Sunday, September 25th - Day 98 Final Update

Afternoon update, 6:44pm:

Hello everyone,

I am so sorry and disappointed to report that Tori is once again in an ICU... This time it is in the UVRMC ICU and we unfortunately had another sprint down the hospital hallways experience as Tori's vital statistics plummeted due to another, quick acting and damaging Pneumonia. We were able to restore most of her vital statistics once we arrived at the ICU but now she under close observation for Septic Shock symptoms. I will provide a detailed update later tonight on today's adventure...

Please offer your prayers for Tori to conquer yet another unfortunate challenge.

Thank you all,

-Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan

Final update, 10:45pm

Well, Saturday night started very calmly as Tori had a great evening bath, was comfortably in bed and humming at
me as I reported in Saturday's update. She had her usual melatonin, bennedryl and valium doses to help her sleep. The only problem is she didn't... She did not seem agitated at all and her only difficulties were swallowing the saliva she was generating and an occasional cough. At 2:30am I decided to unplug her button trach and place the humidified air mask over her trach so she could breath a little easier and hopefully begin to sleep. I also gave her another valium. Her heart rate was a little higher than normal at 130-140 beats per minute, her blood oxygen level was fine at 98% and her respiratory rate was at 30-40 breathes per minute which was a little high as well. She had NO temperature and her phelgm was white and saliva like which is good as well.

She still didn't sleep however and at 5:30am I noticed her blood oxygen level was stuck between 88%-92% and it wouldn't come up even with suctioning or giving her 6 liters of oxygen input. This was very unusual so I had a respiratory technician come over to investigate. We gave her 100% oxygen and saw minimal blood oxygen improvement to 94% and if we turned it off Tori would quickly drop to 84%. We called the pulmonary doctor in and he was somewhat stumped as well but determined we should replace her button trach with a standard one just in case we needed to ventilate her. This proved to be a great decision. Tori's phlegm and blood cultures from two days ago were still fine so we took a chest x-ray at 6:30am and it also seemed void of any pneumonia. We all felt very uncomfortable with the unknowns of the situation and since Tori's temperature then jumped to 40 degrees Celsius it was time to move her to the ICU unit. One of the theories was that since we were fighting serious dehydration she might have taken on too much water... That proved not to be the case later.

Between 6:30am and 7:00am I saw her temperature spike and her respiratory rate go to 60 breathes per minute and I knew it was time to move. Prior to going into the elevator just outside of Tori's room her blood oxygen level was still 94%. By the time we went one floor down it had dropped drastically to 80% and it was time to SPRINT to the ICU which was all the way across the hospital!! I was pushing the bed myself as fast as I could with one nurse trying to guide the front and the other attempting to bag Tori. Her blood oxygen level continued to crash and her heart rate raced to 170 beats per minute. By the time we entered the new room in the ICU her blood oxygen was at 49%, heart rate at 180 beats per minute and her respiratory rate between 70-80 beats per minute. Yes, we have been in this position before...

The UVRMC ICU team moved very quickly and her ventilator was on and controlling her breathing within a couple minutes. They tried Ativan to calm her even though I told them it wouldn't touch her... So after a few minutes they administered Propolol instead which sedated her almost immediately. Unlike the last time at PCMC when Septic Shock immediately set in, Tori's vital statistics began to THANKFULLY improve!! I was honestly expecting and preparing for another repeat of the PCMC Septic Shock incident but it didn't seem to happen. So now Tori is in a close watch mode in case Septic Shock symptoms begin to appear.

After a while in the ICU unit the pulmonary doctor entered and informed us that she indeed has another pneumonia... We aren't sure which family of bacteria yet but Tori is getting 3 different types of the strongest antibiotics to battle it. We should find out much more tomorrow and they will keep Tori sedated throughout tonight so she can rest more comfortably. Her fever was also diminished just before we left the hospital tonight and it was at 38 degrees Celsius. The rest of her vital statistics were also in more normal ranges.

This is yet another case of why Tori CANNOT be anywhere else except for a hospital with ICU services. I'm sure the results would not have been positve if we would have had to move her any great distance...

Alright, I'm exhausted and I won't need any sedation tonight to sleep for sure...

Thank you everyone for your love, prayers and support,

-Tim, Maria, Tori, Whitney and Brendan