My friend & ex-college roomate's dad is not doing well...here is an e-mail from her that I received this morning:
Please visit his Caring Bridge page & let her a note. She doesn't visit this website, but she'd get your kind words & prayers on Caring Bridge (link at the bottom).
My dad had a massive stroke on Oct. 7. Well, it wasn't a stroke, exactly, nor an aneurysm. All the tiny vessels in the back of his head emploded and he had major bleeding on both sides of his brain - very, very bad and very rare. He's in Bismarck (about 3 1/2 hours from where I live and 2 hours from where my mom lives) because he was near there visiting his brother when it happened. My mom's been home once in the past 21 days. Luckily, she has good friends there she's staying with and Bruce and I stay w/his cousin when we go on the weekends.
The original prognosis the following day or two after it happened was very grim. They gave him a "poor" chance of survival at all and, if he did survive, they thought he'd be a parapalegic...have a fully functional brain, but absolutely no movement or any way to communicate. At that point, I was wishing he would pass away. No one should have to live like that.
But, he came out of things a little. Started moving his hands and feet, then his arms and legs a little and then about 3 days after it happened, he started opening his eyes. Since then, it's been up and down. My mom and I think he's always fully aware of everyone around them and what their saying. It's just a matter of if he can get his body to respond or communicate. He's stopped moving his legs as much, but we don't know why, because the CT scans have only gotten better since it happened. He has a few good days in a row, and then he's sort of out of it for a few days. He's got a trach in, and a feeding tube. So he can't talk, even if he were able too. His lungs have to get cleared out better before that can come out. He's just now starting to cough the crap up on his own.
Now, problems from the bedrest and all the crap attached to him are starting to arise. He started coughing up blood yesterday due to irritation from all the tubes they have to shove down his throat to suction his lungs. And, he's got a small spot of pnemonia on one of his lungs, plus a bed sore.
The hospital and insurance company wanted to discharge him to a nursing home, but he requires too much care for what they provide. So, Friday, he's transferring to a special hospital - also near Bismarck - where they specialize in patients like him, and concentrate on getting him to the next level and ready for rehab.
The hardest part is just not knowing how he'll be at the end of a recovery period. Will he be able to walk? Talk? Drive? My mom thinks he's already starting to get depressed, but the battle has only begun. He has months if not years of rehab and fighting ahead of him. It just really sucks because he had so much living left to do. I am just hoping for his ability to communicate, even if he can't ever drive again or has to be in a wheelchair. I'm sure he'll hate it, but he'll have to realize - if he gets that far - how lucky he was and deal with it.
If you're interested in following his progress, my mom set up a website on
CaringBridge:
www.caringbridge.org/visit/dcluck
Thanks for your concern. Shoot a prayer his way...I'd really appreciate it. Although I've come to realize that I have stopped praying. I'd better start again!
Please visit his Caring Bridge page & let her a note. She doesn't visit this website, but she'd get your kind words & prayers on Caring Bridge (link at the bottom).
My dad had a massive stroke on Oct. 7. Well, it wasn't a stroke, exactly, nor an aneurysm. All the tiny vessels in the back of his head emploded and he had major bleeding on both sides of his brain - very, very bad and very rare. He's in Bismarck (about 3 1/2 hours from where I live and 2 hours from where my mom lives) because he was near there visiting his brother when it happened. My mom's been home once in the past 21 days. Luckily, she has good friends there she's staying with and Bruce and I stay w/his cousin when we go on the weekends.
The original prognosis the following day or two after it happened was very grim. They gave him a "poor" chance of survival at all and, if he did survive, they thought he'd be a parapalegic...have a fully functional brain, but absolutely no movement or any way to communicate. At that point, I was wishing he would pass away. No one should have to live like that.
But, he came out of things a little. Started moving his hands and feet, then his arms and legs a little and then about 3 days after it happened, he started opening his eyes. Since then, it's been up and down. My mom and I think he's always fully aware of everyone around them and what their saying. It's just a matter of if he can get his body to respond or communicate. He's stopped moving his legs as much, but we don't know why, because the CT scans have only gotten better since it happened. He has a few good days in a row, and then he's sort of out of it for a few days. He's got a trach in, and a feeding tube. So he can't talk, even if he were able too. His lungs have to get cleared out better before that can come out. He's just now starting to cough the crap up on his own.
Now, problems from the bedrest and all the crap attached to him are starting to arise. He started coughing up blood yesterday due to irritation from all the tubes they have to shove down his throat to suction his lungs. And, he's got a small spot of pnemonia on one of his lungs, plus a bed sore.
The hospital and insurance company wanted to discharge him to a nursing home, but he requires too much care for what they provide. So, Friday, he's transferring to a special hospital - also near Bismarck - where they specialize in patients like him, and concentrate on getting him to the next level and ready for rehab.
The hardest part is just not knowing how he'll be at the end of a recovery period. Will he be able to walk? Talk? Drive? My mom thinks he's already starting to get depressed, but the battle has only begun. He has months if not years of rehab and fighting ahead of him. It just really sucks because he had so much living left to do. I am just hoping for his ability to communicate, even if he can't ever drive again or has to be in a wheelchair. I'm sure he'll hate it, but he'll have to realize - if he gets that far - how lucky he was and deal with it.
If you're interested in following his progress, my mom set up a website on
CaringBridge:
www.caringbridge.org/visit/dcluck
Thanks for your concern. Shoot a prayer his way...I'd really appreciate it. Although I've come to realize that I have stopped praying. I'd better start again!
