Clean Sweep for Carla

From my Mom's Friend: I have made arrangements with Richard to clean their house on Tuesday, March 12 beginning at 10:30am. If we have several sisters, it will not take long to knock it out. Supplies will be provided. Would you please post request and calendar info on your blog? Your blog crosses ward boundaries and reaches more people. We are also hoping to borrow a Rainbow vacuum because of its excellent dust removal. Would you please ask if anyone is willing to lend it - have them contact me and I will figure out transport. Thanks a bunch. Access online calendar to sign up to help : http://www.carecalendar.org/ Calendar number: 139826 Security code for helpers: 9999

Update 2/16/2013

Well, it is Saturday and my mom is still in the ICU at South Austin Hospital. She anxiously awaits every day to hear that she is going home. All she wants to do is be out of that ICU. She can get up in her chair everyday, but then spends 8-9 hours looking at the same wall or set of windows that I am sure she cannot see out of (especially since it looks out onto a roof). It breaks my heart. I got to spend most of last week with her. Let me tell you, it is a lot of work. We wake up in the morning still very tired from the night before. If she is not in pain and needing meds, we proceed with our morning routine. If she is not feeling quite up to the tasks at hand, we chill out and wait for the pain meds to kick in. She has to have a bed bath, complete with a good lotion massage and dressing changes on several lines going into her body every morning. She has be exercised. There are lots of stretches and range of motion exercises that must be done as we continue to pray for returned feeling and healing to her body. The more her body is moved, the healthier her heart, lungs, and muscles will stay. We usually take a break after this for lunch. She is on continuous feeds through her feeding tube, but since I don't usually take time to eat breakfast I have to eat lunch. She is always wiped out by about noon and needs to rest in her chair with low stimulation for an hour or two. Sometimes I read to her as she rests, but once she is asleep I let her be. Rest is so important for her right now. As the after noon clock ticks on, we live the rest of the day in fifteen minute incraments. Every fifteen minutes she has to be tipped back in her chair for two minutes to prevent pressure sores. We set a timer and condition ourselves to change tasks at the beep. It is harder to talk to her when she is staring up at the ceiling. When she sits up, sometimes it feels like we just get into our book or into our conversation and the timer is beeping at us again. Time does go by though. Some evenings are routine, we get her back in bed and end the day with a not so pleasant list of tasks that I know she hates to not be able to do herself. Sometimes we start fighting the neurological damage that has been done. Her body cannot regulate it's temperature. Last week she was 94 degrees for a good half of a day as we desperately fought to raise her body temp. She always feels cold and will tell you. She wants six blankets from the warmer piled on her at night. Sometimes, though, she is running a fever and still feels so cold but we have to pull those blankets away from her. Those are the moments that seem so unfair. She just wants a blanket and to feel warm and I cannot give that to her. At times, I cannot get her body to respond and warm up for her. I spent a good two hours one night last week heating up towels with a blow dryer so I could wrap them around her face and body. The blankets don't stay warm long and I would cycle through reheating them as soon as fast as I could. They do have a blanket there that is called a bair hugger. It is hooked up to a machine that fills the blanket with warm air. It did not help her feel warm though. She cried. I cried. It was very hard. She spent most of the night cold. I spent most of the night trying to warmer her. We finally got enough pain meds in her that she was able to relax and sleep. I slept a few hours and found that it was morning again and time to start the routine over again. She is such a selfless person and even now gives all that she has, her smile, almost every minute of every day. I could not even imagine how hard it is for her at times to give that gift so selflessly, but she does. I told her in one of our mother daughter conversations last week that all I want is for her to be happy. She just needs to tell me what she needs and what to do so that she can be happy. She smiled so big and said " I AM happy." I cried again (I have never thought of myself as a crier, until now...). She truly is a blessing to me. I told her she cannot worry about a thing. Her job is to heal and get stronger. I told her I want to cherish every moment we have together and to make sure we have many happy moments. She liked that idea. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to spend so much time with her. Even with the lack of sleep, the difficult moments, and the helpless feeling I have when she is in pain, I would not trade these moments with anyone. I love being there for her. As I continue to try to find balance in my life, I fight the battle of not being there for my kids as I always have been able to be. We are looking for a house as close as we can get to her so I can cut this two and a half hour commute from my time. I have more important people to spend that time with right now that I cannot afford to be driving that much. All I can do is pray that something opens up in the near future for us there. I am trying to finish my degree at Texas State, which gives me the opportunity to be closer to her three days a week around my class schedule. She is scheduled to go home on Monday around noon. There has been so much done and given to our family already. I know it does not seem much to some, but when I add up all the driving to deliver meals and meals that have been made, I cry again. For six months, we have been so engulfed by this life tragedy that it seems that we cannot think of ourselves when it comes to things like eating or sleeping (or sometimes showering). Please forgive our lack of neediness. A care calendar has been put together and will be updated weekly with the needs of my mom and dad as they continue to endure this trial. If you have been wanting to help or visit, please log in frequently to the care calendar and help where you can. Here is the information you will need to do so (please pass along this info to anyone that is interested): Access online calendar: http://www.carecalendar.org/ Calendar number: 139826 Security code for helpers: 9999 email: care4carla@gmail.com

