Roller Coaster

Before getting to the post, I thought you might like to see the gorgeous lady I am married to. As you can see, she is still smiling and sporting her new "round head!" You'll have to forgive my poor skills at inserting and sizing photos into the blog.

It looks like we have finally ignited that "spark" back in our gal. I think it took a broad range of items from different sources to get her excited again. She finally started holding her head up again and received positive feedback from every person around her. She was constantly hit with "you look great" or "they did a great job" or something along these lines. I rolled her in front of the big mirror at the barber shop and she scoped out her new look from every angle. She had her appointment with her rehab Dr and we were successful in getting her back into outpatient rehab in all three areas (physical, occupational and speech)!!!! She received multiple complements from the staff there as well. She also had an appointment with her urologist and the nurses and Drs alike had nothing but positive feedback for her. It is worth mentioning that she held her head up for essentially all of these interactions (this is better than she had done in the past). She also started to hold her head up most of the time while riding in the van and began to take active interest in the sights around her. I reminded her of where we were and why we used to go there in the past and she seemed to take it all in. I think the biggest push to get her back on track was when I took her to the first outpatient therapy session for her evaluation. You would have thought she was a hero returning from the great war. Everyone called to her and welcomed her back. They all came over and told her how great she looked and how excited they were to have her back. You could almost see the "glow" begin as she realized that she could indeed do this. When we sat her on the mat to see how her core strength was doing, she held her head high for the entire time (she has never done that before). She also did a great job with all the exercises and the therapists were impressed. She is also starting to interact more and has resumed reaching out with her right arm/hand. While that sounds like a small thing, it is a huge step. One key task she has resumed is giving me big hugs and holding my shoulder when I transfer her back and forth. She is also helping during transfers by pushing up hard with her right leg as she moves through the standing position. So lots of good news there.

Unfortunately, we have hit another bump in the road. Last Thursday she had a series of seizures that ultimately put here in respiratory distress and required us to take her to the hospital in an ambulance. These seizures were different than the ones she has had in the past and she just wasn't able to stop them. I was talking to her on the phone from work and most of the time I can get her to pop out of it. Her caretaker indicated she was listening to me and fighting hard, but couldn't quite make it back. We ultimately had to intervene with medication designed to stop the seizures (thank goodness we had planned for this potential scenario). As I was talking the caretaker through managing the seizures, Judi started having difficulty breathing and at that point it became an emergency. I was also worried that her heart rate may be getting sky high as well based on previous experience with these. The EMTs put her on oxygen and by the time they got to her the medication was already starting to take effect and stop the seizures. Her heart rate was not dangerously high and her blood pressure was OK. I met them at the hospital and my wonderful day at the ER began. I could write a novel about that day, but I'll give you the Reader's Digest version. The main goal was to determine what caused the seizures to occur. Typically this is due to an infection or fever of some sort that lowers the threshold for seizures for people that are otherwise controlled (assuming medication levels are correct and hers were). All of these culprits were ruled out. We were obviously concerned about the possibility that something had happened inside her head as well especially since she had gone through the recent surgery to insert the prosthesis. The initial read of the CT scan by the radiologist was reported as a severe bleed in the right side of her head and the neurosurgery group was immediately called in. Judi's surgeon was not there that day. As you can imagine, my world went black with this news and it took everything I had to hold on while the neurosurgeons went over the scan. To my relief, the neurosurgeons determined that the abnormality was most likely thickening of material around the surgical area and not an active bleed. They were also successful in getting her surgeon on the phone and he concurred with that evaluation (he was evidently near a computer where he could review the scan). In actuality, Judi's brain has moved significantly towards the normal position and the air gap has decreased significantly. All in all, the CT scan turned into nothing but good news. After the determination that there was nothing surgical to be concerned with, the onslaught on neurologists began. They looked at every possibility and could not find a smoking gun. The main concern was the number of seizures she had simultaneously without an apparent initiator. I asked them if it was possible that it was just her brain "waking up" and becoming more active and I got the answer I always get from these guys "It is possible, everyone is different." We did raise her medication level to put her higher in the normal range just as insurance. She seems to tolerate this medicine well and it doesn't zonk her out so it should not be a problem. We left that evening and she seems to be doing fine. I told her that we didn't find anything and that the most likely cause was an increase in brain activity. I am not going to let her get frustrated at this point in the game while she is finally gaining some ground.

That was a lot of words, but several of you called me checking on Judi since I left from work pretty abruptly. A few other things of note. Judi's rehab Dr is leaving Walton Rehab and going to Shepherd in Atlanta. It is my intent to have him continue to follow her recovery and this will also allow me to get access to the resources there from a different angle. As many of you know, I have been planning to get Judi evaluated there and at the Kessler Institute (New Jersey) once she got stronger and was recovering well. Both are top rated facilities. Perhaps this is just another one of those doors that God has opened to keep Judi on the path to recovery. And I guess lastly, Judi's caretaker called and told me they had to admit her husband to the hospital and she would not be available to work Monday. And with true Wilkerson luck, her backup was not available. That left me with the option of using someone that had not worked with Judi, or stay home and care for her myself. I am guessing you figured I won't be at work tomorrow. I am training two additional caretakers in the event she has to be out for several days.

One last thing. Several of you were asking me about the prosthesis that was installed in Judi's skull. The picture to the right is the model that they made of Judi's head using the CT scan and computer imaging. The blue piece is the model of the prosthesis that was generated to match her head. As you can see, there was a significant portion of Judi's skull removed (about a third). The dark lines are where the piece fell out (rubber band broke) and I had to glue it back together. It is a single piece and it fits perfect in Judi's head and then is screwed into place to keep it stable. The plastic material is porous and the bone will ultimately grow into the prosthesis and make it even stronger.

Well, I am spent. Hope this brings everyone up to speed. She is doing fine and I believe she is going to step up once more and let that Judi spirit drive her. Please keep praying for us and stop by and see her if you get the chance.

Steve