Making Early Progress!

Update, 6PM Tuesday Evening.

More good news!

Soon after I sent that last message, the Speech and Swallowing Therapist came by. Grandma did REALLY well.  She asked Grandma her first name, how to spell it, her last name, how to spell it, if she knew the month and year (Grandma couldn't remember "March" but remembered it was the third month, and wasn't sure of the year, but she knows it's Tuesday and has told us she remembers Andrei just had his birthday, so, not too bad).  The therapist then asked us and Grandma some questions about her speech: Grandma says she doesn't think she has much trouble with finding words, but more difficulty with getting them out and realizes she has trouble speaking clearly.

The nurse then had her make some faces, stick out her tongue and point it different ways, make a kiss face, blow out her lips, stick her tongue in her cheek, etc. and she did all of those things really well.

Grandma was then given some ice chips to melt and swallow so the nurse could check her swallowing.  It was a little tricky but she did this fine.  Then she gave Grandma a few spoons of applesauce, which Grandma handled fine.  In between bites she made her say "aaah," and Grandma was even like, "I don't know why you're having me do these things..." and the nurse explained she has to make sure she swallowed all the way and there wasn't anything left in her throat and Grandma understood immediately. [Ohhhhhh okay, yeah]

Then!! The nurse had Grandma take the spoon and Grandma did just fine with it! (Even tapping the spoon a little on the applesauce cup so it wouldn't spill!)  She was great with the spoon, turning it to get the sauce in the corners of the cup, etc. I mean, she was a bit slow with all of this, of course, but the nurse was super-impressed, asking whether Occupational Therapy had come in already, which they hadn't. (Go Grandma!!)  While she worked on the applesauce cup, I had Grandpa replace me in the room and I'm told she also "drank" some syrupy thing they gave her to see that she could grasp and use a cup.  (Something with the consistency of honey; they don't give patients water right away because if they can't control swallowing perfectly it could wind up in their lungs.)

Through all of this Grandma was a bit more alert (they had her bed in a sitting-upright position so she wasn't dozing in and out like she'd been doing when I saw her midmorning) and was following all of our conversations, laughing a little, etc.  Mom/Rosemary was telling Grandma how AMAZING she was doing, and bragging to the nurse about what an AMAZING woman she is, etc. and Grandma was acting like, "Eh. Maybe. *shrug* I'm ok. Not that amazing." You know, her usual modest silly self. :)  We asked her if it was yummy and she said, "Eh, yummy maybe. Not delicious, but yummy I guess." I think she's craving sugar... :)

A bit after all this one of their church pastors dropped in for a visit and Mom/Rosemary and I prepared to leave (beat rush hour and this weird weather we're expecting) but I dropped in briefly before we left to say 'bye and I snagged a few pictures which I'll post/email soon. Prooomise.

After I got home, Joyce called me- she said that because the swallow test went well, they brought her some FOOD! Yay! Of course everything's pureed right now, but still better than nothing (Grandma's been asking about food since they brought her in)  Pureed potatoes, cranberry stuff, turkey they think, and green beans.  The nurses added that it is REALLY GOOD that she can eat, most stroke patients aren't eating so soon, so that is awesome.

Joyce also tells me that when she arrived with Andrei she was asking whether Andrei had homework or anything, and I recall earlier today she even asked me whether I had work [No grandma I left work early yesterday and took today off] [Oh okay, yeah *something about all of us making a fuss over her*]. So she's pretty "with it." She even expressed to the pastor that she was disappointed she'd be missing choir practice this week since I guess she really likes this new piece they're starting.

Yay. So all of this is really, really good news. 

KEEP UP THE HAPPY THOUGHTS!

Much love,

Christina

PS- Everyone getting messages ok? Anyone I'm missing?

I have been passing your messages on to G+G and everyone. <3

"Give me a big, big smile"

"Do you feel good?"

"Yeah."

"Are you comfortable?"

"Mmm, yeah."

"Are you happy?"

"Yeah. I'm happy."

Speech and Swallowing Therapist Visit

Grandma taking the spoon and eating applesauce with the therapist and Rosemary/cheerleader <3

Big Status Update

Update, 1:30 PM Tuesday.

(Man it takes me like an hour or more to write these emails with the TV on in this waiting room. They've got Pawn Stars and American Pickers on! and this patient advocate lady keeps trying to chat with me...)

We got to the hospital around 10:30 or so.  Grandma says she slept well and is alert and resting a lot, but we all talked with her some this morning.  She knows where she is, she knows what happened, and was pretty chatty (considering), asking how we were, asking for whoever of us wasn't in the room (still only 2 visitors at a time in this Critical Care Unit), which is all really good. 