Heart Decorations!

My mom is still in the icu. We are getting closer to her going home. Hopefully tomorrow or Friday she will be released and headed home. I am wanting to cover her wall in hearts with wishes and messages from friends. I am staying at the hospital with her but will get a short break this afternoon. I am going to start cutting hearts out, lots of hearts. If you would like a message on one of those hearts, email the message to prayers4carla@hotmail.com. I will get them up while she sleeps tonight and post some pictures tomorrow. Thanks for all he love you have shown to her. I will write on the hearts as long as I get emails.

Update 2/10/2013

My mom is doing well in the ICU still. Her good friend visited yesterday and did her hair and nails. She has asked for weeks for someone to color her hair. The home health company has been working hard to restaff the position for my mom. There will be two nurses at all times around the clock at her home. She should be going home on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. I will keep you updated if plans change.

update Feb 5

My mom made it back to Texas yesterday. The flight was rough on her and they got home to missing equipment and stafing. The decision was made that she need to be taken to the icu, so was brought To St. David's south Austin hospital. She had a good night here, but has had an emotional day. She wants to be home. We are having issues with the home health company and right now do not know if that will be an option anymore.

Welcoming Home!

We would like to invite ALL who have been following progress of our dear friend Carla Bischoff to Welcome her HOME. We want to stress that all we will be doing is lining the road leading to her HOME, so we can wave to her and let her know we have not forgotten her while she has been recovering in Colorado. Please share this invite with all who you think would like to know. We will NOT be staying to see her, as this will be difficult as she will need to be transferred into her house. There will be traine...d medical staff to accomplish this and limited family and friends who have been invited to help with her needs in arrival. Please do not be disappointed if you do not get to SEE HER, but know that you being there will touch her deeply. We would like to gather to take a photo of all who attend, to let her see your loving faces in a photo, so she will SEE that YOU came. We, her friends, do not want her to feel she has been forgotten, and we don't want to overwhelm her or the family. We still want as many as we can get to COME OUT! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, arrange your day to come. We will meet at the HOME DEPOT PARKING LOT corner in DRIPPING SPRINGS AT 260 US HWY 290. MEET AT 11:40 am Her estimated time of arrival at home is between 12 noon and 1pm. We will gather there and carpool to the home and line the road and take a photo in front of their home! I am so excited to show her our love, please join us!

