Updates from my friend who is nursing Sunshine Courage (please note that my friend has requested anonymity, hence, she remains as “my friend”):
Hi Kah Yein,
Today has been an excellent day with Sunshine!
As far as I can tell, as of this morning, all the previously compacted poo has been removed manually. It must be such a relief to the system and I believe this opens the possibility of more healing as the body is not stressed by the accumulation of waste materials.
Previously when I palpated her for her bladder I coud barely find it as there was so much fecal matter in her intestines and colon.
Also I managed to express her bladder this morning and with that we can start to establish a scheduled routine for bladder and bowel expressing so that her system “functions” better. Also she will then tend to leak out less urine which in turn will reduce the urine burns and cleaning routine which requires her to be moved and we really want to keep movement minimal. With being able to express her bladder we are needing less diaper changes.
Physio sessions began last night. Slow and gentle and will be done twice a day. The morning 1st thing clean-up (diaper change. wash etc), physio, then breakfast and post breakfast cleanup with pee and poo expressing take a little over an hour. Also about the same time for the dinner time with pre dinner physio. The care in between these 2 major times take less time.
Her mild urine burns on the left side are healing fast and will disappear soon.
Last night she had her ears cleaned out! So dirty!!
Sunshine seems more energetic and I will have to reduce the size of her playpen just a little as she is likely to attilempt to move more and this has to be absolutely controlled for the next 6-8weeks minimum, if not stretched to 12 weeks. As she begins to get a better sense of wellbeing, I would expect that she would be more active, more bored, more willful. This is why I immediately began with teaching her things like “lie down” etc. Handling her has to be very gentle so she needs to know how to coorperate.
Already she is really letting me know when she does not want me to turn her or do the pee and poo expressing. She uses her teeth and gently grips my arm and uses her eyes to say it all. I get it- but i tell her in response that we will have to do what is needed. This is tough love. I use the muzzle less and less and we understand each other better now but she is still in pain and when it really hurts her i use the muzzle, especially to turn her which is every 3 hourly.
On her playpen i hang a sign which reminds me which side I have to turn her on because each time I need to turn her, I also have to check her diaper and sometimes wipe her down so with so many things to be done, its easy to foget which side she needs to be on next so the sign is a reminder. (pix attached)
I still feel the bubbles from the subcutaneous emphysema but less so now.
The first day Sunshine was with us, 5 days ago, my husband and i had a good feeling about Sunshine despite the fact that she is not in “good” shape and in pain. I have no answers how things will work out for her but I feel wherever the journey may take her/us, it will be a good one.
Every day, I test her hind legs for deep pain sensation (DPS) which is an indicator nerve function. Until today, only her right hind leg seems to intermittently elicit a response.
While doing her physio today, she seems to show some very slight muscular resistance when both her hind limbs are stretched to maintain healthy muscle length. The physio would be helping to increase the blood circulation in the stiff hind legs and also stretching the stiff muscles as they have not been used since her injury.
Several times today and once last night Sunshine started a very short moment of gentle cycling of her both hind legs when I was turning her and it seems like she does this in protest to being turned. What is amazing is I’m seeing some little movement in her hind legs.
Mr Lim very kindly came by tonight to bring the fan from KTTan and stayed to help with cleaning and turning Sunshine and he also saw her do a few cycles with her back legs.
Yuen Foon has offered to help with bathing Sunshine on Sunday but it looks like we may be able to manage without a bath so soon now.
Last check on Sunshine now is midnight so I have to run.
Live up to your name, Sunshine Courage!
What can I say except that Sunshine Courage is extremely blessed to have my friend nursing her and people offering to come forward to help her. A big “thank you” there.
We also thank the donors who have contributed specifically towards her medical needs – Faizati Md Ali, Connie James, Linda Lim, Bro Oh and friends from Seck Kia Eehn, and also all our donors and tshirt supporters because Sunshine’s medical expenses come entirely from our Medical Fund.
For those far away, we thank you for your prayers.
Prayers do help, folks. It’s all about sending thoughts of positive energy through the airways and nothing is more powerful than the mind…and the heart!
Thank you everyone. Keep praying, please, not only for Sunshine, but also for all beings who need help.
Member Login
