Thank you for letting us all know, I've been thinking about her and checking
the group often for updates. Please send along well wishes and lots of get
well soon vibes

Kari
mom to Kaylie (7) Noah (4) and #3 due Sept/Oct

"Katie Jaques" wrote in message
om...
Thank you all so much for your kind thoughts and wishes. I knew you
would all want to know about Barbara's condition.

When I left the hospital about 10:30 this morning she was still asleep
under sedation, but they were just waiting for an order from the
doctor to wake her up and remove the ventilator tubes. She had a
reasonably restful night, but when the nurses came to change her
position in the bed, take blood, etc. she roused easily and was
responsive, and she knew I was there.

It appears we are out of the woods, although we came terrifyingly
close to losing her. In the emergency room early yesterday morning
she was in complete pulmonary and cardiac arrest for about 5 minutes.
Her own initiative in getting up and calling 911 probably saved her
life. Had she not done that before rousing Michael, she might not
have made it, or at best she might have had serious brain damage. As
it is, everyone tells us she should have no permanent effects.

Barbara has had asthma since she was 2-1/2 years old. Her father
suffered from it all his life, and her sister's son, Parker, also has
it. I have lived with asthmatics for more than 40 years and have seen
some fairly rough times, but never anything like this. It was a huge
shock to me. We made a few midnight runs to the emergency room in her
childhood, but not after we got the home breathing machine so we could
do the albuterol treatments ourselves. When she recovers from this
episode I hope we can find a specialist who will put her on a
maintenance protocol that will prevent future events. She has just
been treating it symptomatically, and obviously that is not working
now.

We have no idea what triggered this, although she had been pulling
weeds out by the pool a couple of days ago, sending up clouds of
pollen, and on Sunday the family had gone to the San Diego County Fair
and visited all the farm animal exhibits. Any of those things could
have brought it on, although it seems like a delayed reaction when it
hits at 3 a.m.

Fortunately we have a good-sized family here, both natural and
volunteer, so there are many hands to share the burdens. We are so
grateful for Ninian, our au pair.

Keep those good vibes coming, and we'll keep you posted. I hope it
won't be long before she is on line to acknowledge your good wishes
herself.

Grandma Katie

Mom to Barbara (Circe) and Valerie, Grandma to Julian, Aurora, Vernon,
Parker & Cora