Wifey still in the hospital
 

I thought it might be time to start a thread for this.

Teresa (we call her T) is still in ICU, intubated. She has broncitis and a fungal infection in her lungs that is keeping her airways tight and fragil, so they aren't removing the breathing tubes. They will test daily to see if the swelling goes down enough to remove the tubes.

When I took her in on mother's day, she had renal failure, was badly dehydrated, her Co2 levels were way high & o2 levels low (hence the intubation) and her liver function was slightly bad. But now all of that is good, we are just waiting on the broncial swelling to go down.

But if removing the tubes doesn't happen on Monday or Tuesday, she will not be able to attend our daughter's wedding. This day is extremely important to her. She is being treated for depression and anxiety, and I'm very afraid of what this will do to her if she misses it.

There will be films and pictures, but it's not the same. We thought about taking her to the vinue Grand Tradition Estate after she is better, so she could see it for herself in person, and get pictures with our daughter in her gown there. This may ease the pain a bit. Maybe....

Also, if she is off the ventilator, but unable to leave the hospital, I was considering if she would be able to watch it live, like on skype or something. I have no idea how that works, though. Also, I'm not sure if that will only make her more sad that she's not there. But I think if she is awake it's the best idea. Any great tech ideas on how to make this work? She has a laptop, but I'm not sure how to get it online from her room.

Any other ideas?

I'm still holding out hope, but at this point it's not looking good. And I'm worried it may cast a dark shadow over my daughter's happy day, she is already freaking about it. I need to try to salvage this the best I can....

I also want to thank you all for your support thus far. It's been a true blessing to me!

I would say Skyping is better than missing. But practice the setup before the big day so you have all the kinks ironed out

You'll need internet on both ends, course. Someone at the wedding will need a laptop or smart phone and will need to be responsible for making sure it's pointed in the right direction.

Is it possible her photographer is a videographer that can stream it live?

Google + is another way to stream video. You should try both and see which one gives you a better picture and sound.

Make lots of preperations so you won't need to use them. (because it's a sort of talisman - like when I off roading with the family and bring water and food for days and an extra pair of shoes if I wear sandals, etc. If I don't do those things, I'll need them for sure.)

I assume this has been considered, but I'll put it out there anyway: postpone the wedding.

I truly hope your wife gets better.

I really hope they can get that infection under control so she doesn't have to miss the wedding. Definitely do trial runs with skype or whatever so you are confident it will run smoothly.
**hugs** and good mojo for all of you until she's better.

I'm not sure how far the venue is from the hospital but could the bride and groom (and close family or whoever you want) come to her room and get married there. Then go onto the actual wedding? That way she is a part of it.

I'd definitely test the skype thing. You need a pretty clear signal. We tried to set it up for our class reunion and had all kinds of issues getting enough signal for it to work.

I'm so sorry this is happening. I hope she recovers enough to make it, even for a short time if she gets tired.

Great idea!

Thank you for the suggestions. The venue is near San Diego, and the hospital is in Orange, and the wedding is at 10 in the morning. The rehearsal is Friday afternoon and we will be staying down there. There is no way to make a 5 hour round trip before 10 am. And postponing the wedding would cost 5 figures, not to mention people flying in from out of state in a few days. We are struggling to put this together, and it just would not be possible.

We have a professional photographer, but we are doing the video recording ourselves.

I will talk to Grand Traditon Estate, the hospital, and even the photographer (maybe he done this before). I'm sure this sort of thing has come up before at these places. The problems are the internet connections. Grand Tradition is so far out in the boonies that they don't even get mail delivery. The wedding will be outdoors, at the lakeside gazeebo, pretty far from the buildings. The Medical ICU rooms at the hospital may not have WiFi or any kind of internet hook ups, but St. Joseph Hospital does have a computer room downstairs with internet if she is off the ventilator and has a hospital escort, so that might be an idea. And I'm sure I can get someone to point the camera for us to stream it. And I'm just talking about the main part of the wedding, so it won't be very long.

My wife and I don't have a smart phone, but if they have a good signal at the location, we might be able to use someones phones. The picture is kind of small, but if that's all we can do, it will do.

We could possibly run through a test durring rehearsal. This tech stuff seems so complicated to do last minute, but with everything that's happening it's hard to plan. She may be able to go, she may be awake but not able to go, or she may still be sedated. We just don't know.....

Could she be transferred to a closer hospital for a couple days?

Here's hoping she is able to attend in person, but if not we WILL MAKE this work for her.

I can FedEx you a Laptop with a 4G Verizon MiFi (a portable hot spot) for use the hospital end. Can anyone work out the equipment for the wedding end?