ICU Sucks, literally

Here is the last ten days in a nutshell:

Kayleigh got to go back to St. Augustine. The drive was uneventful.
Kayleigh met her new home nurse, Jan.
Jan taught Kayleigh how to hook up all the new antibiotics.
Kayleigh started getting a headache and began running a fever around 11p.m.
Terrible night! Jan returns and is concerned about the fevers. Calls doctor.
Doctor sends Kayleigh back to Shands Hospital.
Kayleigh goes to satellite ER and gets to ride in an ambulance to main hospital.
We are in main ER until 3:30a.m., then go to ICU until next evening.
Kayleigh spends one night on the 5th floor and runs fevers.
SWAT (Rapid Response Team) comes to evaluate Kayleigh.
Shortly after, Kayleigh begins to throw up blood.
She is transferred back to ICU where things happen very quickly.
She is intubated and prepared for a procedure to find where the blood is coming from.
Doctors perform an endoscope and empty her stomach of blood.
There is so much blood the doctors cannot find the source of the bleeding.
Kayleigh is in critical condition.
Mom and grandmother are not allowed to stay over night.
The next morning the doctors repeat the procedure and find the source of the blood in the upper intestine.
The actively bleeding ulcer is catheterized.
She uses sign language and writes notes to communicate. I have to brush up on my signing skills.
Doctors will keep a close eye on blood counts to make sure bleeding has stopped.
Kayleigh has received 7 units of blood.
Happy Mother's Day!
She remains intubated throughout the day until around 6:30p.m.
The NG tube is inserted to drain fluid off her stomach and a CT scan is performed.
Her lungs have a little fluid but look considerably good.
The original abscess has shrunk but still quite large. Temps are still high.
Kayleigh is packed in ice when her temp goes up. She shivers and it is very difficult to watch.
She begs to be covered up but we can't help her.
The next day the NG tube is clamped to see if she can tolerate it being off but it is still draining a lot so it is turned back on.
Her power picc line is removed. It is not working anymore and could be a source of infection.
An ectogram is performed on her heart. Still pumping strong. Looks good.
Foley taken out.
She is encouraged to move around once PT comes and gives her the "okay".
Next day, PT comes and gets her into a chair. There are a lot of wires and tubes!!!!
Fevers still ongoing when Tylenol wears out.
Kayleigh has not asked for pain medicine or nausea medicine. She's a trooper!

5/16/17
Kayleigh is still in ICU but she has been downgraded from Critical Care to Moderate Care which basically means she is sharing a nurse with another patient (before, she had her own nurse 24/7). She is getting closer to moving back to the surgical/colorectal floor. It is believed that the fevers remain due to the abscess that remains in her abdomen. She does not have surgical pain any more. Most of her pain is from the drain and the central line in her neck.

Kayleigh has been poked, prodded, pulled, pushed and sucked. When she was intubated, she wrote me a note that said, "There's no shame in ICU."  She wants to get well so badly but has been very frustrated these last few days. Hopefully she will be able to return to the 5th floor and that fighting spirit will return as well!