The CAT scan came back and shows no change from last night, which is good.  The little blood leak she had yesterday has stopped, which is super fantastic, since the leak was apparently deep enough in the brain that they couldn't safely reach it to fix the leak yesterday.  What blood is there will re-absorb, so if it's causing her trouble/confusion it should eventually subside, I think.  Her blood pressure is also way down from last night which is awesome.  (260/110 down to 157/79, considered back to a good/normal BP for her)  Heart rate is a little irregular, but they say that's not too worrisome.  Other vitals look fine. The only meds she's on today is 2 doses of the blood pressure meds and the anti-nausea stuff.  No more plasma to clean out the coumadin, no more vitamin K.

Grandma still shows an ever so slight weakness on her right side (droopy around her mouth, has a little trouble really controlling her right arm), but she is able to move all four limbs, says she can see us ok, and does recognize all of us.  She can't make out the digital clock across the room from her, though, but keeps trying.  Sometimes she does have some trouble with words, but that's to be expected right now.  (For instance I told her I was emailing with all the cousins [Oh? Oh wow, yeah! Good.] and I think she was saying that it's really great we all keep in touch and when she threw the word "education" in there I think she was talking about how great it is we have all this "technology.")  

She knows that she hasn't eaten anything since she got there, and apparently she kind of wanted Grandpa's cookie from lunch yesterday (no surprise the lady wants cookies), but she understood when we told her she had to be NPO for now. They've been giving her some anti-nausea and antacid stuff for that, and even though she threw up last night (not unusual) she said she kind of felt better afterward.  The nurses here are really sweet and cleaned her up really well before bed.

We all know she's pretty feisty and I-can-do-that-myself; apparently last night when I wasn't in the room my Mom tried to help her blow her nose but she wouldn't have it and took the tissue and did it herself! She also had some tubes running across her neck and torso this morning and she pulled them out of the way, lifted her head and tugged at her pillow when it had shifted, will grab her blankets and tug on them and adjust her feet... you can so tell she's her normal feisty self, albeit slower and sleeping a lot right now while they have her rest. 

She's also really aware of other things going on in life... last night she asked something about Thursday afternoon, and we found a paper at home about a seminar she had planned to go to and was probably trying to tell Grandpa something about not being able to make it to that. She asked Grandpa this morning if he had gotten the mail yesterday and was pleased when I told her he put the trash out last night for pickup this morning. :) When we told her Andrei's birthday was yesterday, she said, "Oh? Yeah! Yeah, mmhm."

Around 11:30 AM, Mom, Joyce and Grandpa met with the discharge planning nurse. It sounds like the plan for the next day or so is to allow her to continue to rest, keep watching her condition (considered stable), and then evaluate her swallowing (affect her ability to eat).  She'l have a rehab evaluation tomorrow as well, to see what kind of deficits she has and what kind of rehab she'll need.  A speech therapist will be in every day starting tomorrow.  We're not sure yet how long she'll remain here at Anne Arundel Medical Center (maybe a couple more days in CCU and then a week max in a regular room), but for rehab she'll be moved to another facility, and there's a really good chance they can move her to the facility in Heritage Harbor (grandma and grandpa's neighborhood).  I think Joyce said insurance will cover her for about three weeks there.  After that, they can hopefully move her back home and if necessary get a nurse to help out at home.

Grandpa is feeling pretty good about things.  He might be in a little bit of denial that it might be weeks until she's back home (we told him Giant called with a prescription was ready, and he was like, "Ah, mom takes care of those things") but I think the meeting with the discharge nurse was reassuring; that she could be close to home.

So yeah. That's where things are now.  We had lunch, Joyce left to get Andrei home from school, and Mom and I are headed back to Virginia this afternoon before the rain/sleet/snow starts.  Joyce and Andrei will stay with Grandpa overnight, and then Johnny is coming down from New Hampshire tomorrow.

Oh- Grandpa just came out. Said the Coumadin doctor they see in this facility dropped by, looked over her chart said she was "very impressed." She said Grandma looked really good and that they definitely got her in to treatment early so that's fantastic.

I'm in the room now with Mom. She asked Grandma if she's happy and she said she was. :) Mom asked her if she wanted tea and sugar and she chuckled a little.  I think they chatted her up some before I came in so she's a little fatigued and talking through sleep, and I think I caught her humming a little earlier. Such a cutie.

More when I have it.  Of course we're going home soon so I'll try to keep in touch and remain a point of contact even after I get home...

Christina

No news is good news

Update, 10 am Tuesday.

I called the nurse at the hospital this morning. She said that nothing was new from last night, she is still resting and sleeping. This is good; nothing has gotten worse. They took her in for a CAT scan this morning but when I called they did not yet have the results back. We are on our way to the hospital now, and maybe by then they will have the results.

I will let you know when I have more to tell. Keep up the good thoughts!

Christina