Friday August 29, 2014 Julia update: Okay, the MRI came back as no new issues for which we are very thankful. The pain she has been having is from 4 months in bed without moving and then trying really hard to be moving again. Her muscles and body just havent adjusted yet. There is a lot of strain on her back from now having to try to use upper body strength to pickup legs and lift herself to sitting or hoisting into her wheelchair. They have backed off a bit, using ice and/or heat and some meds to help with the swelling which has put her in a better position to keep going. Talking to neurosurgery I was a bit concerned as the MRI did not show as much healing as would be expected as the spinal cord surgery was in April. It was explained to me that every time they do another surgery that is brain or spine related the healing process is slowed or delayed as they are all connected and are traumatized all over again. Since they did 7 different surgeries we have to look at basically the last surgery and assume around a three month time frame for the healing to be complete. Since the last one was just a couple of weeks ago, she will be in the healing process into November. Neurology stopped by today and basically said the same thing that this will be a slow process as whatever started this movement/pressure in the brain is still happening but the surgeries have just made more room for movement and the random nerve signals she receives will continue to happen until the swelling is gone. At least they hope so. She is not having long episodes but random spikes (like someone bashes her with a hammer) and then it stops. She can be talking then suddenly drop into a shallow breathing/out of it for a few moments to minutes. Random numbness, tingling or difficulty talking .... all the movement that happens puts pressure on the nerves and has the nerves responding for no rhyme or reason. I spent a lot of time today organizing between NKSD and the counselors and case manager and the school here at the hospital so she will be able to start school on time, work toward credits and not fall farther behind. She will have to be doing school at home for a while as it will be hard for her to sit for very long in her wheelchair and we still have the bowel and bladder issues to contend with along with all the medications which also make her sleepily. She also doesnt want to worry about having an episodes or random things happen at school as she gets a bit embarrassed when she cant talk or is drooling. Pray for a restful few days for Julia to gather her strength and have the swelling go down. With the three day weekend she will only have a total of 3 hours of rehab in three days. RECOVERY TIME!
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 06:06:28 +0000
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