Friday, November 7th

Cindy lounging on the Sea of Cortez

Hello Everyone,

I'm happy to report that Cindy had a very good day today.  I was able to get to the hospital early and she was awake and alert until I left at about 1:00.  Her appetite is coming back and, best of all, the headaches are waning.  Whenever she was asked about them today, she said she had one but it wasn't very bad.  She had a striking moment of clarity, too.  I was talking with the others there about some problems I'm having getting the doctor to fill out the paperwork for her disability payments when Cindy piped up and said, "You know, your health insurance is going to stop because I'm not getting paid and the premium won't be deducted for it.".  She was absolutely right.  Not only was the clarity encouraging, but it was also a needed reminder for me to send her employer a check for the premium as we had arranged. Good for her!   Otherwise, her memory seems to be slowly coming back, although for some reason (it's Friday?), the speech therapist didn't come by today.

After Colleen and her Mom and Dad arrived, I left for a couple of hours to take care of some things and when I got back, she was a bit groggy for a while, but soon perked up and ate dinner.  The doctor came by, said he's still very pleased with her progress and that he thinks she may be past the risk for vasospasms (yeah!).  They still can't pin down why her white count is so high, though...they've tested her cerebrospinal fluid, her urine, and have looked at her lungs.  It's all come up clean, so they're thinking it might be an infection at the entry site of the catheter in her neck.  Consequently, they plan to remove it tomorrow morning and replace it with one in her arm.  An added benefit will be that they can bandage it heavily so she won't be able to mess with it like she's prone to with the one in her neck.  

They also plan to remove the shunt in her head next week and will soon begin a process towards that end.  First they'll take her off the Plavix that wards off clots from the stent they put in (there's a risk of bleeding when they pull the shunt out and they don't want her on too many blood thinners...they'll keep giving her aspirin, though).  Then they'll "test" her brain by raising the draining apparatus the shunt connects to so it can't act as a siphon any more.  That will tell them if her brain can absorb the cerebrospinal fluid as it does under normal circumstances.  If it does, out comes the shunt.  If not, they'll put a permanent shunt under her skin into her body cavity so the fluid can be absorbed there.  Of course, we all hope that won't be the case. (They've been very diligent in keeping the draining apparatus at just the right level so it acts as a siphon to drain off the blood in her brain.  It has just tickled me to death, that in this room with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, of high-tech medical equipment, they use a good old-fashioned carpenter's level to do so! It's a hoot!)

Thanks to everyone for all the offers to help me out in anyway they can.  Even though Colleen, Ernie, Cindy's Mom and Dad and I have been able to handle everything pretty well so far, it's really comforting to know there's plenty of places to turn for more help if we need it.

Please continue to keep Cindy in your thoughts and prayers, so she continues on this course to a rapid recovery.