The Day for us to remember and forget.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010. The day started early - 5:30 am Vegas time.
Sara was up all night asking regularly " what time is it?" in a semi-hushed, irritated voice as the nurses made their rounds and woke her up. She didn’t have the look of a very sick patient. She was joking and carrying on like normal - the med’s seemed to be keeping her headache’s and fevers under control.
I busied myself packing our crap to the car (as instructed by Sara)- We were being relocated to surgery, and later to a new room in ICU. Sara busied herself brushing her teeth and hair - the normal "Sara" routine stuff. It wasn’t long and the taxi showed up - the Surgery nurse with a "bed on wheels." We were on our way to the dreaded surgery. We justlearned a few minutes before what the procedure would be - open-the-head and poke at the brain like last time. Other options were discussed but no decision with us until this morning. We wouldn’t sign the consent form because we had no idea what we were consenting to. Communication could be better.
While going doing down the hall we heard a loud "Good Bye and good luck" from the little Chinese "thermometer / vital checker" lady. She called Sara the "Nice lady." Sara smiled and seemed to be in good spirits.
We stopped by for an MRI (4th one this week) where the little "bulls-eye" targets were placed on Sara’s head. After a brief visit from Dr. Kaplan and the Anesthesia dude I kissed Sara good-bye and told her that I loved her. Then I was kicked out to the waiting empty room. (The lone and dreary wilderness)
I was lonely and hungry - as usual - (7:45 Vegas time), so off to the cafeteria - to eat 2 pancakes the size of my plate.
Rog and Jane joined me around 9:30 am where we waited together and watched the history channel.
The clock was approaching noon, and we hadn’t heard anything. Other patients families came and went, but we just sat there. I was realizing that things had not gone as planned. Finally, Dr. Kaplan joined us and said that Sara was in recovery. He said the news wasn't good, but still hopeful. We were told that things were complicated in her head (surprised?) - lots of scar tissue causing problems. There didn’t seem to be any signs of infection so he seemed baffled as to why Sara was sick and losing vision.
During the procedure the anterior cerebral artery was damaged (above the circle if willis - for Jason and Ben.) It was apparently not repairable. It is related to her left leg area somehow.
We were worried - big-time, but still not knowing what the heck was happening. After a whopping 30 seconds of briefing us the Dr. left us confused and freaked out and said we could see her in a while. ---
what the heck?After another hour I went to the phone and called recovery to get in. What I saw was horrible. Sara was unconsious but her legs were kicking (like trying to kick sheets off) and arms flinching. Her left arm was a little limp compared to other limbs. The Nurse wasn’t to informative other than pointing out her left arm wasn’t too active. That made me feel better - NOT.
We have many different Dr’s and specialists who never seem to discuss business together and a wife who seems to be having a seizure over 3/4 of her body. And a freaked out husband. She had a rolled up cloth stuffed in her mouth protecting her from hurting herself (I guess) and a breathing tube in her mouth. I snapped a photo with my phone then the nurse kicked me out so Sara could be sent off for a CAT scan. Back to the waiting room for me. It was another 4 hours of watching "Nazi’s in America" on the history channel with Rog. He seemed entertained enough. (J/k)
At 4:30 I called on her again and they let me in. She was resting now - not kicking anymore - so at least she looked normal - other than the tubes out of her head, arms, PIC line (surely other places,) and cloth stuffed in her mouth. It took the same nurse about 3 minutes to tell me to go to lunch and that "she would call me" if she needed me...
Rog, Jane, and I walked outside in the cold hurricane wind to head across the street to DelTaco for some lunch - then we realized it was 6pm and not lunch, but dinner.
We sat there for a while because at least it was warm and we could get free refills.
We headed back to the hospital around 7: 30. I called on Sara to learn that she was on her way to the ICU. We headed up and actually beat her there. After a few minutes she was rolled by us by 4 or five people. Rog and Jane didn’t get a glimpse but I saw that it was her. That was 2 hours ago. It is now 9:30 pm. I have called 2 times to get in, but was denied. Obviously things are not routine here. I am about to make my next attempt to see her.
