December 06/January 07 Update
Aloha everyone,
Some folks have been asking for an update.
12/2: Tina has been so please with her little improvements. She communicated that she when she recovered fully she was going back to school and she said, “I’m free”. Wow, in her condition and what she’s been through she feels a sense of freedom.
12/8 Tina wanted a mirror, I was nervous about getting her one. I thought, "How will she feel looking at herself with that tracheostomy tube coming out of her throat?" When Tina got the mirror, she wasn't phased! But she was upset that she had a little acne. She just takes things in stride.
12/9: Tina sometimes gets bossy with me or wants me to stay longer. I told her, "Tina you lay there all day and I'm running around living my life and your life, I'm exhausted!" I have to decide to leave when I'm ready and not let her coerce me into staying.
12/11: Tina communicated about a nurse being rude - Tina can't speak but that doesn't stop her from being able to make a complaint. In all my dealings with that nurse, the nurse has been very helpful to me, in fact she had given me copies of the Kaiser medical reports that helped expedite Tina's Medi-Cal - when the woman at Social Security realized that Tina had Kaiser medical insurance, she said, well, this will slow things down, but I gave her those medical copies and she said that would incredibly speed the process. I told Tina to have a little appreciation for that nurse.
12/12: Tina communicated to me her feet stopped hurting. They were so sensitive that I could only massage her legs down to her ankle bones. Even the weight of a light sheet hurt her feet. She was mad at our brother Joey for about 6 weeks because he tickled her feet when he left after a visit and pissed her off. I finally found out why she was mad at him. I massaged her and she was totally cracking up. Her legs reflexed to my touch and she was happy about that movement.
12/15: Tina, said she had a dream about our dad, who died 29 years ago, when she was 8 years old and he told her he was proud of me, Tina and our brother Joe. She communicated it was a happy dream. She mouthed that she wanted to write.
12/16: Tina communicated that her doctor said, in response to her moving, "I think your body's waking up." and "I don't think you are truly paralyzed." She was soooo happy.
12/19: One of Tina's friend's Karin, hooked her up with cable! Thanks, Karin, Tina really appreciates it! (and so do the guys who work there, so they can watch all the ball games - just kidding)
12/20: Tina communicated that she sat in the Geri chair from 9 am to 2 pm - without the ventilator!!! She spells the Geri (geriatric) chair, Jeri - but since she is unfamiliar with medical terminology, she doesn't know that geriatric means "old", so I let her spell it "Jeri" chair because she's not old.
12/21: Tina said she's her doctor's favorite. There are so many people there in that unit who are just ready to die and Tina is showing improvement. She's the light in a lot of the employee's lives there.
The Christmas holidays were great for us. My intention was to have a great Christmas and lots of fun. Jessie came down from SF and Derek was back from college and along with Lisa and Kevin we had a happy holiday and a lot of laughter when we visited Tina.
But one day when I visited with my daughter Jessie, Tina was trying to communicate something that we just couldn’t get the concept of, so she got frustrated and got upset and made Jessie cry. Because I’ve never been in Tina’s situation, I can’t truly understand her, but once in awhile during this journey, I have to just end up leaving because I get frustrated too. For the most part Tina is so sweet, but it is just human nature that people get on each other’s last nerve.
12/27: Tina communicated that she felt tingling or prickling throughout her body. I asked if it hurt her and she nodded "No". She's not blinking so much to communicate, I'm much better at reading her lips, plus the use of the alphabet board. The Respiratory Supervisor, Dwayne says that the staff read her lips much better because she is much more expressive with mouthing her words. But she does have a lisp that she never had before when she mouths "s".
12/30: Tina raised her right arm higher than normal while she was talking and she didn’t realize she moved so high, it was like she moved naturally.
1/5/07: With the help of my friend Diane Julian, Tina wrote her name and moved her left arm! She began moving her shoulders more and her left hand isn't so tight fisted, like that of a stroke victim.
I can't remember which day it was but, Karin and Mike were visiting Tina and I was joking with them that Tina sometimes asks me to tickle her feet. I tell her she is getting freaky deaky on me, when she asks me to tickle (only when she "asks" Tim and Jack) I think she is happy she is reflexing.
1/4/07: Tina's doctor told her, "2007 is going to be your year!" in regards to her improvements.
1/8/07: I received a call from the Deputy District Attorney. I was preparing the bills to give to the DA for the restitution/surrender hearing and planned on mailing the 60 + page bill package that day; however, the D.A. asked me to attend the court proceeding on 1/12/07. She asked how much the Kaiser denied bills came to and I told her it was about 12,000. She said, "Is that all?" They estimated the bills would come to approximately $40,000.00 I told her I was remodeling the entry way and the bathroom for wheelchair access and she told me to include those bills. Then I thought of adding my time for all my hours since the beginning of this ordeal, to give them something to throw out.
