Perhaps some of you have this on an RSS feed and when you got the notice of this post you gasped and said to yourself "Oh No! Did something go wrong?"
Well, put your mind at rest - nothing has gone wrong with Sue. This is just a post to let everyone know that I won't be posting here any more because of the progress of Sue's recovery, and to give a final update.
For the most part Sue has fully recovered. We are still noticing a few memory issues, and things or situations can overwhelm her now that wouldn't have before the hemorrhage. She is back to her teaching and homeschooling, although she is finding that having her largest class yet (12 students, 12 and 13 years old) is a little challenging.
So, getting through the last few percentage points of recovery is all that is left, and that will be a long, slow process.
That's pretty much it. We thank you for following Sue's progress here, and for all the prayers offered up on her behalf.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Mid-August Report
Just a quick note to let everyone know that Sue's recovery is continuing. Every test she has had and every doctor we have talked to have said she is healthy and has no impairments, and so it is just a matter of riding out the healing process, which can take up to four months. She has been walking unassisted for a while now, a mile or more on some days, with no ill effects. She has driven herself to a couple of appointments, and has taught a couple of seminars for the parents of the kids who will be in her class this year.
She still has an occasional headache, usually in the mornings, and her body is still working to deal with the aftereffects of all the vicodin she took. Basically her liver was swamped by that and it is working to clear the backlog, which means other things that it would normally take care of are not, and that shows up in things like ear infections, yeast infections, and other minor annoyances. But on the whole, she's doing good!
She still has an occasional headache, usually in the mornings, and her body is still working to deal with the aftereffects of all the vicodin she took. Basically her liver was swamped by that and it is working to clear the backlog, which means other things that it would normally take care of are not, and that shows up in things like ear infections, yeast infections, and other minor annoyances. But on the whole, she's doing good!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Just a little update
It's been over a week since I last posted, so here I am getting in a little bit of an update for everyone.
We finally got in to see a neurologist last week, and he has ordered up another battery of tests for Sue, aimed at finding out the original cause of the hemorrhage. She gets to have another MRI, this time of the thoracic spine, that is, the region between the one she had in the hospital and the one she had a couple of weeks ago! They are also contemplating what they call a "4 vessel angiogram", which is like a heart catheterization except they shoot the dye into your brain instead of your heart. It's more extensive and invasive than the ones they did in the hospital. Sue is pretty leery of that one, and I don't blame her.
Overall, her recovery is progressing pretty nicely. She has been getting headaches almost every morning, which the docs tell us is normal and just a sign that her brain isn't fully healed yet. If she takes it easy and takes her migrane medication she can usually get rid of it by lunchtime.
She is up and around much more now than ever, and she has been taking short walks in the evening. This has really been good for her spirits, but she has found that her endurance isn't nearly what it was before she went to the hospital. Being bedridden for three weeks will do that for you! Still, the fact that she is doing that at all is very encouraging, and just another milestone in her recovery.
As far as recovery time goes, they are telling us between two and four months is typical, and our family doc thinks that because the bleed was so small and there was no surgery involved, she will probably be on the earlier end of that range. As of right now she is still planning on teaching her class starting August 20th, and has been preparing her class materials during her "down times".
This week she is at her mom's with the kids. She was supposed to help with their church's Vacation Bible School, but that has been ruled out. But if you were planning on stopping to see her this week, she won't be here!
We finally got in to see a neurologist last week, and he has ordered up another battery of tests for Sue, aimed at finding out the original cause of the hemorrhage. She gets to have another MRI, this time of the thoracic spine, that is, the region between the one she had in the hospital and the one she had a couple of weeks ago! They are also contemplating what they call a "4 vessel angiogram", which is like a heart catheterization except they shoot the dye into your brain instead of your heart. It's more extensive and invasive than the ones they did in the hospital. Sue is pretty leery of that one, and I don't blame her.
Overall, her recovery is progressing pretty nicely. She has been getting headaches almost every morning, which the docs tell us is normal and just a sign that her brain isn't fully healed yet. If she takes it easy and takes her migrane medication she can usually get rid of it by lunchtime.
She is up and around much more now than ever, and she has been taking short walks in the evening. This has really been good for her spirits, but she has found that her endurance isn't nearly what it was before she went to the hospital. Being bedridden for three weeks will do that for you! Still, the fact that she is doing that at all is very encouraging, and just another milestone in her recovery.
