Day 38 Hold off on the BBQ first. This morning, she woke up a bit confused. Kinda lost her memory. Took her out for a trip around the hospital at her own request but she looked very puzzled. She completely forgot about everyone again, and where she was... But by about 11 am, she suddenly perked up - she remembered everything again! She even remembers her medical training. In fact, she said she was actually aware during her stay in the ICU and could hear us talking. I suppose that was during the last few days when they took her off sedation a few times. In any case, she wasn't discharged today because they offered to replace her cranium next Monday. She told them she wanted to stay in until then. That makes more sense anyway, as she still has a severe pain in her left leg and is still not able to stand or walk. It would be far easier for us to help her out in the hospital.
Boss, you know as well as any of us how resillient the human body can be... I (and my wife) are so glad to hear the good news even if it is little bits & pieces!
Day 39 & 40 It's been up and down these two days... Now that her tracheostomy hole has closed up, whatever she's saying comes out much clearer. However, it also made it pretty clear that she has some dysphasia - difficulty in creating proper spoken language. She can reply in some short sentences that make sense, but most of the time, her sentences do not make any sense. It's all gibberish. She admitted that she don't know why her own words don't make sense. They are not what she intended, but she says them anyway. For example, she can recognize her own name now, but when I asked her what her name was, she gave it as something nonsensical. Once, she even called herself Dawn Fan. Her memory also comes and goes. Sometimes she can remember really well, sometimes she doesn't even know who I am. Worse of all, her short term memory is virtually non-existent. For example, I would tell her today's Friday and just a few seconds later, when I ask her what day it is, she would say Monday (or some other day). When I reminded her that I just told her it's Friday, she would deny I told her. Her left leg continues to trouble her. There may be some nerve damage, causing a great deal of pain in that leg and a foot drop as well. Painkillers helps a little so far - Voltaren (diclofenac) was completely useless... and it takes about 100 mg of tramadol to relieve the pain somewhat. I got them to try gabapentin tonight. Should do the trick. There's still a very long way to go... I'm just worried that her dysphasia and memory loss isn't temporary. It's going to cut a great deal into her quality of life. Needless to say, it's also going to prevent her from ever working again, much less working as a doctor. Oh well, one step at a time....
We hope that she'll be all okay, including her memory and her speech. Just don't rush too much, one at a time will really help her.
Day 41 Sigh.. It's a long holiday weekend, and many of the staff here took opportunity to leave town. So she would not get her gabapentin until the specialist returns on Monday. The pain in her left leg's really giving her a hell of a time. It's going to be a really long weekend for her... I think she's slowly improving, physically more than mentally but I guess she needs some more time... They did a CT recently because she knocked her head three times in her sleep (from tossing around in pain). Fortunately, there was no rebleed, just a large bump on her forehead and a black eye. Her CT showed that the clots in her brain has more or less resolved, and even the cerebral swelling gone down a lot. Unfortunately, a nice CT does not readily translate into a similar clinical picture. The good news is she is now able to recognize her name and our names on a more regular basis. She can even write them down, but only if she reads a key word to "trigger" her memory. For example, if I write Adrian amongst a list of names, she will pick it out correctly and write Adrian and add my surname, Wong as well. But if I do not write my name for her to read first, she cannot write it out by herself. PS. I'm currently writing this in her room! I've been spending the last few days with her to take care of her and to make sure she doesn't go knocking her head. Have not been able to do any work since I only go home for a few hours to work before heading back again. So I decided to try out the Apple iPhone's tethering ability. Connecting to the Internet was a breeze! But no thanks to Maxis' 3G network though. For some reason, everthing loads fast except for Tech ARP. (see http://forums.techarp.com/adrian-wong/25584-maxis-has-truly-crappy-3g-network-3.html#post354855 for more details)
Day 42 Today started with her losing her memory again... for a short while at least. She startled me by asking why I didn't bring Ryan to see her for over a month. Funny question since she has been seeing him twice a day for the last week or so! The good news her memory came back again after a short while, and she could accurately pair pictures of people with their names even though her ability to write their names without me providing a "trigger" isn't there yet. Her leg continued to trouble her a lot but fortunately, one of the consultants came in to check on her today and brought with him a supply of gabapentin. It took some time to start working, but it did the trick! I tested her short term memory in the evening, and to my surprise, she had quite a good memory! When I asked her what day it was, she could write "Sunday 29/11/2009". Pretty amazing progress today. I wonder if it's due to the pain relief provided by gabapentin. Anyway, she's going to undergo her cranioplasty (replacement of her cranium) in the morning at 8 am. Hope everything goes well!
Day 43 Jenny went through her cranioplasty this morning and came out at around 12 pm. She's already awake and talking, so I guess it went well. The last I heard they took her for another CT scan to make sure everything went well. Didn't get to see her yet because her mother came last night to take over. She is still there. I'm going to take over from her soon. Had to take some time off to rest, take care of Ryan and do a little work.
Jenny will be all right! Anyway, do you give her (re)training on her memory, like flash-cards, some writing sessions or listening to music? It might help.