I had a hard time sleeping all week. My heart would wake me up because it was pounding so loudly. I may have mentioned this in another email, our brother was murdered 9 years ago and it is the same LA. County court house, so I had a lot of anxiety. Sometimes I can't catch my breath. Plus, I knew I would have to see the heartless she-devil who spawned the guy who hit my sister - that woman tried to intimidate me at the preliminary hearing by staring me down, like it was my fault her son was in trouble.
1/12/07 Kevin, my son in law, drove me to the court house. The elevators weren't working, we waited way too long and we were 15 minutes late, so Kevin and I ran up 11 flights of stairs! (we did take a rest on the 6th floor). Man, that was a gnarly work out - good thing I work out or I would have been another victim of all this mess.
I couldn't remember the exact court room, so I looked into the different rooms, finally I looked in one and the guy's mother says in Spanish, with her attitude, "There she is." I called Kevin and said, "This is the right place because she recognized me." as I pointed at her.
The guy's lawyer was trying to bring down the amount of the bills with our attorney and then the guy got up and went up to his lawyer and made a hand motion then they approached the bench and the judge asked about the bills. Our attorney was explaining in detail and then the judge asked, "Does this all have to do with the accident?" The D.A. said, "Yes." The Judge said, "Well then it is all medical". The Judge accepted the whole bill! The guy got 1 year in County Jail, but will probably only spend 1/4 or less of the time due to overcrowding. For 5 years he can be searched, strip searched and property seized and law enforcement can search him or his property without a warrant. As soon as he is out of jail, he has to report to Probation and they will set up a payment schedule (I guess well see how that goes).
After it was over the D.A. came up to me and said, "Did you see when he came up to me and his attorney and make that gesture with his hands? He told his attorney to stop bargaining and said “I'll pay it." The D.A. told me that this case would help in the civil suit.
After I told Tina how it all went, I asked her how she felt, she said, "I feel great - he left me to die." I told her I was glad I went and was able to see his mom cry, see him wave good-bye and walk through the doors into custody.
Sat 01/20/07: Tina had a rough day. A nurse and a nursing assistant who were not from Tina’s acute area were covering her unit. That night at about 9:00 pm I received a phone call from a nurse that alarmed me about Tina's tracheostomy, which on Sunday I find out wasn't anything at all, so all night I worried about Tina.
Sun 01/21/07: Tina told me of the Sat. incident with the nursing assistant (which I’m choosing not to go into detail). Her regular nurses and Respiratory Tech came to her defense and put me on the phone with the supervisor at home. He said he would look into it on Monday.
1/21/07 The RT supervisor did look in to the situation, but there was another incident with that nursing assistant. I told the supervisors I don't want that nursing assistant coming near Tina.
1/22/07 Tues I had a conference call with the Social Worker, Director of Nursing and the Director of something else. Everyone is looking into the incidents and watching out for Tina. The care at this facility has been great, but this week has been trying for both Tina and myself. The staff is communicating with me and dealing with the situation head on.
I told Tina to use that energy of being upset with that nursing assistant toward her recovery, to get herself well and out of there. A lot of the staff just love her so much, and treat her like a princess and she shouldn’t get too comfortable.
So, with all that said regarding theses incidents, I'm requesting Tina's friends to keep visiting her. It is good for the staff to see her have many visitors, at different times of the day. I feel it keeps the staff on their toes, that is why I make sure I am there almost every day.
1/26/07 Today Tina told me that she could hear voice when she spoke with the Passi Muir Valve! And she swallowed liquid! They have been getting her up about 3 times a week in the Geri chair and she is without the ventilator for about 6 hours so I think her lungs are getting stronger so she has more volume of breath to come out. Little by little she is improving.
Despite all that has been going on at the hospital with Tina and dealing with the supervisory staff, my remodeling turned from the handicap accessibility to a full kitchen & dining room remodel too; the Director of Promotions of the Long Beach Ice Dogs Hockey team found me on my partypop.com website and called me. Some of my hula students and I will be dancing during the 2 intermissions, essentially we will be the "quarter time" entertainment at this Sunday's game, 1/28, 5 pm at the LB arena!
Thanks for all your support. I told Tina she is famous. So many people who have never met her know her through these emails. And many people pray for her recovery and wellness every day. I'm waiting for the day she "Walks" in through my "new" front door (she might need some help, but that's ok) and I keep telling her that we are going to have a big humonga kawabunga coming home party - and you are all invited!
