Kelley is truly a fighter. Travis and I went to the hospital today to visit Kelley now that she was in her own room.
( We left early today so we didn’t get the message that visits were limited.) So you can imagine our surprise when we saw the sign on the door. My mind raced between two thoughts…what’s wrong and I know that message does not apply to me. With thoughts still racing through my head and tears welling up in my eyes, I handed my phone to Travis to call Brenda to find out what was going on. Brenda calmed us down and just said Kelley needed to rest and Carolyn and Anice were there at lunch and would be back shortly. So we waited and Carolyn quickly joined us. We all walked back to Kelley’s room and were quickly surprised to see her doctor running past us. We are then informed that she is being taken back to ICU. She had quite a bit of fluid that needed to be removed. She had another scary moment. The doctors had warned the family that Congestive Heart Failure was a possibility this week and that is now where we are. Now having a dad with heart problems and a father-in-law with a long history of heart problems, this was not a new term but my brain is not working because I can’t think and cry at the same time so I had to use my wonderful iPhone to find an explanation that would make sense to me. Here is what I read..”heart ‘failure’ occurs when the heart muscle cannot keep up with the needs of the body for blood flow. The term congestive comes from the excess fluids that build up in the body and therefore congested.” Kelley had fluid not only on her lungs but her heart cavity as well. She will remain in ICU with the chest tubes to aid in drainage and on the ventilator again. They were going to sedate her for the rest of the day and night so she could rest. She is currently stable. Her family was able to see her briefly before the meds knocked her out for the evening.
The doctors have mentioned several times that they don’t really know what to expect because they have never had a patient so young. Kelley is a baby in the cardiology world. She is just going to have to take it one day at a time. Visitors will be limited again until she gets a bit stronger. I will once again try to send out some updates and continue to pray for the Gisler/Drastata family.
With love to all my family,
Frances
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