As far as recovery time goes, they are telling us between two and four months is typical, and our family doc thinks that because the bleed was so small and there was no surgery involved, she will probably be on the earlier end of that range. As of right now she is still planning on teaching her class starting August 20th, and has been preparing her class materials during her "down times".
This week she is at her mom's with the kids. She was supposed to help with their church's Vacation Bible School, but that has been ruled out. But if you were planning on stopping to see her this week, she won't be here!
Friday, July 13, 2012
More Progress
Sue's tailbone continues to progress! We had another appointment with the chiropractor on Thursday and he adjusted that little feller again. After that adjustment Sue proceeded to walk to the car without the walker she went in with. She isn't back to normal yet, by any means, but she is progressing and that is a great relief to my mind! I thank God for Dr. Joel! I think without him Sue would still be in bed pounding down Vicodin rather than up and cleaning house. Yes I scolded her for overdoing! She told me she stopped with she got tired, and took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. I think she just helped with dishes and folded laundry. She told me she did not scrub floors!
The benefit of all this verticality is that the cerebro-spinal fluid is able to circulate much better when one is up and moving than when one is laying down and sedentary, so if there is some blood still tucked away in some little nook or cranny in that low spine and irritating nerves in there, it has a better chance now of being processed out and not giving us any more trouble.
We did also get word today that the hospital has found the missing Doppler test. Sue called the Customer Service line there, and the lady she talked to went a-sleuthing. She told us she had quite a time tracking this test down, and had to talk to a technician in order to figure out what was going on, and apparently this Doppler was a part of the Echo-cardiogram rather than a separate test, and it was done by cardiology rather than radiology. So we will be picking up those results tomorrow for the Neurologist.
I wanted to take a moment to thank my parents, who have really helped us out in the transportation department this week and last, by taking the kids to their music lessons, which were in conflict with Doctor's appointments. This allowed Sue and I to focus on the doctor and not whether or not we were going to get out in time to pick up the kid! Thanks also to Sue Wank, for being there when Sue has needed an encouraging word, despite the serious medical issues in her own family.
Lastly, thank you again to all of you who have been praying for us. This has certainly been a trial for all of us, and it is comforting to know that we are still being brought before the throne of grace by our "family". It has not mitigated the trial, but strength sufficient for each day has been given to us, and we are persevering through the trial.
The benefit of all this verticality is that the cerebro-spinal fluid is able to circulate much better when one is up and moving than when one is laying down and sedentary, so if there is some blood still tucked away in some little nook or cranny in that low spine and irritating nerves in there, it has a better chance now of being processed out and not giving us any more trouble.
We did also get word today that the hospital has found the missing Doppler test. Sue called the Customer Service line there, and the lady she talked to went a-sleuthing. She told us she had quite a time tracking this test down, and had to talk to a technician in order to figure out what was going on, and apparently this Doppler was a part of the Echo-cardiogram rather than a separate test, and it was done by cardiology rather than radiology. So we will be picking up those results tomorrow for the Neurologist.
I wanted to take a moment to thank my parents, who have really helped us out in the transportation department this week and last, by taking the kids to their music lessons, which were in conflict with Doctor's appointments. This allowed Sue and I to focus on the doctor and not whether or not we were going to get out in time to pick up the kid! Thanks also to Sue Wank, for being there when Sue has needed an encouraging word, despite the serious medical issues in her own family.
Lastly, thank you again to all of you who have been praying for us. This has certainly been a trial for all of us, and it is comforting to know that we are still being brought before the throne of grace by our "family". It has not mitigated the trial, but strength sufficient for each day has been given to us, and we are persevering through the trial.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Hematology: Normal
Another Doctor, another normal report, this time from the Hematologist. The cause of this brain bleed continues to be quite elusive. On the positive side, this continues to establish the excellent state of Sue's health!
On a worrisome note: Sparrow Hospital shows no record in the computer of the Doppler test done on Sue's head and neck. If this is true, I hope they don't charge us for it! They had a couple of places to look still, but the staff in the Hematologist's office couldn't find it while we were there.