Linda
Some folks have been asking for an update.
12/2: Tina has been so please with her little improvements. She communicated that she when she recovered fully she was going back to school and she said, “I’m free”. Wow, in her condition and what she’s been through she feels a sense of freedom.
12/8 Tina wanted a mirror, I was nervous about getting her one. I thought, "How will she feel looking at herself with that tracheostomy tube coming out of her throat?" When Tina got the mirror, she wasn't phased! But she was upset that she had a little acne. She just takes things in stride.
12/9: Tina sometimes gets bossy with me or wants me to stay longer. I told her, "Tina you lay there all day and I'm running around living my life and your life, I'm exhausted!" I have to decide to leave when I'm ready and not let her coerce me into staying.
12/11: Tina communicated about a nurse being rude - Tina can't speak but that doesn't stop her from being able to make a complaint. In all my dealings with that nurse, the nurse has been very helpful to me, in fact she had given me copies of the Kaiser medical reports that helped expedite Tina's Medi-Cal - when the woman at Social Security realized that Tina had Kaiser medical insurance, she said, well, this will slow things down, but I gave her those medical copies and she said that would incredibly speed the process. I told Tina to have a little appreciation for that nurse.
12/12: Tina communicated to me her feet stopped hurting. They were so sensitive that I could only massage her legs down to her ankle bones. Even the weight of a light sheet hurt her feet. She was mad at our brother Joey for about 6 weeks because he tickled her feet when he left after a visit and pissed her off. I finally found out why she was mad at him. I massaged her and she was totally cracking up. Her legs reflexed to my touch and she was happy about that movement.
12/15: Tina, said she had a dream about our dad, who died 29 years ago, when she was 8 years old and he told her he was proud of me, Tina and our brother Joe. She communicated it was a happy dream. She mouthed that she wanted to write.
12/16: Tina communicated that her doctor said, in response to her moving, "I think your body's waking up." and "I don't think you are truly paralyzed." She was soooo happy.
12/19: One of Tina's friend's Karin, hooked her up with cable! Thanks, Karin, Tina really appreciates it! (and so do the guys who work there, so they can watch all the ball games - just kidding)
12/20: Tina communicated that she sat in the Geri chair from 9 am to 2 pm - without the ventilator!!! She spells the Geri (geriatric) chair, Jeri - but since she is unfamiliar with medical terminology, she doesn't know that geriatric means "old", so I let her spell it "Jeri" chair because she's not old.
12/21: Tina said she's her doctor's favorite. There are so many people there in that unit who are just ready to die and Tina is showing improvement. She's the light in a lot of the employee's lives there.
The Christmas holidays were great for us. My intention was to have a great Christmas and lots of fun. Jessie came down from SF and Derek was back from college and along with Lisa and Kevin we had a happy holiday and a lot of laughter when we visited Tina.
But one day when I visited with my daughter Jessie, Tina was trying to communicate something that we just couldn’t get the concept of, so she got frustrated and got upset and made Jessie cry. Because I’ve never been in Tina’s situation, I can’t truly understand her, but once in awhile during this journey, I have to just end up leaving because I get frustrated too. For the most part Tina is so sweet, but it is just human nature that people get on each other’s last nerve.
12/27: Tina communicated that she felt tingling or prickling throughout her body. I asked if it hurt her and she nodded "No". She's not blinking so much to communicate, I'm much better at reading her lips, plus the use of the alphabet board. The Respiratory Supervisor, Dwayne says that the staff read her lips much better because she is much more expressive with mouthing her words. But she does have a lisp that she never had before when she mouths "s".
12/30: Tina raised her right arm higher than normal while she was talking and she didn’t realize she moved so high, it was like she moved naturally.
1/5/07: With the help of my friend Diane Julian, Tina wrote her name and moved her left arm! She began moving her shoulders more and her left hand isn't so tight fisted, like that of a stroke victim.
I can't remember which day it was but, Karin and Mike were visiting Tina and I was joking with them that Tina sometimes asks me to tickle her feet. I tell her she is getting freaky deaky on me, when she asks me to tickle (only when she "asks" Tim and Jack) I think she is happy she is reflexing.
1/4/07: Tina's doctor told her, "2007 is going to be your year!" in regards to her improvements.
1/8/07: I received a call from the Deputy District Attorney. I was preparing the bills to give to the DA for the restitution/surrender hearing and planned on mailing the 60 + page bill package that day; however, the D.A. asked me to attend the court proceeding on 1/12/07. She asked how much the Kaiser denied bills came to and I told her it was about 12,000. She said, "Is that all?" They estimated the bills would come to approximately $40,000.00 I told her I was remodeling the entry way and the bathroom for wheelchair access and she told me to include those bills. Then I thought of adding my time for all my hours since the beginning of this ordeal, to give them something to throw out.
