Day 15 Post-Aneurysm

Today we had some pretty great news! The ventriculostomy was removed this morning, because they aren't worried about her intracranial pressure any more. That's HUGE!

Also, they took the staples out of the incision on the side of her head. She looks much more Grandmotherish now, and decidedly less Frankensteinish without them. I'm not sure she ever got a chance to see them, but knowing Linda she wouldn't have liked them and would be glad to have them gone gone gone.

And, one of the neurosurgeons stopped by to talk to her for a bit this afternoon and said that she's doing great. He said that, since she's made it 2/3s of the way through the 21 days with no vasospasms, that her odds of having any now are much lower. Not that she's over the risk, by any means, but that's the best news we've had in that area, so I'm just going to take a minute to do a little happy dance over here...

Funky, funky, cha cha cha! Wheeeeeeee!!!!!!

OK, I'm back, and we're into the less exciting stuff now.

She still doesn't seem to be making any new memories, but her old memories are pretty rock solid! She wrote down the names of some of my family members from out of state, and some other folks, and asked all about them. That was good to see. She had no idea where Scruffles was, though, and needed to be reminded that he's safe at home with us, getting his food and medicine. The nurses assure us that this is normal, and will slowly get better.

Right now, the big worry is that she's not breathing very well. When she had the aneurysm, she vomited and and inhaled some of the contents of her stomach. This is very common, and it's called aspiration pneumonia. They've treated her from the beginning with antibiotics, but it can take a while for the lungs to clear all that stuff out, and in the meantime it just gets more and more irritated in there, so it can make itself worse.

Until they can get her lungs a little more cleared out, and get her breathing a little better (on less oxygen), they can't put the Passy-Muir Valve in her trach that would allow her to speak as well as use it to breathe. They're hoping that as soon as tomorrow, they can start transitioning her, but it will depend on how well she's doing.

If you're the praying type, this would be a good thing to pray for. She is incredibly frustrated with the communications options available to her, and being able to speak would alleviate so much stress!

There's not a lot of space in her room for flowers, and the ICU is very touchy about them, so we're asking people to wait until she's either in a different part of the hospital or back home to send any. She's loving the cards that are coming in, though, and she likes to look through them and see who's written to her. Since she can't really remember who all has made contact with her since she's been in the joint, cards are a good way for her to be reminded as many times as it takes that you've thought of her :-)

If you'd like to send a card and you have her home address, that's perfect! Brian and Alicia are staying at her house and are checking her mail and will get it to her as soon as they are in to see her. If you don't have her address, you can email me at hipmama1970@gmail.com and I'll send you an address to use.

Thanks for keeping Linda in your thoughts and prayers!