Trips, Tips and a Tripod: February 2010

A good friend of mine, Nicole Hartman, is currently in the MU Med center's surgical ICU unit. She's had lots of surgeries and more to come. Right now all I know is what I have read on updates that her parents are keeping on the Caring Bridge website

Here are the updates on her via her parents started with the first and ended with the most recent, I have copied and pasted each of their posts:

Friday, February 19, 2010 12:12 PM, CST
We have visited with Nicole's medical team & surgeon this morning. Her kidneys are working, but not up to par as they had hoped. The surgeon is going into the leg & muscle tear site today to find out what's up there...THANK GOD. Nancy & I have worried about that all along. Her surgeon is a neat midle aged, seemingly very very capable, military man whom we really like. We came here with a referal as "he is the man" so we think he is. We hope they find something there that is lingering & they can fix, clean up or repair, whatever, that maybe is a lingering issue. It's hard to comprehend how things beome so interelated in body chemistry but we're leraning.

So at this point in summary she had 2 infected sites that they opened up in JC. These are the ones that showed up down the road. The leg will be another site they are opening up today, the leg again being the origional injury that started this journey. Then there's the blood sugar that went nuts, only feeding the infection problem. They are able to control her sugar level so it's not the major problem it was origionally. She could very well be diabetic from this point forward, to early to know for sure. Between Nancy & I we have all the various things covered as far as inherited ailments you can get.

We'll let you all know what the surgeon finds in he leg. Not sure when today they'll do that. Again we feel great about the care & expertiese they offer here at UMC. They have a team for each problem seemingly, so comforting to know that. Words cannot express how much love has been shown to Nicole & us. If love will help heal her, it's obvious she'll be better than ever. GOD BLESS YOU ALL. That's all for now, more to follow.

Friday, February 19, 2010 5:43 PM, CST
Well Nicole is out of surgery. They had to remove 40% of her thigh muscle due to infection. The infection had went rampid because of the "perfect storm" situation of the high sugar diabetes situation. This was hard to hear, but he saveded veins & nerves he says. Glad we have a "battlefield surgeon". He also feels good that he got all the infected area. They are taking her down as I type this into the hyperbolic chamber. That oxygen rich environment will kill the bacteria type they feel this is. While not having cultures back, their initial acessment is it's nothing out of the ordinary, acutally old WWII type stuff know as gangrene. They want to give her a couple of these treatments per day to make sure they get this. They will also not close her leg up for a while so they can inspect & verify nothing else needs to be cleaned out for a while.

Hard to hear they had to remove that much, hopefully this will save the leg. That would be worst case scenereo, but they feel certain they have it all & the chamber will attack any bacteria that might be left. They also inspected the spots that were removed in JC & they were fine, nothing more needed to be removed. That's also a good sign that the antibotics they have been giving her are on target. No wonder that leg hasen't wanted to get better & has remained so sore.

We're so gald we're here even more so & have been routed to a great medical team.

Guess Nicole is going to be more special than ever after all this! It's so hard to think she has had all this going on & we deeply regret not getting on this track earlier. But here we are, & she'll be ok.

We are so grateful again for all the love & support that has been shown to her & our family. You guys make us cry when we read your messages but warm our hearts so much!

God Bless you all,
Nancy, Steve, Robb & as Nicole would say "love you long time".

PS--hope you are all tolerating my spelling mistakes, cause spell check is not a part of this web site that I have found, sorry.

Friday, February 19, 2010 9:21 PM, CST
Well Nicole just got done with her first dive in the chamber. They had a little trouble getting some of her wires situated & reporting things correctly to them so they could monitor her while in the chamber. They say her vitals have all stayed solid throughout todays procedures. Bless her heart, she's got to be better off without all that rotten stuff in her leg. Lots of dangers loom as possibilities of course with this extensive of surgery & open wounds that have to heal. We just hope she can keep the leg intact. It's been another long, but productive day. No lost ground & more bad things out of the picture.

It's really neat reading all your notes, we are so lucky to have so many great, loving & caring friends. Nicole is gaining ground because of your prayers & love so don't stop, please!

Good night & God Bless you all for caring so much!

Steve, Nancy, Robb & NICOLE

Saturday, February 20, 2010 8:45 AM, CST
Good morning all,
Nicole is already headed back down to the chamber this morning for another dive. The surgeon was in already & looked at her leg & was impressed that it looks great, no more dead tissue showing up at this early point. He was suspecting to see some additional dead tissue show up he'd have to deal with but obviously the antibotics & chamber are doing their stuff. The are concerned about her lack of allertness after yesterdays events. Nancy's sisters stayed @ the hospital last night while Nancy & I stayed @ my brother's here in town. They said they took her for a catscan about 2am to make sure nothing was going on in the brain & it was negative. They are staying on top of that. We thought her responsiveness yesterday mornging was good. She "had a busy day" yesterday as she would say & they say that could simply be all that's going on. It's wonderfull to know they are staying on top of things. Her sore leg has been the key spot for them to check her responsiveness & she don't have that sore spot anymore, thank goodness. We pray this works it's way out like all the other things so far.

Thanks for you're continued love & support, it's keeping us going.

God Bless,
Steve, Nancy, Robb & NICOLE

Saturday, February 20, 2010 4:49 PM, CST
Well after a long afternoon in surgery for inspection & cleanup the surgeon says the wounds look great & good depending on which one. The leg area from yesterday being the biggest looked good, no more tissue needed to be removed. The origional spots that they did in JC looked great he says. The leg area being so large, we are pleased with "it looks good". They also looked at several other things & areas laparoscopically. Her kidneys are working but not right. The lungs seemed a little better they thought. Just still very sick & a lot going on, but she's fighting hard obviously. She goes back to the chamber for another dive @ 6pm this evening & again 2 times tomorrow. Depending on how the kidneys are doiong tomorrow she may get some dialisis to help her out.

Thanks again for all you're love & support!

Steve, Nancy, Robb & NICOLE

Saturday, February 20, 2010 9:16 PM, CST
Well we just kissed Nicole good night after she came back from her dive. She looks good all things considered. She's responsive, tickelish feet & eyes try to open when we talk to her. So hard to keep seeing her like this, but we are taking joy in each little improvement. So keep up your prayers, they are being answered.

We had a day full of great visits from loving & caring friends. Wonderful food of all kinds. The ICU waiting room table looked like the food bar @ Ryans. You're care & concern are priceless. We pray that tomorrow will be as stable & productive as today.

God Bless you all,
Nancy, Steve, Robb & NICOLE