The last few weeks have been full of ups and downs. Our hearing with the ALJ was postponed and is now set for March….Looking forward to having our day in court with Humana. Humana continues to deny her medical claims, even at the current hospital. A couple of weeks ago Mom sang happy birthday to me….it was the most beautiful gift I’ve ever received! I cried big gator tears! She has been doing well with her therapies although she does exhaust easily. She has been engaged and answering questions. Her doctors have called her recovery an anomaly because they don’t see recoveries like hers 7+ months after injury. They consider her fully emerged from her coma, she doesn’t show signs of disorders of consciousness and isn’t showing signs of aphasia either. All really great things happening for her! She has been consistently improving until recently. Last week she had what is called “buried bumper syndrome” which is where the peg tube she receives her nutrition and medications through became dislodged. This happens in 3% of peg tubes. She went through surgery yesterday to replace that system and is on the mend from that. She also is now suffering from another case of pneumonia which has made her less responsive and unable to communicate effectively. Tonight she was transferred to ICU for monitoring and more immediate care. Our sincere hope is that she will improve in the next couple of days and be moved back to the floor she was on. As with all brain injuries, her recovery continues to ebb and flow. This week hasn’t been great but we are constantly reminding ourselves that she is still doing tremendously better than she was 2 months ago.
ICU
June 7th, 2023
Update 6/7: We have very good news to share today!! Mom was taken from the Neuro Critical Ward and is now just in the Neuro Ward. She is no longer hooked up to machines that constantly beep. She only has a feeding tube, a port for medications and a catheter. Visitation hours aren’t so strict anymore and we are so grateful to spend more time with her. For those keeping track of her journey, that was 17 days in ICU, 5 days in Neuro Critical and now she is entering the next level of care where they will start to do rehabilitation. Little by little she is improving. No huge improvements in the last couple of days with her state, but we still have many miles to travel on this road. That woman is the strongest woman I have ever known. We met with the surgeon who decided to do the craniotomy surgery yesterday and we found out the only thing that saved her life was the fact that her pupils were not fixed. He took a chance on her at her age and we are so grateful he gave her a chance to live. Her midline is back to center and her brain as of the latest CT scan is normal. It was a very emotional but happy meeting. He was excited to hear that she had started to respond and immediately went up to evaluate her and signed the orders for her move. Her coma scale was a 4 when we got here and he said she now averages about an 8. She is our miracle!❤️
June 2nd, 2023
6/2 Update: she has been moved to the Neuro Critical Ward from ICU. She is fully breathing on her own without oxygen or vent but still through the trach. On 6/1 she opened her right eye and held it open for quite a long time. Baby steps in a very long road to recovery but we celebrate every single milestone!! We are also pretty convinced she uses her feet to communicate with us. We ask her questions and ask her to respond using her feet. It isn’t concrete but Matt and I both feel that is what is happening. ❤️