Update Feb 13

My mom is still in the icu. We are getting closer to her going home. Hopefully tomorrow or Friday she will be released and headed home. I am wanting to cover her wall in hearts with wishes and messages from friends. I am staying at the hospital with her but will get a short break this afternoon. I am going to start cutting hearts out, lots of hearts. If you would like a message on one of those hearts, email the message to prayers4carla@hotmail.com. I will get them up while she sleeps tonight and post some pictures tomorrow. Thanks for all he love you have shown to her. I will write on the hearts as long as I get emails.

Update 1/18/2013

Many of you may be wondering what is going on with my mom. What are the plans for her return and where will she be going? Well, we wonder the same. So far, things seem to just be falling apart. We find a place that she can go and insurance won't send her there. We find a place that insurance will send her and there is no way we will send her there. That is where we are at right now. Her halo comes off next week. I heard the plan is to get it off up at Craig. Other than that, there are no other plans made yet. I know things will keep changing. I know until the plan is the right one, it will keep falling through. We are excercising patience and faith that my mom is still under a watchful eye of the Master Healer. Until plans can be made and put into place, my mom is getting the type of care she needs where she is at. I will keep updating as plans seem to stick better. Now an update on her progress. I saw many improvements in my mom in the four short weeks I was gone. The biggest improvement was in her eyes and ability to sequence information. When I left, we spent the thirty minute speech session trying to spell a three or four letter word. She needed to be prompted for most letters and help finding them on her spelling board. It was slow and frusterating for her. She hated doing things this way, but it paid off. They are using a spelling board with her. It is basically a letter chart laid out in a specific way. She has learned to tell us what row a letter is on and then to indicate the letter as we go through that row. Her eyes have improved giving to much improvement with her ability to spell. In a session last week, she spelled (without any prompting) pencil, Denver, Austin and her name. This is huge. When I was there, we used the spelling chart frequently. She speaks without a voice. I tried so hard to read her lips, but sometimes just could not get what she was saying. We would switch from lip reading to using the spelling board. Usually if she could just spell one word, I would get the rest of what she was telling me. The importance of the spelling board is to strengthen her eyes in preperation for a computer. She needs to be able to scan and focus on the letters which is how she will be able to spell with the help of a computer. The speech therapist thought with a few more weeks of improvement she will be ready for that computer. This is huge. My mom needs to be able to communicate in an easier way. She told me several times that she just wants her voice back. That has become my specific prayer request right now. My mom still smiles an amazing amount. She finds joy in the small things. She bears the pain she has with an amazing strength. She shows us great patience as we try our best to communicate with her and "listen" to what she tells us. There are times when she says something then before we can figure it out, she just cracks up laughing (sadly a silent laugh). She has been blessed with such a sense of humor. I cannot wait to hear her laugh again.

Update 1/11/2013

This update will be short, but more details will come. I am up in Colorado. My mom did not gt sent home this week. There were several holdups. The biggest is that there are no nurses available in Texas for her to go home. Craig Hospital and the insurance company say it is time to move on from here.Our only other option is to find another facility in Texas until there are nurses available and trained. We don't know how long this will take. I am headed back to Texas on Sunday. I will go and check out the facilities that are being approved for her to go to from insurance. I am hoping they are more rehab type places and not nursing facility places. My mom is doing so much bree than when I was here four weeks ago. It is so amazing to finally talk with her. She moths words very well but does not have a voice yet. I am learning to read lips. We have so much talking to catch up on. I cannot wait to just sit and chat with her. She had such a wonderful day today. She was all smiles and did really well in her classes. I am not sure what or where the next step will be for her. All I know is that it will be the right one for her. This road is a long one, but she will continue to amaze those watching her.

