Evening, March 27

(e-mail from B. Parady)

Some good news. It was a great day with her, finally. The nursing crew finally got her stabilized after the weekend crew's neglect caused her fevers to shoot up and her vitals go bad.

It was nice to look into her eyes which were open for over 4 hours at a time even after sedation with morphine. It was a lovely evening.

Then things went a little off, with heart rate and temp going up a bit. It was only through the diligent effort of her mom who pressed the attentive, though overworked, nurse to get her morphine on schedule, a cooling blanket, and tylenol on schedule. Using those methods her vitals were being kept under control. We had to stay till after midnight to see that she was properly cared for.

This points up our issue with St Vincents: It is not the excellent staffers that we have any issue with, it is the management. The management does not have enough resources either in nursing or support services to see to adequate care. They may bring in marginal nurses, or understaff at critical times. Either one of which can threaten Sabina's life and health.

I will be pressing Mt Sinai for transfer. I do not see adequate chance for recovery at St Vincent's unless there is radical change instantly.

Shelly will be playing nurse manager to the nurses seeing that Sabina gets adequate care. Without that, no hope.

Sabina has some disturbance above the pneumonia perhaps, but that think that is a result of improper sedation, not due to serious hypothalmic damage. Everything points that way. The St Vince docs want to lay it on that but the real problem is nursing and medication through this phase of recovery.

Other than that, I am back. Went out in snow, came back to 79 degrees in Newark. Dropping to 40s I hear.

Off to Mt Sinai this morning. Will be on the lookout for burning shrubs.

My prayers for Sabina's safe recovery, and that her caregivers are able to give her the attention that she needs.