Saying goodnight to Grandma Monday

 

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What Happened and Current Status

Update, 8ish PM

Sorry it took me so long to get this out.  Mom (Rosemary) and I arrived at the hospital about 5 PM and I saw Grandma for a few minutes before the nurse said the room is only two visitors at the time so Joyce and I sat in the visitor lounge and she filled me in.  (Sorry if I don't have a ton of super-specific details, but this is what I know.)

This morning at breakfast, Grandpa noticed Grandma seemed a little "off" and she said she felt kind of dizzy, so he helped her to the floor and they decided to call 911.  They took her to the ER, ran a CAT scan, and confirmed a blood clot had caused a stroke and that there was a tiny blood leak.  I don't know any further details about the exact kind of stroke, location of clot, location of the leak, etc., though.

They moved her to the Critical Care section, which I'm thinking has a lot to do with the simple fact that she's 90 years old. They have her hooked up with plasma, trying to get the Coumadin she has in her system out?, Vitamin K (to get the leak to stop, helps stop bleeding), and something called Labetalol to try to get her blood pressure down.

I would say she's alert, but she's not sitting up and chit-chatting away or anything.  The nurses really want to let her rest and let the meds do their work, and then the plan is to do another CAT scan in the morning to see where things stand.  

What is encouraging is that she can talk and she is mostly? cognizant of what's going on, although Joyce and Grandpa did say there were a few times where she seemed a little out of it and sleepy.  She has a bit of trouble finding her words sometimes and is kind of mumbley (and Mom/Rosemary says sometimes she's switching between English and Dutch, and sometimes it's hard to understand since they took her dentures out), but I think she is at least most of the time pretty aware of what is going on... but at the same time they might have her on some drugs to keep her calm and help her rest? She even kind of tried to listen up when the doc came in to talk to Grandpa and Rosemary/Mom this evening too.  She smiles, too, when you talk with her. :)

Seems very calm, stable, nothing really going on until they can do that scan in the morning to see what the status of things is and what's going on.

Anyway, sorry again it took me so long to get back to you all; I figured I'd try to wait until I could type a proper email than trying to text so many people at different times all day.

More when I have it.

Christina

______________________________________________

20 minutes later:

Couple other things:

We are still at the hospital, just had dinner, and are going up to check on things again. 

Mom and I are staying over at Grandma and Grandpa's house tonight, and will be back at the hospital in the morning... we're also expecting a big ol' storm here in the DC area so depending on what the doc says we'll either hang out here another night or try to make it back home to Virginia before the snow comes... kind of depends on what the docs say.

GRANDPA is doing ok. He's worried, but he says he's doing ok.  I think he's not really sure whether to be optimistic or prepare for the worst... but he's feeling really glad he called 911 even though Grandma wasn't sure she wanted him to call just yet, so we're really glad he made that call!  I think he's glad to have us here, especially since there's not much to do but hang around and wait and stuff.

Hugs to all.  Keep up the prayers/happy thoughts/good vibes/crossed fingers/etc. <3

Christina

Lena Had a Stroke

(Email sent to Kim Baldwin, John Baldwin (Dolley's son)'s wife.)

Hi Kim, thanks for checking in.

Just posted the following on Facebook. 

Will write more when I know more.

Ok. I left work around 1pm and talked to my mom on the way home and just now. Grandma did have a stroke and although I don't have a ton of other details and am remaining *cautiously* optimistic, she seems to be doing ok? She CAN talk, can vocalize her thoughts and is coherent enough to know that my aunt is there and was admitted for her faint because she (grandma) asked Grandpa to check on her, so those are really good signs. She's being moved to ICU (I'm going to wager it's a precaution because she's 90 years old) and mom and I are going to Annapolis to help Grandpa and see what's going on. I'm packing as though it'll be a few days because although I reeeally don't think we're going to get all that much snow, I would rather not take chances.

Was nervous though because mom said the doc told Grandpa something about not being sure about her "making it" (earlier this morning) but what I heard from my Mom seems much more optimistic... but this is what I know now.

[What I'm thinking now (after a few days) is that the doctor said to Grandpa, "If we can't get the bleeding to stop, she might not make it," but Grandpa is hard of hearing and didn't have his hearing aids with him so might have misheard. -Christina]

[ ... ]

Leaving with Mom for Annapolis in about 20 mins. More when I know.

Love, Christina

On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 1:37 PM, Kim Baldwin wrote:

Hey, any news on your grandma?  Thanks for tagging us all in that post [on Facebook -CHA]. I wouldn't have known otherwise. I'm on the road, but texted John & Sally. John is possibly still asleep. Haven't heard from Sally yet.

Keep us posted. [ ... ] You can call/text either one of us.

--Kim

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