Outrageous Malfunction

Wed, 28 May 2008 23:35:28 -0500

What a day! I decide to leave a little earlier than usual. I normally leave the house by 8:30am, getting their one hour later. So i left earlier to see how the Houston traffic was an hour earlier. Not too bad, and I got there at 8:30am.

I park in the garage across from the hospital on Fannin, and get my laptop and walk across the skyway to her building. Stop walk up to the elevator and push up. I get in the elevator and push floor 8. I walk up to the check in desk, get my visitor’s badge, sign in, and walk through the secure doorway. Walking past 8 rooms, I enter Trudi’s room.

I enter the door and see two nurses, this huge chair, and Trudi sitting in it. My jaw must have hit the floor. She was sitting there with her protective neuro-helmet on with the remote control in her right hand. Praise the Lord, she was sitting up, with support and assistance, of course. What a special chair, this Neuro-Chair as they call it. It lays back and makes it easy to slide her back to her bed. Amazing, and I’d like to have had a photo of my face when I saw her sitting there. I was completely overtaken with joy for her, it made the day. I was so proud of her for having the courage and strength to do go through that ordeal. They were planning to have her sit for a couple of hours this evening before going to bed for the night. Way to go, Trudi.

One of her cousins stopped by and she remembered him, and was very happy to see him. They just talked and let the joyous moments engulf Trudi as she is trying to take all of this in. Her processor has been seriously damaged and will take some time to update and adjust. But she’s doing it, one step at a time, sometimes, big steps, like getting in that chair and sitting in it for 3 hours, this morning.

About 5pm, the Neurologist stopped by to check on her. We talked a few moments, catching up on Trudi since I last saw him on Friday. He spoke with her and joked a little bit about her kicking him if he pinched her again. This time he told her to kick him if she wanted to, so he did the pinch test on her left leg and arm.

First he pinched her on top of her foot, nothing, then I saw him pinch harder, and she moved her foot out of the way. So he pinched her just above her knee, and she tried to move her leg out of the way. We talked about this wonderful event and he went on to finish his rounds. About 10 minutes later, he came back. I was on her right side, holding her hand and loving her for what a great miracle is occurring before us. Some movement in her left extremities.

She is paralyzed, no doubt about it. With the breathing tube out and the swelling having gone down in her face, she is paralyzed on the lower quadrant of her left face, it is sagging slightly, her lips and cheek. The doctor says more than likely half her tongue could be paralyzed, too. So she will feel my kisses on the right side of her lips. We can deal with that.

I mentioned to him that she seems to be having difficulty with her eye sight. He said yes, the stroke was so massive it got the back of her brain, too, the right half of the back of the brain. That is where sight is processed, occipital lobe, or visual cortex. That explains why she is always wanting me to stand on her right side, she can see me on that side, even though she is laying on her left side because of the bone missing on the right side of her head.

Each eye’s optic nerve crosses over to each side of the brain. The right eye’s left field of vision goes to the right brain and it’s right field of vision goes to the left brain. So each eye can only see the right field of vision, it’s dark on the left side of her sight. So when looking at a clock, she will see the numbers 12 to 6, so now I understand why she wants me standing on her right side.

As I was saying good night to her, she puckered her lips for a kiss. I am afraid to kiss her because of the sterile environment in her room. She was smooching for me to kiss her, so I looked up at the nurse and asked if it would be okay to kiss her, she said, sure, go ahead. I kissed her several time and she kissed me back. That was overwhelming for me. I kissed her and said goodnight, as emotion was filling me with instant joy and peace. Waving goodnight, I left the room in tears, I couldn’t stop them. The nurse walked out with me seeing I was overwhelmed with emotion. I looked at her and she was crying, as well. This was one of the best moments in my life. Praise God for His healing of Trudi.

On that wondrous note, I’ll say goodnight and may…

God Bless You All.

Bob

Tuesday, May 27, 2008 10:18:32 PM

Today, Trudi had two more surgeries, the tracheotomy and feeding tube insertion. Both we well, with no complications. Whew, glad that is over. All of the tubes have been removed from her throat. With all of that gone, she looks wonderful.

I arrived and she was sleeping. The nurse said she was responsive most of the night, but complaining of her stomach hurting. The pain medication is causing her to “back up” in her bowels and causing some discomfort. They will take care of that problem.

When she woke up for a few minutes, I was at her side and talking with her. The first thing I say is, you guessed it, “You look wonderful, today, and I love you”. And then ask her if she can see me, and she nodded yes. Then back to sleep she went.

It was about noon when they came to take her for the tracheotomy and gone for about an hour, hour and a half. And of course, she was sleeping due to the drugs they gave her for the surgery. I take this time to work with her left side, pushing on her foot, which moves her whole leg, and grasping her left hand and moving her fingers, wrist, elbow, and a little bit of her shoulder. Gotta keep those nerves stimulated so they can find a place to make new connections in her brain.

She rested this afternoon, as I emailed and watched her. I will stand at the foot of her bed and just watch her. And while watching her, I am pushing on her left foot, almost like a walking motion the foot would make when walking, and that puts pressure on her knee and hip, too.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow, and hoping she will be more alert. It’ll take a while for the drugs to wear off, except for what she is getting for pain, which isn’t much. Just takes the edge off of it.

Overall, she made progress by getting through the last two surgeries and getting the tubes out of her throat. She looked so much better, and the swelling in her right eye as gone down even more, where she can open both eyes equally.

Thank the Lord for all of you, you’re Angels for us, and seeing us through this difficult time. Allowing me to share this journey with you is certainly helping me travel down this road, too.

Now, I’m going through all of her things and finances, to make certain all of her commitments are taken care of, too. Lots to do, wow. And I’ve gotten a list of Rehabilitation Hospitals in the area. There is one that I’m already leaning toward, and it’s a block away from Memorial Hermann Hospital and all of her doctors and surgeons are affiliated with it. She has the best doctors available, and if we can keep them during rehab, the better, just in case something happened. They would be able to continue to see her. The other Rehab Hospitals are good, and I will visit each of them in order to make a good decision about the best care for Trudi. Of course, there are no Rehab Hospitals in our local area, just in Houston and the Clear Lake area, so we’ll use one in Houston.

I’m trying to get things taken care of ahead of time, so they aren’t a distraction for me later. I’m focusing all of my attention on Trudi. Trudi could spend a month or two in Rehab, or a year or more, depending on her impairments and her rate of recovery. We’ll cross that path when we come to it, I just want to have it all in place when the time comes for the next journey. The Journey Home.

Thank you all for listening, or reading, haha, and being there for us. You may not be with us in body, but believe me, you’re with us in Spirit, no doubt. All of your positive energy and the healing hands of God are truly making the difference.

Good night, and until next time…

May God Bless You All,

Bob Holcombe