumstances, we don’t know (and may never really know) what caused this and there are so many variables in her recovery process.

Hopefully the afternoon will see her through better times, Courtney can rest up and perhaps wheel around the hospital and outside. A representative from Spaulding is scheduled to be at Fletcher Allen on Monday to assess Courtney’s condition. In the meantime, we want her to try her best to remain calm and stay in Baird 4, although it’s not out of the question for her to move back to the ICU temporarily. I’ll let you know how she does.

We Love you Courtney and we can't wait to have you back safe and sound.

-Sean