I have been amazed at all of the attention that Music Therapy has been receiving ever since it became part of Rep. Giffords rehabilitation plan. This story was posted today on the Children's Memorial website, and it features a video of our PICU Music Therapist (and a good friend of mine). Check it out!
http://tinyurl.com/4oc5vo8
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Update on my Dad
I have so many musical moments floating around in my head that I am hoping to write about at some point, but for now, they are on hold. 3 weeks ago today my Dad was intubated and transferred to the ICU with severe ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) resulting from the H1N1 flu he contracted while on the stem cell unit. Needless to say, the last 3 weeks have been filled with many ups and downs as I have had to experience what it feels like to be an ICU family instead of the ICU nurse. I have learned many things that I know will influence the way that I practice as a nurse, and as my Dad continues to recover, I hope to begin to blog about some of these experiences in order to help others learn from them as well. For now, he is getting better each day. A week ago he got a trach and they still have a long way to go on weaning the vent, but his other systems still appear to be working fine and his oncologist is 99% positive that his myeloma is in remission after the transplant, so we are thankful for that. Yesterday he had his eyes open for most of the day and was able to respond to a few commands from my mom and me, albeit very slowly. He remains on some sedation, so we are hopeful as he wakes up more that he will become more responsive.
Unfortunately, NMH does not have a music therapist available for patients! This continues to be shocking to me, given all of the resources they have available there. But I have definitely been singing to my Dad when he is agitated. A few weeks ago he had a lot of problems with fighting the ventilator, so I used singing with him to help calm him and patted gently on his chest to give rhythmic cues as to when to breath. His nurse was amazed at how he responded, despite all of the sedation. Often times we were able to get him calmed that way instead of having to bolus him with sedation.
Another cool "music therapy moment" occurred when my Dad was getting a 24-hour video EEG to check for seizure activity. His VEEG was fine, which we were thankful for, but the neurologist and I also noticed that when we were playing his favorite music it correlated to increased activity on the VEEG. Basically, his waves were very suppressed because of the amount of sedation that he had been receiving, but when we played his favorite music for him, the waves became more active. So cool to see!! Needless to say, I updated his iTunes playlist with more of his favorite music to play for him, especially when we are not able to be there. We are hopeful that music can continue to help orient him as he begins to wake up more. I am sure it will also play a large part in his rehab as well!
Unfortunately, NMH does not have a music therapist available for patients! This continues to be shocking to me, given all of the resources they have available there. But I have definitely been singing to my Dad when he is agitated. A few weeks ago he had a lot of problems with fighting the ventilator, so I used singing with him to help calm him and patted gently on his chest to give rhythmic cues as to when to breath. His nurse was amazed at how he responded, despite all of the sedation. Often times we were able to get him calmed that way instead of having to bolus him with sedation.
Another cool "music therapy moment" occurred when my Dad was getting a 24-hour video EEG to check for seizure activity. His VEEG was fine, which we were thankful for, but the neurologist and I also noticed that when we were playing his favorite music it correlated to increased activity on the VEEG. Basically, his waves were very suppressed because of the amount of sedation that he had been receiving, but when we played his favorite music for him, the waves became more active. So cool to see!! Needless to say, I updated his iTunes playlist with more of his favorite music to play for him, especially when we are not able to be there. We are hopeful that music can continue to help orient him as he begins to wake up more. I am sure it will also play a large part in his rehab as well!
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