I had a hard time sleeping all week. My heart would wake me up because it was pounding so loudly. I may have mentioned this in another email, our brother was murdered 9 years ago and it is the same LA. County court house, so I had a lot of anxiety. Sometimes I can't catch my breath. Plus, I knew I would have to see the heartless she-devil who spawned the guy who hit my sister - that woman tried to intimidate me at the preliminary hearing by staring me down, like it was my fault her son was in trouble.
1/12/07 Kevin, my son in law, drove me to the court house. The elevators weren't working, we waited way too long and we were 15 minutes late, so Kevin and I ran up 11 flights of stairs! (we did take a rest on the 6th floor). Man, that was a gnarly work out - good thing I work out or I would have been another victim of all this mess.
I couldn't remember the exact court room, so I looked into the different rooms, finally I looked in one and the guy's mother says in Spanish, with her attitude, "There she is." I called Kevin and said, "This is the right place because she recognized me." as I pointed at her.
The guy's lawyer was trying to bring down the amount of the bills with our attorney and then the guy got up and went up to his lawyer and made a hand motion then they approached the bench and the judge asked about the bills. Our attorney was explaining in detail and then the judge asked, "Does this all have to do with the accident?" The D.A. said, "Yes." The Judge said, "Well then it is all medical". The Judge accepted the whole bill! The guy got 1 year in County Jail, but will probably only spend 1/4 or less of the time due to overcrowding. For 5 years he can be searched, strip searched and property seized and law enforcement can search him or his property without a warrant. As soon as he is out of jail, he has to report to Probation and they will set up a payment schedule (I guess well see how that goes).
After it was over the D.A. came up to me and said, "Did you see when he came up to me and his attorney and make that gesture with his hands? He told his attorney to stop bargaining and said “I'll pay it." The D.A. told me that this case would help in the civil suit.
After I told Tina how it all went, I asked her how she felt, she said, "I feel great - he left me to die." I told her I was glad I went and was able to see his mom cry, see him wave good-bye and walk through the doors into custody.
Sat 01/20/07: Tina had a rough day. A nurse and a nursing assistant who were not from Tina’s acute area were covering her unit. That night at about 9:00 pm I received a phone call from a nurse that alarmed me about Tina's tracheostomy, which on Sunday I find out wasn't anything at all, so all night I worried about Tina.
Sun 01/21/07: Tina told me of the Sat. incident with the nursing assistant (which I’m choosing not to go into detail). Her regular nurses and Respiratory Tech came to her defense and put me on the phone with the supervisor at home. He said he would look into it on Monday.
1/21/07 The RT supervisor did look in to the situation, but there was another incident with that nursing assistant. I told the supervisors I don't want that nursing assistant coming near Tina.
1/22/07 Tues I had a conference call with the Social Worker, Director of Nursing and the Director of something else. Everyone is looking into the incidents and watching out for Tina. The care at this facility has been great, but this week has been trying for both Tina and myself. The staff is communicating with me and dealing with the situation head on.
I told Tina to use that energy of being upset with that nursing assistant toward her recovery, to get herself well and out of there. A lot of the staff just love her so much, and treat her like a princess and she shouldn’t get too comfortable.
So, with all that said regarding theses incidents, I'm requesting Tina's friends to keep visiting her. It is good for the staff to see her have many visitors, at different times of the day. I feel it keeps the staff on their toes, that is why I make sure I am there almost every day.
1/26/07 Today Tina told me that she could hear voice when she spoke with the Passi Muir Valve! And she swallowed liquid! They have been getting her up about 3 times a week in the Geri chair and she is without the ventilator for about 6 hours so I think her lungs are getting stronger so she has more volume of breath to come out. Little by little she is improving.
Despite all that has been going on at the hospital with Tina and dealing with the supervisory staff, my remodeling turned from the handicap accessibility to a full kitchen & dining room remodel too; the Director of Promotions of the Long Beach Ice Dogs Hockey team found me on my partypop.com website and called me. Some of my hula students and I will be dancing during the 2 intermissions, essentially we will be the "quarter time" entertainment at this Sunday's game, 1/28, 5 pm at the LB arena!
Thanks for all your support. I told Tina she is famous. So many people who have never met her know her through these emails. And many people pray for her recovery and wellness every day. I'm waiting for the day she "Walks" in through my "new" front door (she might need some help, but that's ok) and I keep telling her that we are going to have a big humonga kawabunga coming home party - and you are all invited!
Linda
posted by Lisa @ 8:57 AM