Good news today - this was the first time that Sue was able to sit in the front seat of the van rather than laying in the back seat when going to the appointment, because of the tailbone issue. This is a definite sign of improvement - hopefully it lasts. She said it was still a 2 on the pain scale, but not nearly as bad as it has been.
On a worrisome note: Sparrow Hospital shows no record in the computer of the Doppler test done on Sue's head and neck. If this is true, I hope they don't charge us for it! They had a couple of places to look still, but the staff in the Hematologist's office couldn't find it while we were there.
Good news today - this was the first time that Sue was able to sit in the front seat of the van rather than laying in the back seat when going to the appointment, because of the tailbone issue. This is a definite sign of improvement - hopefully it lasts. She said it was still a 2 on the pain scale, but not nearly as bad as it has been.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Holding Pattern
Holding pattern is a pretty good summary of where we have been at all week. On Wednesday we had two appointments - the first one was with Sue's doctor at the Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine office at MSU. He has been working with her on her TMJ problem, and we told him our additional tale from the last couple of weeks. He did some additional tests and manipulations on her, but I don't think he wanted to do too much. He said her strength was good in her legs and feet, except for her left big toe, which is very important for balance when you are walking.
Our second one was with the Natural Health Center. We briefed him on what we did at OMM and he started making adjustments. He is a licensed chiropractor, but he brings a lot of other disciplines into his practice, the application of which is just amazing. He did an adjustment on her left toe, which got that immediately working right, and just as strong as the other side. Her walking has definitely gotten better since that adjustment. Also, his adjustments are not the stereotypical "twist them into a pretzel and then shove" kinds of adjustments. All he does is tap in the right place to make the adjustment.
Next, he started working his way down the the spine, until he arrived at the coccyx (cox'-iks), which is the very last bone in your spine. Most folks who don't have latin scholars or medical people in their house (which I do) call this the tailbone. This bone seems to be where her back pain is coming from. The xray showed there was no fracture here, so it may be an alignment issue, or it may be still the irritation of the nerves in the spine by the blood from her brain. We don't know yet. But after his adjustment there, she was walking around his office without the walker, so something in there got some relief. Unfortunately, that level of relief wasn't permanent, but I think we're going in the right direction. Even now, she is moving around better, and can go a little longer between pain meds, so it is progress in the right direction.
Friday was her MRI, so now we are waiting to have that read and the results sent to the family doc and the OMM doc, and we can go from there. We also have an appointment with the hematologist this week, which we are very interested in. We are hoping there are some answers there as to why the hemorrhage happened in the first place.
Sue is much more lively and engaged with life going on around her than she was at this time last week. She is on the phone a lot, and she has started doing the planning and prep work for the new writing curriculum she will be teaching this coming school year. It's book work and watching some lectures on DVD, so it's keeping her mind occupied while she is still on her back and in bed, which is very good for her and her active mind. She doesn't deal with boredom and inactivity well!
We do appreciate the cards, letters, emails, and phone calls that have been sent. Each one is like a little bright spot in Sue's day, and she has a gleeful tone in her voice as she tells me about them. We also appreciate the prayers, and we believe they are working. Nerves can be slow healers, so we are going to need a lot of patience in the coming weeks as we work with all our doctors to put all this behind us.
Our second one was with the Natural Health Center. We briefed him on what we did at OMM and he started making adjustments. He is a licensed chiropractor, but he brings a lot of other disciplines into his practice, the application of which is just amazing. He did an adjustment on her left toe, which got that immediately working right, and just as strong as the other side. Her walking has definitely gotten better since that adjustment. Also, his adjustments are not the stereotypical "twist them into a pretzel and then shove" kinds of adjustments. All he does is tap in the right place to make the adjustment.
Next, he started working his way down the the spine, until he arrived at the coccyx (cox'-iks), which is the very last bone in your spine. Most folks who don't have latin scholars or medical people in their house (which I do) call this the tailbone. This bone seems to be where her back pain is coming from. The xray showed there was no fracture here, so it may be an alignment issue, or it may be still the irritation of the nerves in the spine by the blood from her brain. We don't know yet. But after his adjustment there, she was walking around his office without the walker, so something in there got some relief. Unfortunately, that level of relief wasn't permanent, but I think we're going in the right direction. Even now, she is moving around better, and can go a little longer between pain meds, so it is progress in the right direction.
