Day 40 Update

Today was the 40th day. Amanda's accident was on January 26, my brother's birthday and my parent's anniversary.

Things really are improving. She IS doing better. There have been a lot of baby steps to bring us to this point. She's conscious (a miracle), her pelvis is fusing into an acceptable position, her bladder is working, and the other trauma to her abdomen seems to have mostly resolved.

The issues at present are: she has a sore on the back of her head from never being off it, she has a significant friction rash, she has gaps in her skin going down the whole front of her body where her skin was just tacked together rather than really sewn up, the skin around her belly button is infected, she has pins in both hips that are tearing through the skin and one pin site is infected, she is just recovering from a bladder infection, she has a bedsore on her back, she has a large (about 6 in. in diameter) hole in her leg where dead tissue was excised, she has some stitches in the other leg that are infected, her blood pressure is extremely low (84 over 68), she is having constant severe pain in her back suddenly, she's getting nauseated everytime she eats now, and she seems to need an inordinate amount of sleep. She has yet to incline over 45 degrees, but they daily talk about getting her in a chair. The step-down hospital has refused to take her because she's "too well" and the rehab hospital says they probably won't be able to take her because she's not well enough. Meanwhile, MCG can't seem to get rid of her fast enough and the doctors are daily asking when she's going to another hospital, making everyone feel like they just want her to vacate their bed.

Do I sound a little frustrated? She's ready for it all to be over and has said several times, "Just put me in an ambulance and take me home!" Of course, there's no way we can do that. She needs more care than my sister can handle alone at this point and, obviously, she needs daily care from a doctor.

It's SO-O-O-O-O frustrating! It doesn't seem like the doctors are even operating in the same world as us. It's as if they don't even see the whole picture anymore. I'm sure there's things they know that we don't, but doesn't this sound like someone who needs a hospital?

My sister has the patience of Job. I've already blown my stack several times and I'm only there for a couple of hours a day. She's dealing with the doctors, nurses, technicians all day long everyday.

I've decided that I've got to focus on the positive, but it's very hard to do when the negative at this point seems to run roughshod over the positive. It's as if the insurance company said, "We're not paying anything else!" so the medical community is bowing out. In fact, that may be close to the truth. The whole issue of moving her is being driven by the insurance company. Medical care in this country is no longer managed by physicians - it's managed by the insurance industry. If they refuse to pay the bills, doctors don't want to treat and hospital administration scurries to make amends.

Perhaps I'm just raving but the situation seems so unnecessarily difficult. This girl has been through so much - why are they putting her through all this stress?

We don't have any answers - just tons of questions. Prayer, it seems, is the only solution.

Pray . . . please!