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"Remember, remember, the 5th of November."
400 years ago today, a bit of history happened that would be good to remember these days.
Also, it just happens to be Worldwide D&D Day. I wish I had time to celebrate by getting back into me and Anthony's two-person campaign, but Carolaina and I are heading back up to see her Grammie in Melbourne this weekend.
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I have had so little time lately--not even time to update this blog. I will say that Carolaina is now home and doing as well as she can. I'll try to give more details this weekend sometime.
Until then, I took this neat little survey I came across:
Which Sci-Fi or Fantasy Character Are You?
Harry Potter
Gifted and studious, you willingly approach the perils ahead with the help of your talents and friends.
"I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble usually finds me."
Harry Potter is a character in the Harry Potter series.
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Carolaina is doing well, and I got her set up in rehab at White County hospital yesterday in room 3202. She should be there for a couple of weeks, and visiting hours are from 4:00 to 8:30 in the evenings, and all day on weekends.
She still only has partial vision in her right eye, and generally blurry vision otherwise, but we're hoping that will all improve with time. She has no trouble at all with motor skills or feeling on her right side, for which we are thankful. During her evaluations yesterday, we found that she's also having memory problems witch disturbs me more than a little. Hopefully, this will also clear up with time as her brain heals.
Thank you all for all the thoughts & prayers, cards and flowers. I'd rather not have had to go through all of this, but I've had lots of support from family and friends.
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I'll try to be brief here so I can get back up to the hospital this morning.
First, you should know that Carolaina is doing extraordinarily well considering, but I'll get to that.
The brain surgery took 13 hours total. Because they had to fit her in around other patients, they didn't begin until nearly 4:00 on Thursday. The doctor came out to see us around midnight and let us know that he had trouble closing her back up because of the extreme swelling in her brain. So, Dr. Chan had another CAT scan done to check and make sure--it's a good thing he did. It showed that there was still some of the original blood clot and some re-bleeding was taking place because of the swelling. He immediately took her back into surgery and didn't finish until 5:00 yesterday morning. This time the prognosis was more hopeful. The swelling in her brain was very much reduced. Then it became another waiting game as they stabilized her: sedatives, paralyzation meds--all designed to keep her still and her blood pressure low. They told us that they would keep her in this state for a few days so she could heal.
One thing I've learned through all this--having a loved one in the hospital is hardest on the family members because they're the ones having to constantly wait on updates. I guess the one unavoidable constant about hospitals is the neverending wait.
I'm supposed to be brief here, but there's so much I want to say. That all can come later.
Anyway, about 4 to 5 hours after surgery Carolaina fought herself awake! Despite all the sedatives and paralyzation meds, she managed to get herself awake and aware. We got to see her around noon yesterday, but she couldn't speak yet because of the ventilator. She could tell who we were, though, and was frustrated because she couldn't communicate with us effectively. One thing I could tell by reading her lips--she wants to come home.
Around 3:30 yesterday afternoon, they took her off the ventilator and she asked to see me. We chatted for a while and she asked that she not have any visitors (except me) for a few days. She doesn't think she can stand the excitement. Despite that, I will allow her parents to see her.
I've taken too long here, but it does seem that God answers prayers. It's a near miracle that she's awake, aware and mostly herself so soon after such grueling surgery.
One more thing: she's not having any movement or feeling problems whatsoever on her right side. She is still having trouble seeing out her right eye. I am so thankful that seems to be the only neurological damage she suffered.
To myself: Back to the hospital, you fool! NOW!
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It's way too late and I've had a very long day at the hospital today.
Carolaina had a blood clot occur in her brain on Tuesday afternoon, but we didn't know it at the time. She just knew that she suddenly had the worst headache she's ever felt. A friend from work took her to the emergency room, but Carolaina refused to let them do a CAT scan. When I got there, they were in process of releasing her and gave me some pain meds to give her overnight. They also told me to bring her back the next day.
I got her home, but the migraine headache had completely debilitated her. The pain meds did nothing for it and she vomited all night long--we had a rough night.
This morning, I finally got her around and moving and it was 11:00 AM before we got to the emergency room at White County Memorial Hospital. I had them do a CAT (CT?) scan and we found out about the blood clot. It seems that all her life, Carolaina has had in her brain an artery that's directly connected to a vein. Since veins are a much lower pressure system compared to arteries, it was only a matter of time before it burst. On that afternoon, Carolaina was re-arranging the furniture in the house again and her blood pressure must have been just high enough to set it off.
This is so tough...
Right after that, they did an MRI scan to be sure and get more info. The neurosurgon, Dr. Chan, took a look and found that (despite being serious) her problem wasn't needing immediate attention.
The blood clotted up into a good-sized ball on the left-top side of her brain. This has directly affected her vision: she might not ever see out of her right eye again. This also means that there's a chance she might not have any feeling or movement in her whole right side--depending on how the surgery goes.
Oh, speaking of, they're going to do the surgery tomorrow morning at either 8:00 AM or at noon at Central Arkansas Hospital. Carolaina will be the neurosurgeon's priority, but the logistics of when it will take place have yet to be worked out since there are other patients awaiting surgery as well.
Even before White Co. Hospital bought out Central, they had shared resources for neurosurgery. I was told that Dr. Chan has always done his brain work down at Central since the equipment and setup to do this is rather expensive and not worth duplicating efforts in two hospitals in one small town.
At this point, I'll try to get some sleep tonight at get up early to head to Central hospital. If I can get internet access, I try to post again after the surgery to let everyone know how she's doing.
Please pray for us.
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