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Hopefully this will help for those who can't get into the site.....taken from her pages on the CarePages site.
Michelle had been sick with a headache the entire week before she became critically ill. She had not run a fever, had a stuffy/runny nose, nor had any other sinus symptoms so her dad and I treated her complaints with over the counter sinus/allergy medications. To complicate matters, the pollen count in Atlanta last week were in the extreme range, and Michelle is exceptionally allergic to these particles.
Early Sunday morning (at 2:00 A.M.)Michelle (nicknamed Mouse because she squeeks when you poke her)woke up to go to the restroom. Michelle sleeps with her dog who, upon seeing Michelle's bedroom door open, came bounding out of her room, down the hallway, and leapt gleefully on my sleeping face. Needless to say, this awoke me.
Michelle, once finished in the restroom, tried to go straight back to bed. She was quite clumsy and she did not seem able to focus her eyes. Michelle's mother is a diabetic and, although tested negative, Michelle was exhibiting some symptoms of low blood sugar and/or dehydration so David and I treated her with fluids (Gatorade) and fruit cookies to rehydrate her and to elevate her sugar levels. Michelle could not speak but could follow verbal commands. The best she could communicate was with baby-like "ba baba ba" sounds.
During the fifteen minutes David and I waited for Michelle's sugar levels to rise, I noticed that Michelle was using her left hand exclusively (she is right handed). Frequently, she would use her left hand to place her right hand onto the kitchen table but it would fall uselessly back onto her lap. Immediately, I began a preliminary neurological exam (squeeze my fingers, "where are you?", follow my finger, etc) which she failed. Still able to follow verbal commands, I was able to put her slippers and housecoat on and into the car we went. Michelle still could form reasonable thought at this point, as she walked to the car (with support) and fastened her own seatbelt without being prompted to do so. We were at the Emergency Room within ten minutes where Michelle was able to walk, again, with support into the entrance.
The Staff at Wellstar Douglas Hospital responded immediately upon seeing Michelle's "Altered Status". She was placed into a wheelchair upon arrival and then wisked into an Exam Room within 2 minutes. Forty-five seconds after that, Michelle was surrounded by 4 nurses and a doctor, each performing various tasks trying to ascertain why Michelle was so very sick. All of her vital signs were normal. As a passing thought, I mentioned that Michelle had fallen out of a tree at her mom's house 2 weeks before so the Doctor (Orr) ordered a "CAT" scan.
I was in the imaging room when the pictures of Michelle's brain came onto the screen. There was swelling on the left side of her brain which was causing Michelle's "stroke-like" symptoms. Doctor Orr instantly ordered Michelle out of the Exam room and into a Trauma room and conducted a more thorough neurological exam.
Although only thirty minutes had passed, Michelle could no longer respond to verbal commands ("Open your eyes Michelle") and the paralysis had spread to her right foot. Dr. Orr ordered a Life Flight helicopter to airlift Michelle from the local hospital to Children's Health Care of Atlanta, Scottish Rite. Michelle deteriorated further so they sedated her and put a breathing tube (intebated) in just in case Michelle went into repiratory arrest.
Michelle arrived at Children's Hospital about 15 minutes after the helicopter left the landing pad at the local hospital. Her helicopter was greeted by a team of ER physicians including the Neurologist that would be leading her care (Dr Boyston). After a quick exam of her vitals, Michelle was taken directly into surgery.
The fall out of the tree had nothing to do with what happened to Michelle. Once inside her skull, the Neurologist found that Michelle had abcessed tissue putting so much pressure on the left side of her brain that it literally shifted Michelle's brain out of position. The abcess was caused by an asymptomatic (an infection that has very little indicators like fever, pressure, redness, swelling, etc) sinus infection in Michelle's left sinus cavity. The infection had breeched the tissue that separates the sinuses from the skull cavity and the infection found a nice happy little home in her brain and set up shop.
A piece of skull, in the shape of a question mark, about the size of an apple, was removed from Michelle's skull, and the doctor removed as much of the diseased tissue as possible. As the brain is filled will all sorts of nooks and crannies, the surgercal team could not remove all of the infected tissue.
The piece of skull that was removed was then placed under the skin of Michelle's abdomen where it can be bathed in blood and nutrients, keeping it "alive" until it can be replaced back into Michelle's skull when it is appropriate to do so. For now, Michelle's brain needs an outlet or a place to swell to. The hole in her skull provides that outlet.
Michelle also has a tiny hole drilled into the other side of her skull to drain excess fluid (you know how fluid fills a blister??, same concept).
Michelle is paralyzed so she does not move and try to take out the many tubes, IVs, leads (that glue to her chest to monitor heart rate, etc) that trace all over her body. This paralysis includes her lungs so she is still intebated and on a breathing machine. Michelle is on eight different medications which, among other things, treat the sinus infection, reduce the swelling in her brain, prevent seizures, and hydrate her body.
