The Past Few Days

With Tricia's permission, I'd like to share a little about what's been going on with her over the past few days...

Basically, since Friday, and especially on Sunday and Monday, Tricia has been dealing with a serious case of Psychosis/Delirium (the for sure diagnosis has not been established yet). There were probably several factors that brought this on, including lack of sleep, postpartum hormones, lots of meds, and the physical, emotional and mental toll that the past several months has taken on her body.

The first signs came on Friday morning when Tricia began saying things and acting in ways that were not characteristic of her. Over Friday and Saturday she became increasingly anxious, stressed and confused. Early Sunday morning, while I was at the hotel sleeping, she woke up thinking and yelling that her nurse and other staff were trying to kill her. They had to use physicall force to calm her down, and she spent time off and on until about 10am on Sunday sleeping.

When I arrived back at the hospital Sunday morning, I could tell right away that she had gotten worse since I last saw her. She was beginning to spend several minutes at a time zoning out and being unresponsive, and when she did seem to be with us, she was very paranoid and confused. This behavior increased all day and late into the night until, by the time she got to sleep with the help of some haldol, she was spending almost all of her time staring off into space, occasionally repeating (either with her lips, or, when she could, with her voice) a word or phrase over and over again.

I stayed with her all that night, remaining mostly awake, and Agnes and Don arrived early Monday morning to allow me to go to the hotel and sleep for several hours. When I arrived back at the hospital around 3pm on Monday, her condition was about the same, and remained that way until later that night.

All during this time, I had a peace about what was happening. For reasons I won't explain right now, I was very sure that Tricia was going to be OK...that she was simply allowing her mind to take a break because she had been through more than her conscious was willing to handle. I was certainly very scared and concerned for her, but deep inside, I knew that God was giving me comfort to know that she was safe.

All day Monday, they put Tricia though several physical/mental tests and scans, all of which came out negative. Around 10pm, Monday night, she began growing increasingly annoyed and even angry and upset. Around 11:45, she woke up from a short sleep very upset, and it took everything for her nurse and I to hold her down and keep her from hurting herself until other staff could come in and help.

They gave her some haldol, and within 15 minutes she was sleeping. She slept very well until about 7am Tuesday morning, and when she woke up, she seemed to be very lucid and communicative, although she was still a little anxious and confused. The past two days have been very good, and she has not had any issues and has grown increasingly comfortable and relaxed.

She tells me that she can remember some of the past few days, but a lot is very blurry. We're hoping that today they'll move her out of the ICU and back to her normal floor where she'll be much more comfortable.

I'm sharing this with you for two reasons:

1) We want you to know how much we've appreciated your thoughts and prayers, especially over the past few days when you weren't even sure what to think or pray for.

2) We want to document as much as possible so that other CF, Transplant and High Risk Pregnancy patients who come after us will have as much information as possible to work with (even though Tricia's experience is NOT the most common).

God continues to show His hand of protection over my two girls. Beyond a few hours on January 8, this past week has most certainly been the most difficult to get through, and I've relied more heavily on His promises and your prayers and encouragement.

Thank you!

Nate