Update 1/4/2013

They did some frenic nerve testing on my mom's diaphragm. I was hoping they would do frenic nerve testing on more of her body, but they have not. One of the reasons we went to Craig was because of this testing. I was told that where ever she still has connections in her body, no matter how small, they can build on it and retrain muscles as they "come back". They cannot create a connection that is no longer there. This connection is between her muscles and brain. We are normally a four on the scale they use in a normal functioning diaphragm and she is at a one right now. There are several ways to look at this (since I have no medical background, I will let you analyze. Ultimately this means there is still a connection between her brain and the main muscle used to breathe. I constantly have to remind myself that where there is still some connection, she can grow stronger and regain function. She is still taking baby steps. I am trying to lend her my strength through this, but even in her fragile state and greatest hour of need, she selflesly gives me strength. She is such an example. She mouthed to the doctor yesterday that she cannot feel her arms or legs and then got very upset. Why my mother is being put through this est and trial is not for me to determine. I take comfort in knowing that her strength and testimony will help her to endure.

Update 1/3/2013 By Richard

My dad put together an email update about my mom's status and happenings at the hospital. I thought it was important to share. The truth about Carla, On the day before Thanksgiving, the Dr. told us that Carla's spinal cord was severed. I saw the MRI. I saw a lot of swelling and it looked like they where correct. They compared the spinal cord to a cable that has a thousand wires in it. Her spinal cord would have maybe two of those cables still connected. It was my hope that the spinal cord was not totally damaged. There would be a chance for some recovery if the cord was not cut all the way through. Will she recover???? That being said, Carla is making baby steps of improvements. Her eyes are getting more steady by the day, and farther left and right movement. The eye Dr. said she is doing amazing in her recovery. She is moving her mouth more every day. I try to massage her jaw and neck muscles every night. They try to ween her off of the ventilator almost every day. She can trigger the vent to give her a breath 8 to 15 times a minute. There is some hope that she may get off the vent, or maybe part time. There is a device that can be put in to make the diaphragm work to take the breath for her. Will she ever breath again on her own???? She can mouth words and tries to get us to guess what she is saying. She no longer likes to use the buzzbar. She can`t talk, or make any sound. They can make out some sort of recognizable sound when they push on her lungs at the same time the vent breaths and she forms the word "hey" with her mouth. She does laugh at us when we try to read her lips. At least for a while, until she gets frustrated and then upset. I try to keep things as dignified as I can for her. She had a tough time at Christmas. She was having a lot of pain and cold in her legs. She also had spasms all day in her neck and mouth. She had them for three days, and gets them when stressed. She does not like to go to bed because she has a lot of pain in her legs when in bed. The way they took care of her over the holiday was horrible! The alarms from the vent to the nurses station was not hooked up all night two times. Four times total they did not hook it up. She had four vent plugups because she was dehydrated. I had to bag her three times. Twice she turned blue. After three days they rehydrating her..... And more. I have to watch them at all times. As of now we come home on 1/9/2013. I think it is too soon, She has a long way to go and is progressing well. Her blood pressure is all over the place (high and low) I am afraid I will not be able to care for her and keep her moving forward in her rehabilition. I have a ton of things to prepare for her when we get there. I am just trying to set the stories straight.

Update 1/3/2013

In six days, my mom will be flown back to Austin. I don't think she is ready, but it is not up to me. There are many preperations that need to be done before she arrives. Most of the things require someone else to come through on. The house is clean and the room is ready for all the equipment to be delivered. Problem number one-we have no equipment coming yet. Apparently there is a hold up with insurance. Her wheelchair is coming tomorrow directly to the hospital, hopefully. An amazing friend stepped in to help with some electrical requirements at the house. We are working on getting a generator installed incase of power failure. We need to get a cabinet that locks for medications, a shelving system with drawers for medical supplies, the fridge and pantry are almost bare and there is a list of daily supplies that need to be picked up. Her flight has yet to be arranged and we don't have a vehicle to transport her in once she lands. It seems like it will be impossible to be ready for her arrival. I know things will come together. She is so fragile and there is already so much stress. There has been much strength and inspiration already blessed upon us. Please pray that things start to come together. My mom and dad have been through so much, they really need a smooth transition. I will be setting up a care calendar and listing needs as they come up. Visitors will be welcomed, but we will need to work out a schedule. She gets overwhelmed and over stimulated very easily.