Michelle has a number of doctors on her team other than the neurologist. She has an Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor (who hopes the sinus cavity will repair itself, otherwise, more surgery), an Allergist, and an Infectious Disease doctor (ever watch "House"?). There will be more as time progresses.
Michelle will be kept comotose for at least a week to allow her body to rest and heal. She will be in the hospital for "weeks if not months" a quote from her Neurologist.
There is no real change in Michelle's condition. She remains very critical and will for at least another 48 hours. Her vitals are stable and her heartbeat (her heart is NOT paralyzed by the way) is excellent and strong!
Michelle is swollen today. She has a black eye and she sort of resembles the Walt Disney representation of Quasi Moto in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She has frequent fevers but this is, we are told, normal.
Michelle cannot have visitors other than immediate family and only three at a time during the day. Only parents are allowed overnight and only one of us can sleep in her room at a time.
We all (David- her Dad, Donna - her Mom, and I (Denise, her Step Mom) take turns sleeping in Michelle's room. There is a chair for a non-sleeping parent to occupy in the room as well, and then a six person bedroom that someone else can go to when they need some rest as well. Michelle is rarely alone as one of us is at her bedside talking to her, singing to her, brushing hair out of her face, or touching her all the time. She may be in a coma but deep inside her brain, something is trying to understand what is happening and what we are saying. In its attempt to understand, the brain forms new pathways and new connections, detouring damaged tissue. Thus begins the healing.
Immediate family, her sister Tiffany, her Aunt Marla, Aunt Cherri, Uncle Scott, and numerous cousins have come to see Michelle too. They talk to her but can only stay a few minutes before they must retreat to the waiting room.
Alarm bells go off every fifteen minutes or so, informing the PICU team that one or the other of her IVs have run out and, this too, is normal. We are getting used to it. Michelle's blood pressure is taken automatically every ten minutes or so and the hissing of that machine is also becoming standard.
We do not know the extent of Michelle's neurological damage, if any. We will not know until several weeks after Michelle is brought out of her coma what the road ahead will look like. So very many people are praying for her; all over the United States and Canada and of all kinds of Christian denominations. All your thoughts and prayers are welcome.
When (not IF) Michelle gets better, she will read this and find out what happened every day. You are welcome to post your thoughts and prayers on the messageboard attached to these pages. Michelle will also get to read these when she begins to recover and they will all mean the world to her.
They did an MRI today but didn't have the results as of the last post on CarePages. We'll know tomorrow, I'm sure. I posted the web address for this forum on her site so they can see all of our messages.
Thanks for your support for Mouse!
Michelle had been sick with a headache the entire week before she became critically ill. She had not run a fever, had a stuffy/runny nose, nor had any other sinus symptoms so her dad and I treated her complaints with over the counter sinus/allergy medications. To complicate matters, the pollen count in Atlanta last week were in the extreme range, and Michelle is exceptionally allergic to these particles.
Early Sunday morning (at 2:00 A.M.)Michelle (nicknamed Mouse because she squeeks when you poke her)woke up to go to the restroom. Michelle sleeps with her dog who, upon seeing Michelle's bedroom door open, came bounding out of her room, down the hallway, and leapt gleefully on my sleeping face. Needless to say, this awoke me.
Michelle, once finished in the restroom, tried to go straight back to bed. She was quite clumsy and she did not seem able to focus her eyes. Michelle's mother is a diabetic and, although tested negative, Michelle was exhibiting some symptoms of low blood sugar and/or dehydration so David and I treated her with fluids (Gatorade) and fruit cookies to rehydrate her and to elevate her sugar levels. Michelle could not speak but could follow verbal commands. The best she could communicate was with baby-like "ba baba ba" sounds.
During the fifteen minutes David and I waited for Michelle's sugar levels to rise, I noticed that Michelle was using her left hand exclusively (she is right handed). Frequently, she would use her left hand to place her right hand onto the kitchen table but it would fall uselessly back onto her lap. Immediately, I began a preliminary neurological exam (squeeze my fingers, "where are you?", follow my finger, etc) which she failed. Still able to follow verbal commands, I was able to put her slippers and housecoat on and into the car we went. Michelle still could form reasonable thought at this point, as she walked to the car (with support) and fastened her own seatbelt without being prompted to do so. We were at the Emergency Room within ten minutes where Michelle was able to walk, again, with support into the entrance.
The Staff at Wellstar Douglas Hospital responded immediately upon seeing Michelle's "Altered Status". She was placed into a wheelchair upon arrival and then wisked into an Exam Room within 2 minutes. Forty-five seconds after that, Michelle was surrounded by 4 nurses and a doctor, each performing various tasks trying to ascertain why Michelle was so very sick. All of her vital signs were normal. As a passing thought, I mentioned that Michelle had fallen out of a tree at her mom's house 2 weeks before so the Doctor (Orr) ordered a "CAT" scan.
