Seeing Beth Tonight

Matt called earlier to report in on Beth's day. She had had a really good morning but things were a bit tougher in the afternoon. Her lung function was down again and Matt said a number of specialists came in to check it out and figure out what to do. The nursing staff really worked on Beth to get her to cough and expectorate, which she eventually did, but it was very painful and took a lot out of her. Once she managed to cough out some of the junk, she was able to take in more oxygen, which is what they are looking for. That left lung continues to be a big concern.

Jack and I visited her tonight. She was pretty tired. She wanted to talk about the accident--how she and Karla had finished after having a glorious day, they both rappelled down, and when Beth got off the rock and was pulling the rope down, it got stuck. She free-climbed back up to get it and almost made it, but was feeling pretty "off center" and like the rock wasn't too stable. She was just about at the rope when she slipped. In her mind's eye, she sees herself falling. She said Karla was incredible and never lost her cool. She also talked about Rocky Mountain Rescue and how awesome they were in getting her on the litter and into the helicopter. 

Beth also wanted to talk about what a blessing it is that so many people have reached out and how much they want to do to support her. That is a really big piece for her and she really feels the abundance of that. I know it's hard for us because there's so little we can actually do and so much we wish we could do. I fed her ice chips and put some Vaseline on her lips. Read her the cards on her table. Small stuff. Her right hand was as many shades of mauve, green, blue, purple, and yellow as I've seen. 

Her surgery is tomorrow morning, although they still weren't sure of time. We left as the night nurse was taking her temperature and checking the levels on the various fluid bags. Another night in the SICU. As nice as they all are: let's get her out of there, as soon as possible.