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Tiiffani is still in the ICU at University Hospital. She was taken there by Air Care on Thursday June 17th after being found in her apartment in a diabetic coma. As best as we know she had some sugar problems on the Sunday prior to being found, and she struggled to get them to a level that would keep her functioning. She passed out and fell to the ground with her neck kinked to the side cutting off the circulation to her brain. Laying in this position caused the left side of her brain to suffer a great loss and eventually shut down completely. She was transferred to Mercy Anderson where they called in Air Care to take her to University. She was in the Medical ICU until Friday and then taken to the Neuro Science ICU late Friday evening. She has remained in the coma and not been able to wake up. She has been on life support ever since as well and is not expected to regain consciousness or be able to breath on her own when the temporary life support has to be removed. The doctor’s are working diligently to keep her comfortable and praying to find something that will help her wake up. There are only 12 documented cases of this type of brain injury in the world according to her specialist and Tiffani has lived longer than any of the other patients thus far. This in itself is a miracle. I truly believe she is holding on until her big brother gets here from Afghanistan to see her. Thank you all for your support and prayers. Without you I could never keep it together!! I love you all and I love my Angel and pray everyday that God is taking care of her heart……
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waiting on blood cultures to come back. spiking fever. Danielle is her nurse today and she will let us know what it is as soon as it comes back. Probably going to change up the antibiotics again. Day 7 and not much change at all so far. Lots of IV’s running on her, brain scan is still 24/7 and showing some seizure activity but the meds are helping with that as well. Still praying for miracles. Dustin is in Kuwait waiting on next flight. Tiff had tears in her eyes when I told her he was on the way home – I think she’s happy!
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Little more of a rough day today for Tiffani. She now has pneumonia in both lungs unfortunately and this evening she was going down for another MRI of the brain with “specs” which I am not real sure what that is. But it is extensive and will be a comparison point for the docs. Danielle is an amazing nurse and it is so nice to have someone in the room caring for Tiff that I feel is compassionate, trustworthy and respectful. Tomorrow will be the birth and death of our grandchild! June 24th will remain the day we received into the world our first grandbaby… It is a celebration and a very sad day all at the same time. Tomorrow, Dustin will arrive from Afghanistan as well to see his little sister finally. He should be stateside in Atlanta at 8am and then catch a flight to Cincinnati. Again a celebration he is home but a horribly sad day for him as well. I thank God he has traveled so quickly and for those who were able to get him here in such a timely manner. Still no answer from the docs as to the spiked fever or blood culture. Tiff’s heart is not doing so well at beating steadily. She has been in Vetch for two days now as well which is really hard on her body too. Not as good of a day as yesterday for sure. Hope she gets a good nights sleep tonight…. Sweet Dreams Baby Girl – Let the Angels sing you to sleep!!
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Dustin is home finally… Tiffani now has some sort of infection they are doing cultures so we don’t know what it is right now – she is in isolation. We have to wear gowns and gloves when we visit with her to keep it from spreading to us and others. We look like giant Twinkies with them on so I am quite sure she is getting a good laugh on the inside with all of us standing there at her bedside. The fever finally broke this evening when they gave her ibuprophen instead of Tylenol. That was the best thing from today. She has been so hot and sweaty and had ice packs in her arm pits… Yuk! that can’t be fun. This is so hard.. They did not take the baby today because of the infection which confuses me but they cannot operate until the infection is gone. We are looking at Monday for the baby now and the doc doing a trail extabation of her breathing tube. They won’t do this on the weekend because the docs that see her are not in. I will try to post again soon. Thank you everyone for your continued support and prayers and everyone helping with the wonderful meals to keep us going.
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One Week, One Day into this nightmare! Tiff is still in the same condition for the most part. Fevers are still higher than we like to see, breathing is still assisted with the machines, her heart rate is very “tacky” and irregular, they have not taken the baby out as of yet, Doc Bonomo wants to put a camera down the breathing tube to check on things in her airway and lungs, she still has pneumonia in both lungs but the bed she lays in helps with that, she has boots on her legs that fill with air and keep the circulation moving since she can’t exercise on her own, the IV in the neck has to come out today it has been in a week as well, the nurses have been giving her lots of IV meds for different things, and she has a feeding tube to keep things going in her tummy… Soooo with all that said we are still just in this waiting game to see what God intends to do with Tiff …. I suppose it is ALL in His hands Hugs and Kisses to all of you and thank you a million times over for the support and prayers!! XO
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MaMa Neal says: June 25, 2010 at 2:16pm
The apartment is empty now. Dustin and I spent the morning cleaning out Tiff’s things. May I just add – the management team at East gate Woods Apartments is the worst ever don’t live there in your lifetime if you can avoid it….
