Hospital day 19

Yep, it's been 19 days. I had a nice conversation with the night nurse late last night and another good conversation with today's nurse. Mily is following commands well and has spent most of today OFF THE VENT! The transition from ventilator to breathing completely without assistance from the machine is a big step. When they tried this before, she tired too easily. Now, she is tolerating it well. It's not uncommon for patients to need to go back on the ventilator at night and then be off of it during the day. That's where Mily is right now. It looks as if her BP is going to start to behave a bit better; I think the docs have found the drug and dose after having to try varied strategies for a spell. Millie has begun to tell Mily (slowly and carefully) what has transpired since Christmas. She was teary, that's about all the details I have. The time of high emotion for Mily has begun. The more she realizes the magnitude of what has happened - the better. What I mean is that the more she shows her understanding of what has happened, the better off her brain made out in getting through this insult. So - we don't want her to be emotional and upset - but we really want her to be emotional and upset - does that make any sense at all? Pray for her strength to continue to build, for her cognition to continue to make itself known, and yes - for her to be really emotional. It's okay - she needs to grasp this event for the life-altering thing it is; if she doesn't it could indicate a level of brain damage (possibly permanent) that we don't want her to have! Functional impairments are one thing to deal with, cognitive impairments (and there are MANY possibilities) are a whole different ball game. It will be some time before the assessments can be made to see where things really are; but I will tell you from my experience that the more wound up and upset and onery a patient was waking up (when they were aware of their surroundings as Mily is), the better they recovered over the longer course. For the time being, she is still being seen daily by both occupational and physical therapy and I recommended that Millie bring her glasses in to see if they help (vision changes are common after stroke, her current glasses may not suit her anymore). Ok, so I just read over what I wrote and just realized that the acute phase of all of this seems to be coming to a close, and the transition into reassessment and rehab is beginning - slowly. That's not to say we won't have two steps back again before another forward, but she has come a very long way these last 19 days. Can someone please post an account of the earthquake in Haiti either here or by email? Did you know she's and earthquake freak/phobe (I say that with undying love)?? She gets earthquake info worldwide to her cell phone by text... I've always thought that was cute. My point is, she is going to want to know not just about the weather, the Packers, and us.....she'll want updates on the world too. What are the top grossing movies? (I've no clue - I am a water polo player and ballerina taxi, I live in my car 6 days a week and have no life) What are the top country songs? Are there any new songs out you know she'll LOVE? Lets review the headlines folks and lovingly fill her in - it'll all be read to her when she's ready. Bring it on. It's easier to leave you all with a wink and a smile tonite ;) B (Bethany)