Day 16 – Getting Closer to Solving the Mystery – Friday, April 21

Kim reporting in to provide a recap on yesterday…

Yesterday was a bit of a crazy day. It was Sam’s birthday so we spent the evening celebrating her and we inadvertently missed updating. Since Chad didn’t make it in for a visit and didn’t have the full play by play it was easy to skip. I’ll start from the morning (hopefully I remember the details – at least the important stuff).

Cyndie and Wade spent the night Wednesday night. The plan was that mom was going to get 1, possibly 2 procedures done for her heart Thursday morning. I made it to the hospital to be able to see her before she went back. Mom was to get the TEE and Cardioversion as discussed before. The TEE comes first. They take a look at the heart to make sure that there are no clots. If a clot is found, they will NOT do the cardioversion. Cardioversion is when they shock the heart. It’s basically what you see on TV when they use the paddles and tell everyone to “CLEAR!”. The great news is that mom was able to get both procedures done. NO ADDITIONAL CLOTS WERE FOUND! During the cardioversion, they shock the heart 1-3 times in order to establish a normal rhythm. Mom only needed 1. When we went back to see her, her rate was in the 70s. It was really great to see her sub-100.

Her cardiologist had given us some thoughts on what may have caused her stroke. He noticed that she has a couple of leaky valves. Sounds scary but it’s nothing that needs to be addressed immediately. The main focus right now is her recovery from this stroke. Dr. H said that 90% of the progress happens in the first 6 months. Of that, 80-90% of that happens in the few weeks and up to 3 months. If she shows good improvement, we can figure out how to fix her leaks. If she does not improve, there really isn’t any point in working on her heart. I did ask him this morning when I saw him what danger that proposes (leaky valves). He said no danger of another stroke, she just may end up with a lot of water retention. We can fix that with a diuretic.

Dr. H said that it’s possible mom could have had rheumatic fever as a child. This can damage the heart and is possibly what caused leaky valves, which ultimately led to the afib.

When I came in this morning, PT had already been in to see her. What a nice surprise it was to come in to her room and see her sitting in a chair! Her heart rate is around 55. Dr. H is actually going to decrease the dosage of her meds to bring this rate back UP a little. But she is still NOT in afib and this is FANTASTIC news. Dr. H said to not be surprised if she ends up in it again at some point though. Yesterday he said that it could be a day, a week, or a month (or even longer). There really is no way to know. But so far so good!!

OT is scheduled to stop by any minute to work with her for a bit (and help get her back in bed) – actually they JUST showed up. I was just told that they *might* try to work with her on standing. Depends on how much she’s willing to participate. Not sure if speech will be by today, but I’ll work with her if she’s not too tired after she’s back in bed.

Mom had a GREAT session with the Occupational Therapist. They were the ones that moved her from the chair back to the bed. They worked with her on her balance to help her learn to sit by herself. There is definitely a difference when she’s not sleepy and she wants to do the work. I was so proud of her for sitting with not a lot of help that I wanted a picture. I even got her to smile! 

She was pretty much wiped out after this so I let her nap. It might seem like too much sleep sometimes but Nurse A was explaining to me how much she really needs. I know that sleep is vital to repairing the body. She has sustained severe damage so it really does make sense that she needs quite a bit right now. Hopefully we are getting closer to a better balance between the right medication and the right amount of resting.

Shortly before I left she seemed to perk up a little. I had asked her if therapy makes her tired and she shook her head “no”. I asked if she wanted to work some more. She nodded. We worked on a few things and then she did this…Watch this!

Not sure if she was more interested in working out or actually kicking me. Either way, I’ll take it. She definitely had more energy today. She kept that leg up on the railing and pulled on her left side with her right arm. I figured out that she was trying to work her way out of bed. As much as I want to see that, I had to put the kibosh on it. If she falls it could literally kill her. I told her to save that energy and gumption for the next time PT/OT are working with her.

I headed home for the evening around 4. I still have a full day’s work to do at home. I told her that I’d be back in the morning and she understood. She was so much stronger today. Physically and mentally. I don’t have any doubts about her ability to work hard and push herself to recover as much as possible. However, she needs to stay strong mentally and keep that fighting spirit. I think she finally found that today. I pray that it’s still there tomorrow. I know that we’ll have ups and downs. I have to say how amazing these ups are. Think we can have 2 in a row?

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