Hi Everyone,
We have good news to report; Corey has improved throughout the day. She was very “dopey” this morning coming off all the seizure medication but she quickly started to show signs of “coming out of it”.
The doctor’s and nurses have been testing her cognitive responses frequently. She has communicated via thumbs up, close your eyes, squeeze my hand, move your leg, and follow my finger. She’s back to “mouthing” motions when asked to “tell us…” She has also hummed several times and threw in a few growls when she didn’t like some of the procedures the nurses needed to carry out. We encouraged the attitude!
Corey’s fever has come down. The Doctor’s do not feel that Corey’s shunt is infected. If it were, she wouldn’t be bouncing back as quickly as she is. They explained the fever can be a phenomenon of seizures. They shared that when the brain is seizing, it can short fire the body’s ability to regulate the patient’s temperature, hence102.4. Since midnight last night through tonight, she has maintained a 99 temp. All her blood work came back negative and levels look normal. The results of the EEG have not come back yet; however, based on her physical responses she is not showing signs of any additional seizures. In addition, she had an ultra sound to check for blood clots in her legs. Radiology will confirm the results but the preliminary evaluation is negative. If she remains stable through the night we will return to Bryn Mawr tomorrow.
We are told that seizures are very common for TBI patients. In fact, they are almost expected within the first year of recovery. It is very important to watch for them and manage them immediately. The sooner they are controlled chemically, the less frequent they will be which in turn will keep them from contributing to further damage to the brain. It will be crucial we monitor her anti-seizure medications…and Corey thought I was watching closely before! Not only do I have every pore on her face memorized, I’m now going to watch every blink!!
Corey, we used to talk about the frustration you’d feel when things were out of your control. Sometimes it was really hard to wait and see how certain circumstances would play out. You’d want to rush the outcome, play out the different scenarios and before you’d know it you were projecting crazy thoughts.
That’s what is so difficult about this…we don’t know what to expect next or what the timeline is. The best we can do is deal with what is happening today. Today you had a much better day. That’s what we can focus on. There’s going to be more of those, I promise! So for tonight, let’s hold hands and cuddle awhile until we fall asleep…happy dreams, I love you so much! xoxo