Tiff has had a quiet morning and lunch hour today with not much change at all. Fevers are still an issue and test results continue to be baffling at this point as well.
The family will be there with her all evening visiting and I will give updates after we see her tonight. I think having all of us there together should be comforting for her.
hugs & kisses
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Amazing visit this evening with Tiff…. We were all there and she was resting so peacefully. The bed she is in moves her around every few minutes or so and makes her feel better. The RT comes in and suctions her lungs to make her more comfortable with the pneumonia. The nurses tonight, Debi and Juanita are so good to her. They are taking the brain wave machine off of her tonight (ouch) those are in with some serious glue let me tell ya…. Oh that is going to be a job!! She had her eyes open for a little bit but no one seemed to be home! The left side of her face looked a little swollen, they took out the IV they put in the juggular last Friday as well. The weekend will just be a normal routine with nothing happening as far as tests or anything and Monday will be a lot going on…. Be back soon Love Always!
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Friday night and Saturday were a little rough! They did not take the brain wave machine off of her because Dr. Cadina had been watching her monitor from home and she started having a lot of seizures. They started her on meds every 6 hours to help with that and stop them. She is on more pain meds and another new medicine to help with her heart rate. The heart rate was much higher than they would like to see and the fevers will not stop returning. They are trying to make her more comfortable and suctioning her lungs more often to try to help with the breathing. Millie was her nurse all night and we spoke several times on the phone with her as they were changing things up. Andrea will be there with her all day while I am visiting and then we will have Danielle back who is our favorite!! Still in isolation due to the infections so we get to wear the Twinkie suits while we are in the room….that’s not fun at all and they are very hot too….. But to be by her side it is what we have to do!! Be back soon. Hugs & Kisses
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Don’t ever forget to say “I love you” or “I’m Sorry”….. Someday you may not be able to! Those we love – we take for granted. We make assumptions that they “know” we love them and they “know” we are there for them … Next time don’t forget to say “I love you” it may be your last chance to say it. It is times like these that our good Lord above is reminding us of these things. Ask for forgiveness as often as you can and take the time to be certain others know and hear how you feel… Life is way too short.
I can’t say Thank you enough times to everyone. I am so afraid I will forget someone and what they have done for my family and I these past two weeks. The food from the families at school has been amazing, those that have helped with Sammy and transportation, cleaning, or just kind words. Phone calls that have kept me going and support from everyone. I can’t say Thank you enough. I appreciate it all as does my family… You are all amazing friends and family!!
Tiff was not as well today as we had hoped for. She is still fighting so much in that little body of hers. I can only pray that she is not in pain. I sure wish she could tell me some way or another if she was. The docs are changing meds so much I can’t keep up. The seizures are coming one after another now. Her heart rate is too high still and the fever just won’t go away!! She is getting pain meds and I just hope they are strong enough that she is not in pain. There is a much better place waiting on her and if she can’t wake up then I hope she takes that journey to that better place….
I love you all and thank you!!
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Still sitting here with Tiff. Waiting on the docs to come in for rounds this morning. They have had a chance to see the weekend results now so hopefully we will know what the plan is for this week. The weekend was rough and there has not been too much change this morning either so I am not sure where things are headed this week. I’ll be back with more later on today to let you all know how things are going. Sugars are high, fever is high, heart rate is high, bp is high, respirations are shallow, and the infection is still present. With that kind of report card things are so great right now. This is no way to live – I can only continue to pray she is not in pain!! More seizure meds and pain killers this morning early and she is resting quietly right now. Be back soon.
Hugs & Kisses
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MaMa Neal says: July 1, 2010 at 5:17 am
Tiffani and Addison are finally resting in peace! I could not be more proud of my daughter at this time when such a horrible thing has taken her away from all of us. Tiffani hated her diabetes her whole life. In spite of it she was a happy young lady with a new life inside her that was bound to change everything! She touched many lives in her short time here and continues to do so through the donation she has given to hundreds of other strangers even today. By being an organ donor she has helped others live longer, walk again, hear for the first time, see for the first time, babies receive jaw bones from the bones in her spine, children and firefighters that have been severely burned, soldiers who have been injured in the war and needed bones in order to function again, research of this horrible disease by giving her pancreas to science while the icelets inside allow another person to live longer in hopes for a transplant, bone marrow, heart valves and adipose tissue, tendons, and the list goes on and on. Life Center was AMAZING in their efforts to see that as many people possible were able to receive these gifts. There is an awesome lesson to follow by her example. Her big happy smile, giggly laugh, and genuine care for others will always be remembered by those who were lucky enough to be a part of her life. For those who were not – you missed it! Tiffani will now be able to rest with Addison without the worry of diabetes. This in itself has to be a gift to her! I love you Tiff, be happy and well forever in your new place…. Hugs & Kisses MOM