Not much new to report - just another good day of resting.
They were working for a while this afternoon to get a good balance of medications for Judi so that she would be resting comfortably. She did some wiggling around that showed us everything was working as it should, but that she was probably feeling some discomfort. However, they have found a good balance for her, so she is now getting some good resting and healing time.
The neurosurgeon who did her craniotomy talked to us today about the timeline for her next big step, which will be the back surgery. Right now, it's still all about letting her continue to heal and rest so that she will be ready for that.
Keep on praying! :)
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Good News for the Morning
Just a quickie post for this morning.
Judi had another restful night. This morning, as they were continuing to reduce the paralyzing drugs and sedation, do you know what she did? If you know how stubborn she is, you can probably guess.
She woke up for several minutes, and immediately looked for Steve. She is fighting hard to be back with us soon. They did adjust the medication so that she will stay asleep for her own safety. Right now, if she were to become agitated or confused, it could cause problems with her blood pressure or her back injury.
However, this was a nice piece of good news I thought I would share.
Also, we have had some loved ones asking about when they can come visit. Right now, she is in a clean room and her visitors are limited to just the immediate family. This is all for her safety. They want to make sure that the doctors and nurses have the space and comfort they need to be able to tend to her to the best of their ability. Infection is also a big concern with trauma patients, so that is another reason to limit who comes onto the floor.
As soon as it is possible for her to have visitors, we will post here. She will be happy to see how many people care about her and want to wish her well. But right now, the best thing for her is to keep praying and wishing her well.
Thank you for all the prayers and words of uplifting.
Judi had another restful night. This morning, as they were continuing to reduce the paralyzing drugs and sedation, do you know what she did? If you know how stubborn she is, you can probably guess.
She woke up for several minutes, and immediately looked for Steve. She is fighting hard to be back with us soon. They did adjust the medication so that she will stay asleep for her own safety. Right now, if she were to become agitated or confused, it could cause problems with her blood pressure or her back injury.
However, this was a nice piece of good news I thought I would share.
Also, we have had some loved ones asking about when they can come visit. Right now, she is in a clean room and her visitors are limited to just the immediate family. This is all for her safety. They want to make sure that the doctors and nurses have the space and comfort they need to be able to tend to her to the best of their ability. Infection is also a big concern with trauma patients, so that is another reason to limit who comes onto the floor.
As soon as it is possible for her to have visitors, we will post here. She will be happy to see how many people care about her and want to wish her well. But right now, the best thing for her is to keep praying and wishing her well.
Thank you for all the prayers and words of uplifting.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Afternoon Report
Just got home from taking Dad some lunch and checking in with Mom.
In true Judi fashion, she is kicking butt. Her ICP (pressure in her head) is steadily coming down, which indicates that we are probably through the worst of the swelling. She had another CT scan early this morning, which showed just what we saw after her surgery: all clear.
Hurdle cleared!
Right now, the doctors are waiting to see that she is ready for her back surgery. They have measured her for a special kind of brace that will let her sit up without disturbing the injury in her back. This will help her even more because her circulation will be better, and the pressure in her head will also decrease, because the body will be situated the way it's meant to be.
In the meantime, she is resting well, and responding well to all the things they are doing. She is still not conscious (because of the drugs she is being given), but we are talking to her and letting her know how much she is loved. We are also letting her know that she needs to go ahead and get better quickly!
Before I wrap up this post - let me do a shameless plug for Shepeard Blood Center! For those who are reading from SRS, they will be out there on Thursday with the bloodmobile. For others, they have several locations in the CSRA, or you can donate at your local blood center. Judi has already received multiple units of blood to help her recovery along. One donation can save three lives!
I have had a few folks let me know that they weren't able to post. I discovered that it was asking for a login, so I am making the blog open for comments. Hope that helps!
"This too, shall pass."
In true Judi fashion, she is kicking butt. Her ICP (pressure in her head) is steadily coming down, which indicates that we are probably through the worst of the swelling. She had another CT scan early this morning, which showed just what we saw after her surgery: all clear.
Hurdle cleared!
Right now, the doctors are waiting to see that she is ready for her back surgery. They have measured her for a special kind of brace that will let her sit up without disturbing the injury in her back. This will help her even more because her circulation will be better, and the pressure in her head will also decrease, because the body will be situated the way it's meant to be.
In the meantime, she is resting well, and responding well to all the things they are doing. She is still not conscious (because of the drugs she is being given), but we are talking to her and letting her know how much she is loved. We are also letting her know that she needs to go ahead and get better quickly!
Before I wrap up this post - let me do a shameless plug for Shepeard Blood Center! For those who are reading from SRS, they will be out there on Thursday with the bloodmobile. For others, they have several locations in the CSRA, or you can donate at your local blood center. Judi has already received multiple units of blood to help her recovery along. One donation can save three lives!
I have had a few folks let me know that they weren't able to post. I discovered that it was asking for a login, so I am making the blog open for comments. Hope that helps!
"This too, shall pass."
Subscribe with Google + Morning News
Good morning all!
I'm just posting to let you know I have added a little gadget on the right that will let you subscribe to our blog, if you would like to do that. If you have a Yahoo! or Google account, it will simply add a 'feed' to your main pages there when we update.
I'm just posting to let you know I have added a little gadget on the right that will let you subscribe to our blog, if you would like to do that. If you have a Yahoo! or Google account, it will simply add a 'feed' to your main pages there when we update.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Evening News
Hello all! Not much to post since this afternoon, but I'd like to get in the habit of posting each night when I get home.
