• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

Brian's (Texas T) wife, Brenda

Forums New posts
Texas T said:
After a week in rehab she has made a lot of improvement. Speech is the slowest to improve, but progress is being made. She has walked on a walker with two therapists on her sides over 100 feet in one session.

She is now on solid foods but still on thickened liquids until we can get another barium swallow test for her.

She wants to go home NOW! but I'm guessing another 2-3 weeks. We should get an updated prognosis tomorrow afternoon. And then when we get home it is unknown how long it will take her to get back to a semblance of "normal". We'll just play the hand we were dealt and do the best we can.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Weekly update:
She walked 444 feet this morning with just a single therapist next to her for safety purposes.

She is talking in complete sentences "most of the time", and is recognizing (usually) when she mis-speaks but the communication skills are going to take a while to completely recover.

I've been trained on how to transition her from the bed to the walker and back; how to get her to the toilet and back; and how to help her shower. All things that makes her more comfortable instead of having a stranger help her with those things.

In a dexterity test two weeks ago she had to hold a golf ball in her hand, hold it high, drop it, let the ball bounce once and then try to catch it underhanded. She managed to do so about 3 times out of 25 tries. Yesterday they increased it to two bounces before trying to catch it and she was successful 15 out of 20 attempts.

She also stood yesterday with no walker or other support and threw darts.

Today she stood up from bed, walked a couple of steps without any support and transitioned to her wheelchair. She was scared to death, but the therapist was there the entire time in case she started to fall.

Her grip strength in the stroke hand has improved from 23 pounds two weeks ago to 45 pounds today.

She passed the Swallow Test this morning and has been upgraded to the full Cardiac diet and ALL liquids. No more thickened water to drink!

The rehab staff meets tomorrow to discuss her length of stay. Last Friday it was for 3 weeks, so we're hoping that tomorrow they will move it to one week and then move her to intensive outpatient therapy instead of staying here at the Rehab Center.

We've got Skype set up and she's used that to talk with her son and one of her sisters, and she talks on the phone to two of her sisters, one of her brothers, her son, her mom, and my mom. As long as she keeps her speech rate slowed down a little she is pretty easy to understand but this issue will probably be the longest lasting handicap.

So all in all, good progress on all points and we hope to be going home within 10-14 days.

Some of you have posted positive comments on her Caring Bridge site and while she may not read all of them you can be assured that I do, and I appreciate everything written there and here. Thank you.
 
Excellent progress. We continue to pray for her recovery. Thanks for the update.
 
That is just awesome!! :clap:

We are still praying for both of you!
 
Hey Brian

Great news! It is comforting to know she can use Skype to communicate with her son and one of her sister's too. It will get better. :)

:clap:

RB
 
More good news,still praying her progress continues and she gets stronger by the day.
 
great progress, it probably seems slow to you (seeing her everyday), but she is making fantastic progress, I hope she continues to improve at this rate.. All the best for the future

Gary
 
Hip and now this, praying that she recovers from the stroke and is into PT for the hip.
 
Quick update:

Today was conference day in which they determine how much longer she needed to stay here. Last Friday the determination was three weeks so we were expecting/hoping for 10 days to two weeks when we got today's report because she has been improving so much.

Brenda came back into the room after her 2 pm PT and was crying, all red in the face, and could barely talk to me. She finally got it out and said "I'm going home on Wednesday".

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)


The plan right now is to try to get into Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center for intensive outpatient therapy. We think the cost will be $100/day versus home care which is free but only a couple hours 3 times a week, but I feel that getting her better, faster, is a good choice versus a longer recovery time. It won't take long to max out the insurance deductible at that rate and then everything else should be covered. We still need to hear back from BCBS on the specifics, probably Tuesday, but right now that's the plan.

Brenda is calling her family right now to let them know.
 
Strong woman, strong love - thinking of you both and your whole family!
 
That is such GREAT news! :hail: Brenda, You are THE WOMAN!!!

We are very happy for you both. Keep it up, you make a difference in ways you don't even fathom.

Prayers for you both. :pray:

Sam & Shirley
 
Very glad to hear the positive development!
 
Thank you.

She came home from Rehab on the 13th of Nov and didn't make it to the front door before collapsing on a bench in the entryway; passed out; vomited. I held her in place with one hand and called 911 with the other. She came out of it before the FD arrived (they are only 200 yards away) but her initial BP as checked by the EMTs was 80/60 so there's no telling how low it actually was when she fainted. Got her to the ER, did another CT, blood work, etc and nothing was found.

Got her home about 4 hours later and the same thing happened in the same spot, about 20 feet from the car. This time she stayed conscious (just barely) and recovered quickly. I kept her cool and hydrated and got her inside in about 15 minutes and then got her to bed. She had a bad bout of diarrhea that night and then nothing else.

We saw her primary care doc the next morning and the doc felt it was just nerves and the high temps (90+) when she got out of the car. There haven't been any other incidents since then.

She had home therapy for a few weeks and then she started outpatient therapy this past Monday, and I would expect that to last several months. Speech / memory is still the biggest obstacle at this point. Fine motor skills still need some work but she does fairly well; she can do the 9-peg dexterity test in about 10-15 seconds more than her good, dominant left hand. That's improved from about a 2.5 minute gap about 2 weeks ago and a total inability to do it about 5 weeks ago.

We met with her Neuro doc today and he doesn't need to see her again for about 3 more months. We met with her Vascular surgeon last week and she will have ultrasounds on both carotids next week. The left side has healed nicely and the scar blends in fairly well with the existing neck wrinkles. The right side is 80-90% blocked so they still plan to do that in about 3-5 months.

We also saw the Ortho surgeon last week and the left hip implants are taking well to the surrounding bone structure and he has removed her from all restrictions at this point.

On Monday during PT the therapist had her standing / walking unsupported by the walker or a cane for very short periods. Brenda was scared to death but managed to cope and did well with no major loss of balance. Having a full hip replacement on one side followed by a full stroke on the other side has made mobility a real challenge for her but she's constantly improving.

So that's it in a nutshell. I hope to be able to return to work around the 1st of January, and maybe even sooner if they feel she is safe enough to be left alone. I don't see her returning to work any time soon; perhaps never if the speech / communication issue doesn't get a lot better, but we'll cross that bridge when the time comes.
 
Wow. That is a LOT to deal with. We are still praying for both of you and for a good recovery for her!
 
We are thinking about you. :pray:
Give her a hug for us.
Our wish this Christmas will be for a much brighter future for the two of you. :sun:

Sam & Shirley
 
Brian, my prayers and thoughts go out to you and Brenda. Thanks for keeping us informed.

You're in caring Hands with The Mighty Counselor that watches over all.

RB
 
Just read the last entry in the journal.:clap: Amazing progress. Brenda you are in our prayers and continued success with your recovery.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top