Friday was her MRI, so now we are waiting to have that read and the results sent to the family doc and the OMM doc, and we can go from there. We also have an appointment with the hematologist this week, which we are very interested in. We are hoping there are some answers there as to why the hemorrhage happened in the first place.
Sue is much more lively and engaged with life going on around her than she was at this time last week. She is on the phone a lot, and she has started doing the planning and prep work for the new writing curriculum she will be teaching this coming school year. It's book work and watching some lectures on DVD, so it's keeping her mind occupied while she is still on her back and in bed, which is very good for her and her active mind. She doesn't deal with boredom and inactivity well!
We do appreciate the cards, letters, emails, and phone calls that have been sent. Each one is like a little bright spot in Sue's day, and she has a gleeful tone in her voice as she tells me about them. We also appreciate the prayers, and we believe they are working. Nerves can be slow healers, so we are going to need a lot of patience in the coming weeks as we work with all our doctors to put all this behind us.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Progress
Monday was a day of progress for Sue. As you may recall, we were concerned that the insurance company would not approve the MRI that we believe Sue needs to figure out what is going on in her back. Yesterday we got a call from MSU Radiology to schedule the MRI, and we confirmed that the insurance company did approve it, so that is a go on Friday.
We also got a call from the neurosurgeon we saw in the hospital, and he was not willing to take Sue on as a patient, because no surgery was indicated. We found out from Sue's sister that there are neurosurgeons and there are neurologists, and that helped us understand why he was turning us away. We need a neurologist.
We also saw our family doc yesterday, and he refilled the pain meds for Sue, so she can stay comfortable for the next couple of weeks while we are getting our imaging and other stuff taken care of. He also gave us a referral to a neurologist, whom we expect to hear from in the next day or two. So overall, the medical side of things seem to be falling into place, which we are thankful for.
We also learned a new latin biology term: cauda equina. This is a group of nerves in the low back that look like a horse's tail, thus, cauda (tail) equina (horse). This is where the family doc believes the irritation is in Sue's back. We shall see.
The kids and I continue to adjust to our current life of caring for mom, rather than the other way around. Lauren told Sue yesterday that she has a new appreciation of what mom does for the family. That's progress! She has really been pitching in, and has made dinner the last couple of nights, as well as cleaning bathrooms and helping me with laundry.
I think Sue would appreciate visitors, but she is also a little embarassed by her somewhat dishevelled appearance (which, of course, is normal when you can't get your regular bathing schedule in because someone has shoved a fencepost in your sacrum and it hurts to do anything but lie on your back!). Even phone calls help her to feel like she is maintaining contact with the outside world. Please call our home phone rather than her cell - and call or email me if you need that number and don't have it.
We would also like to thank you for your continued prayers for our family, and for the cards that some of you have sent. They are all very much appreciated.
We also got a call from the neurosurgeon we saw in the hospital, and he was not willing to take Sue on as a patient, because no surgery was indicated. We found out from Sue's sister that there are neurosurgeons and there are neurologists, and that helped us understand why he was turning us away. We need a neurologist.
We also saw our family doc yesterday, and he refilled the pain meds for Sue, so she can stay comfortable for the next couple of weeks while we are getting our imaging and other stuff taken care of. He also gave us a referral to a neurologist, whom we expect to hear from in the next day or two. So overall, the medical side of things seem to be falling into place, which we are thankful for.
We also learned a new latin biology term: cauda equina. This is a group of nerves in the low back that look like a horse's tail, thus, cauda (tail) equina (horse). This is where the family doc believes the irritation is in Sue's back. We shall see.
The kids and I continue to adjust to our current life of caring for mom, rather than the other way around. Lauren told Sue yesterday that she has a new appreciation of what mom does for the family. That's progress! She has really been pitching in, and has made dinner the last couple of nights, as well as cleaning bathrooms and helping me with laundry.
I think Sue would appreciate visitors, but she is also a little embarassed by her somewhat dishevelled appearance (which, of course, is normal when you can't get your regular bathing schedule in because someone has shoved a fencepost in your sacrum and it hurts to do anything but lie on your back!). Even phone calls help her to feel like she is maintaining contact with the outside world. Please call our home phone rather than her cell - and call or email me if you need that number and don't have it.
We would also like to thank you for your continued prayers for our family, and for the cards that some of you have sent. They are all very much appreciated.
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