I was in the imaging room when the pictures of Michelle's brain came onto the screen. There was swelling on the left side of her brain which was causing Michelle's "stroke-like" symptoms. Doctor Orr instantly ordered Michelle out of the Exam room and into a Trauma room and conducted a more thorough neurological exam.
Although only thirty minutes had passed, Michelle could no longer respond to verbal commands ("Open your eyes Michelle") and the paralysis had spread to her right foot. Dr. Orr ordered a Life Flight helicopter to airlift Michelle from the local hospital to Children's Health Care of Atlanta, Scottish Rite. Michelle deteriorated further so they sedated her and put a breathing tube (intebated) in just in case Michelle went into repiratory arrest.
Michelle arrived at Children's Hospital about 15 minutes after the helicopter left the landing pad at the local hospital. Her helicopter was greeted by a team of ER physicians including the Neurologist that would be leading her care (Dr Boyston). After a quick exam of her vitals, Michelle was taken directly into surgery.
The fall out of the tree had nothing to do with what happened to Michelle. Once inside her skull, the Neurologist found that Michelle had abcessed tissue putting so much pressure on the left side of her brain that it literally shifted Michelle's brain out of position. The abcess was caused by an asymptomatic (an infection that has very little indicators like fever, pressure, redness, swelling, etc) sinus infection in Michelle's left sinus cavity. The infection had breeched the tissue that separates the sinuses from the skull cavity and the infection found a nice happy little home in her brain and set up shop.
A piece of skull, in the shape of a question mark, about the size of an apple, was removed from Michelle's skull, and the doctor removed as much of the diseased tissue as possible. As the brain is filled will all sorts of nooks and crannies, the surgercal team could not remove all of the infected tissue.
The piece of skull that was removed was then placed under the skin of Michelle's abdomen where it can be bathed in blood and nutrients, keeping it "alive" until it can be replaced back into Michelle's skull when it is appropriate to do so. For now, Michelle's brain needs an outlet or a place to swell to. The hole in her skull provides that outlet.
Michelle also has a tiny hole drilled into the other side of her skull to drain excess fluid (you know how fluid fills a blister??, same concept).
Michelle is paralyzed so she does not move and try to take out the many tubes, IVs, leads (that glue to her chest to monitor heart rate, etc) that trace all over her body. This paralysis includes her lungs so she is still intebated and on a breathing machine. Michelle is on eight different medications which, among other things, treat the sinus infection, reduce the swelling in her brain, prevent seizures, and hydrate her body.
Michelle has a number of doctors on her team other than the neurologist. She has an Ear, Nose, and Throat Doctor (who hopes the sinus cavity will repair itself, otherwise, more surgery), an Allergist, and an Infectious Disease doctor (ever watch "House"?). There will be more as time progresses.
Michelle will be kept comotose for at least a week to allow her body to rest and heal. She will be in the hospital for "weeks if not months" a quote from her Neurologist.
There is no real change in Michelle's condition. She remains very critical and will for at least another 48 hours. Her vitals are stable and her heartbeat (her heart is NOT paralyzed by the way) is excellent and strong!
Michelle is swollen today. She has a black eye and she sort of resembles the Walt Disney representation of Quasi Moto in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She has frequent fevers but this is, we are told, normal.
Michelle cannot have visitors other than immediate family and only three at a time during the day. Only parents are allowed overnight and only one of us can sleep in her room at a time.
We all (David- her Dad, Donna - her Mom, and I (Denise, her Step Mom) take turns sleeping in Michelle's room. There is a chair for a non-sleeping parent to occupy in the room as well, and then a six person bedroom that someone else can go to when they need some rest as well. Michelle is rarely alone as one of us is at her bedside talking to her, singing to her, brushing hair out of her face, or touching her all the time. She may be in a coma but deep inside her brain, something is trying to understand what is happening and what we are saying. In its attempt to understand, the brain forms new pathways and new connections, detouring damaged tissue. Thus begins the healing.
Immediate family, her sister Tiffany, her Aunt Marla, Aunt Cherri, Uncle Scott, and numerous cousins have come to see Michelle too. They talk to her but can only stay a few minutes before they must retreat to the waiting room.
Alarm bells go off every fifteen minutes or so, informing the PICU team that one or the other of her IVs have run out and, this too, is normal. We are getting used to it. Michelle's blood pressure is taken automatically every ten minutes or so and the hissing of that machine is also becoming standard.
We do not know the extent of Michelle's neurological damage, if any. We will not know until several weeks after Michelle is brought out of her coma what the road ahead will look like. So very many people are praying for her; all over the United States and Canada and of all kinds of Christian denominations. All your thoughts and prayers are welcome.
When (not IF) Michelle gets better, she will read this and find out what happened every day. You are welcome to post your thoughts and prayers on the messageboard attached to these pages. Michelle will also get to read these when she begins to recover and they will all mean the world to her.
They did an MRI today but didn't have the results as of the last post on CarePages. We'll know tomorrow, I'm sure. I posted the web address for this forum on her site so they can see all of our messages.
Thanks for your support for Mouse!
