Annie was transferred out of the ICU this afternoon and is now on the surgical floor (Giraffe 4), which means she can have visitors. Amazing, amazing grace! The new liver is doing very well, as are her kidneys and heart. Her spirits are very good, many smiles. The tasks ahead for the week are to get her anti-rejection medicines stabilized, get her appetite back and start eating, and rebuild her strength and stamina. She has lost about 15 pounds from her pre-surgery weight
There are several people asking when they can come see Annie. And she is very excited about having visitors and seeing her friends. We just need to keep in mind that Annie does not yet have much strength, gets tired easy, and has quite a bit of recovery to do. So we want to make sure we don't overwhelm her with visitors, and came up with the following guidelines for visiting Annie. If you would please pass these on to others who might be interested in coming up, it would help us a lot.
1. Be Healthy: Annie’s immune system is suppressed to protect the liver against rejection, so she could easily get sick if exposed. So we would like to limit the visitors to people who are healthy. No colds, sneezing, coughing, flu or sickness please. If you have to sneeze or cough while in the room, please cover your mouth and then immediatly clean your hands (see below).
2. Clean Hands. Just outside of Annie's room is a dispenser of Purell. Please take some and sanitize your hands with Purell before coming into the room. Hands are a major way to transmit germs and the Purell is a great way to protect Annie. And I know that you may want to give Annie a big hug, but no hugs for now because we need to be careful that we don't expose her to any germs.
3. Odd Hours: Annie is still weak and we would like to limit visiting to during the odd hours of the day: 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7 pm. That way she will have the even hours of the day to rest, and for medical care.
4. Be Short: Keep the visits short, say about 20 minutes for now. I know it would be easy to stay and visit longer with Annie, she is such a great gal, but we don't want to tire her out. As Annie gets stronger we will let you know and the stays can be longer.
5. Small Groups: Let’s not overwhelm her. Keep the groups small, say 2 to 3 people, 4 people max. And if you are thinking of coming up, consider having another person come with you that also wants to see Annie. It would be better for her to visit with two people at the same time rather than have two seperate visits, to help keep her strength up. If you can't find anyone, then come by yourself!
6. Call Ahead: It would be a good idea to call ahead to make sure there is not someone else coming at the time you are planning. The phone number for Children’s is 206 987-2000. Ask for Annie's room and they will patch you through.
Paul Fuglevand
In all your ways be mindful of him, and He will make straight your paths."
-Proverbs 3:5-6
1 comment:
Great words Paul. Thanks for helping all of us understand Annie's "new normal".
Continue to get stronger Annie. There is so much ahead for you!
Continued best wishes.
Post a Comment