Our girl is doing well. We're still 'in the woods' as they say, but she is on the right path. The pressure inside her head is decreasing steadily due to the procedure performed yesterday, which is a great thing! Today was mostly a resting day for her, and a waiting day for us. The doctors are continuing to keep watchful eyes on all her vital signs.
"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow." -- Orison Swett Marden
Our girl is doing well. We're still 'in the woods' as they say, but she is on the right path. The pressure inside her head is decreasing steadily due to the procedure performed yesterday, which is a great thing! Today was mostly a resting day for her, and a waiting day for us. The doctors are continuing to keep watchful eyes on all her vital signs.
"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow." -- Orison Swett Marden
The Beginning
Hello all - if you are reading this blog, then you probably already know why you're here! Our goal is to use this blog to help keep in touch with people. We are truly blessed to have so many people inquiring about both our well being and especially Judi's.
We would like to have this not only to document what goes on so that she can read it when she is with us again, but also to have a place for people to send their thoughts and prayers. I know that we appreciate it, and she will be uplifted to read it when she wakes up.
On Sunday, April 26th, Judi was going on a motorcycle ride with Steve. When going to turn out of our neighborhood, for some reason, she drove across the road instead of turning. We have been unable to talk with her to determine exactly what happened. A car was waiting to turn out of the office complex across from our neighborhood, and Judi clipped the front corner of the car with her motorcycle. This caused the motorcycle to flip over, and threw her into the shoulder of the road.
Emergency services arrived quickly and made the decision to airlift her to MCG. (We are going to be sure to let her know that traffic was stopped for quite some time on a busy road so they could land a helicopter for her!)
The initial scans and assessments showed that that was no bleeding in her head, but that she did have head trauma and a serious spinal injury. We spent quite a few hours watching her blood pressure go up and down, waiting to see it get high enough for her to be able to withstand an MRI. On Sunday night, they put in a small drain to relieve some of the pressure in her head. That night, she also had an MRI. We were very relieved to find out that her spinal cord was not injured. She does have a very severe back injury, but her spinal functions are intact.
On Monday morning, her intracranial pressure (ICP) started to rise again. This is normal with a head injury. Any injury that causes broken blood vessels will swell, and that swelling takes several days to peak before it goes away. She had also developed a small blood clot on the right side of her head, which is where the initial trauma occurred. Her doctors decided to be proactive and address this before it became an emergency.
On Monday afternoon, she underwent a procedure called a craniotomy. This involves removing part of the bone in her skull. When this bone is removed, it gives the brain room to swell without compressing itself. This procedure was successful, and the surgeon was able to remove the clot as well. A CT scan later that night showed that there were no more clots, and that things were looking good!
As of today (Tuesday), we are just waiting for her blood pressure to stabilize. She is resting well and her blood pressure looks good. We think she definitely looks better than she did. When dealing with head trauma, it typically takes 48-72 hours for the swelling to peak, after which it will go down. When the swelling has gone down, we will have cleared a big hurdle!
So that's about where we are today. I will do my best to update this every day, so that you will know how she is doing. Please continue to check in, and comment with your thoughts and prayers if you'd like. I know that they help us, and they will help her when she is recovering.
Thank you for reading! Keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.
We would like to have this not only to document what goes on so that she can read it when she is with us again, but also to have a place for people to send their thoughts and prayers. I know that we appreciate it, and she will be uplifted to read it when she wakes up.
On Sunday, April 26th, Judi was going on a motorcycle ride with Steve. When going to turn out of our neighborhood, for some reason, she drove across the road instead of turning. We have been unable to talk with her to determine exactly what happened. A car was waiting to turn out of the office complex across from our neighborhood, and Judi clipped the front corner of the car with her motorcycle. This caused the motorcycle to flip over, and threw her into the shoulder of the road.
Emergency services arrived quickly and made the decision to airlift her to MCG. (We are going to be sure to let her know that traffic was stopped for quite some time on a busy road so they could land a helicopter for her!)
The initial scans and assessments showed that that was no bleeding in her head, but that she did have head trauma and a serious spinal injury. We spent quite a few hours watching her blood pressure go up and down, waiting to see it get high enough for her to be able to withstand an MRI. On Sunday night, they put in a small drain to relieve some of the pressure in her head. That night, she also had an MRI. We were very relieved to find out that her spinal cord was not injured. She does have a very severe back injury, but her spinal functions are intact.
On Monday morning, her intracranial pressure (ICP) started to rise again. This is normal with a head injury. Any injury that causes broken blood vessels will swell, and that swelling takes several days to peak before it goes away. She had also developed a small blood clot on the right side of her head, which is where the initial trauma occurred. Her doctors decided to be proactive and address this before it became an emergency.
On Monday afternoon, she underwent a procedure called a craniotomy. This involves removing part of the bone in her skull. When this bone is removed, it gives the brain room to swell without compressing itself. This procedure was successful, and the surgeon was able to remove the clot as well. A CT scan later that night showed that there were no more clots, and that things were looking good!
As of today (Tuesday), we are just waiting for her blood pressure to stabilize. She is resting well and her blood pressure looks good. We think she definitely looks better than she did. When dealing with head trauma, it typically takes 48-72 hours for the swelling to peak, after which it will go down. When the swelling has gone down, we will have cleared a big hurdle!
So that's about where we are today. I will do my best to update this every day, so that you will know how she is doing. Please continue to check in, and comment with your thoughts and prayers if you'd like. I know that they help us, and they will help her when she is recovering.
Thank you for reading! Keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.
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