Sunday, February 12, 2006

Sunday night (Feb. 12)

Just got home from the hospital. There are no significant changes from before. The nurse said there is a tiny improvement neurologically, and a slight return of movement on the right side.

Jan's aneuryism occurred on the left side of her brain, which controls the right side of the body. The nurses have said that some paralysis on the right side is to be expected at this time, due to the continued swelling in the brain.

Her left eye area was quite swollen and bruised. This is expected as a result of the surgery. The swelling and discolouration in her left eye was somewhat reduced tonight from this morning.

1 comment:

FC said...

The hardest part for the family is the waiting time and the uncertainty. The doctors and nurses are so tentative in what they say... never stating positively what they expect to happen. Their language is full of uncertainty and careful not to create any expectations shold they prove to be false. The repeat a mantra: every case is different.

One of the family members asked a nurse this morning: why do you work here? it look so dismal and stressful..., how can you cope?. A nurse answered: because I feel I can make a difference. When a patient leaves the IC Unit to second chance at life, it bring great satisfaction to all of us, we feel we've made a small difference in someone's life.

She is connected to a ventilator but today she was doing all the breathing. A good sign, however, it can be reversed at any moment. It is evident how any sign regardless of how small it is, becomes a nail on the wall for the family to hang "hope"