May 18

Posted by Andy on May 18, 2012 in ANDY'S BLOG WITH UPDATES | 5 comments

I apologize for not posting any recent updates on Aimee. The past 48 hours have flown by like a whirlwind. Much has happened and my computer time has been extremely limited. I truly appreciate your patience and understanding.

That said, here is the account of Aimee’s last 48 hours:

On Wednesday the doctors suggested that we remove the breathing tube and complete a tracheotomy. The fact is, the flesh wound on her abdomen makes it difficult for her to take deep breaths and cough, which means that she could get congestion in the lower part of her lung. Her pulmonologist made the suggestion for the tracheotomy and I was 100% in agreement. She hated the throat tube anyway (so did I) and the trache will make it easier for us to read her lips. Her respiratory therapy will also take a huge leap up in quality.

Aimee is still a very sick girl, but her quality of care took a big step forward when she was approved for hyperbaric treatments. She is scheduled for a total of ten treatments that will help her regain more of the blood flow in her hands. Her hands have gone from a purplish hue to a reddish flesh tone. She can flex her wrists now as well. Unfortunately her fingers are beyond recovery.

Aimee knows about her hands now. She holds them up to her face, examines them and shrugs her shoulders as if to say, “yeah, so what?”

Aimee’s sense of humor is intact. I rubbed her foot and laughed at some of the things she had mouthed and I told her “Aimee, you are as priceless as the Mona Lisa.” Aimee shook her head and lifted her pitifully swollen and atrophied hand toward her eyebrows as she mouthed some words. Paige, Donna and I looked at each other and back at Aimee. Whatever she wanted to say, she was adamant about it. We did our usual consonant/vowel breakdown and forced her to spell the word. Then we all burst out laughing.

Her words?

“I’m nothing like the Mona Lisa. She doesn’t have eyebrows.”

Later that night, we put the Kokua Festival/Jack Johnson and Friends CD on for her. The moment she heard “Better Together” she started swinging and bobbing her head while mouthing the words of the song. You’d have thought that she was grooving on the dance floor. In her limitless imagination, she was.