Monday Feb. 22, 2010

My parents and I made our way to Allentown this morning for the "family orientation" meeting at Good Shepherd. As things turned out it was just us and representatives of the various departments as they explained their roles in Andie's recovery process. Since we were the only family there we were able to ask individualized questions we understand that it's hard for each person to answer until they have their staff meeting tomorrow and they all get the big picture. For now it's just speculation on their part and it will continue to be to some extent since this type of brain injury (aneurysm, blood leaking inside the skull, prior medical issues - the surgeon said this was due to "uncontrolled hypertension") is not as predictable in outcome as one where there's some sort of trauma to the head and you (okay... well, the docs) know which brain cells are effected. I'm told again and again that they see huge strides made by these types of patients all the timand I can see why.
They have her up and at 'em if she likes ot or not and even if she grabs onto the side of the bed and doesn't want to get up - on Saturday it took three of them to get her out of bed! But the movement and physical work serve to move the body and blood and to help the brain to find ways to compensate for the deficits that she now faces. Since she's still lacking a spark of recognition most times I think that all the time on general anesthesia had an impact and the healing of her brain will take time so that she's not just sitting there looking tired or bored or fidgeting with stuff. I'm told that patients with this type of injury often become belligerent and testy. I can already see that when she's not getting her way she's the most expressive and can only imagine that once the words do start coming she's still not going to be happy about the situation and will then have a way to tell us about it. She had had some movement in the right leg, not much in right arm or hand. When my mom was trying to put on a shoe that she had kicked off and didn't want back on she mouthed MO-THER and when the therapists do stuff whe's unhappy about she'll mouth NO but so far that's her range of verbal communication the trach tube is still there though capped but she's not really trying to say things yet. During most of the day she kind of stares around the room and likes to people watch. I was also advised that people in this situation can feel overwhelmed by too much activity or noise so I try to take it easy and even step outof the treatment rooms while she's in therapies to see if that makes a difference in her agitation but right now she's all about her focus on every little thing around her.
I'm telling you, these days make me tired I can only imagine what it's like for her. I used to feel really guilty about leaving her when she was sedated and still in the hospital. Now I feel like she's in good hands, she does have a one to one aide to take care of every need andkeep her from hurting herself and she's on her way to recovery so it's not quite as bad.