We have learned throughout the last 2 1/2 months that recovery with brain injury can be an up and down road with many twists and turns. The man that Randy first shared a room with on 3 west in Harborview was walking, talking, and doing seemingly well when Randy was still in a coma. Now he is in a nursing facility, not able to walk or even able to stand; not able to feed himself; and not really able to respond to people. We saw another man who was in the rehab program have to go back to 3 west and have part of his skull removed. He, also, is now at a nursing facility. You never know the twists and turns that will hit you.
Today started out as a great day. It was Cass's first day of school, so I took her in to find her classroom and meet her new teacher. Then headed back home to get the rest of the family to visit the outpatient therapy place. As Randy started walking down our front steps, he turned to me and said "I can jump. Want to see?" The place was okay ~ looked like any other rehab place I am sure. Then I went on to work. Later in the day, when Randy's sister was going to go pick up one of our dogs from the vet, Randy surprised everyone by saying he wanted to go. Normally he would prefer not go anywhere in the car because of the car sickness. So they all went to get the dog and then went to a grocery store. I guess Randy had to walk every isle, wanting to see everything. They got home shortly before I got home from work. While he was at the store, he did a great job walking.
When I got home, though, he had very little balance. He almost fell into the wall a few times. He went to pour hot water into a glass and completely missed the glass, but he had no idea he was missing the glass. Even with his issue with double vision, he has not had an issue with telling what is real and what isn't. He just seemed totally unaware. His speech seemed off and his whole demeanor seemed different ~ he was argumentative and refused to remain seated anywhere or do what I was asking him to do. I also noticed rapid movement in his eyes. It would happen briefly and he was able to respond to me while it was happening, but it was very odd. He was also running a low grade temp.
His mom ended up calling Harborview's neuroclinic and they advised us to call 911. We live right by a fire station, so they were here in no time. They asked him questions and by that point he seemed more lucid and his balance was already coming back, but his heart rate was rather high. They advised us to take him into an ER. We chose Good Sam because Harborview was so far away and Good Sam has his records as well.
The doctor there ran all sorts of tests. He had blood drawn, urine sample, EKG, and a Cat scan. Everything showed up perfectly normal. The doctor there said it could be that Randy has some sort of virus that is going around. Even something simple such as the common cold can affect him neurologically. We spent a total of 6 hours in the ER. Right now, we just need to watch him and see if it happens again. I think next time, I will drive the extra distance and take him to Harborview where he could possibly be looked at by Neurosurgeons. I am really hoping, though, that it was just a viral thing going around and that it will be/is already out of his system.
1 comment:
Wow - what a surprising turn! Rachel, you just keep hanging in there believing for Randy to be completely healed and whole and strong, ok? Randy - you are getting better ALL the time. Sometimes it shows more than at other times, but you are going to be fully healed - i know this!
Now, what I want to know is - did you go jumping off that front step when Rachel wasn't looking? ;) You just make sure you stay safe and strong.
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