I have decided to learn how to blog. I want to journal William's journey. Ischemic stroke , 12-13-08.

We were enjoying a quiet Sat. evening. William is preparing for Bible study. He is sitting on the couch reading the bible to me. I notice that he has stopped reading . It looks like he has dozed off. Now , that is odd. Then I notice this gasping for breath. I can tell something is really wrong. I go over

to William and ask him if he can stand up. I would like to go to the car and the hospital. But, he cannot stand. I whip out the cell phone and dial 911. I say that I think that my husband just had a stroke. The ambulance arrives in a short period of time. Of course, it feels like a long time. By this time I am on the couch with William. He now needs support on his left side. But, the Emt knock on the door and don't hear me shout to come in. I get the door open and allow them to walk in. They start to assess William. They strap him to a gurney and wheel him out to the ambulance. The ambulance has my car pinned in. It seem like an insurmountable amount of time before they take off. I am waiting in my car while they do whatever in the ambulance. Finally, they head off to the hospital. He is in the ER with the MD by the time I park the car and finish the paperwork. While waiting in the car, I call my son and tell him what I think just happened. He just graduated from medical school and calls his friends who are ahead of him. He is told to make sure that we have the merci and TPA done ASAP. TIme is of the essence. Now, I start to think..this may not be the right hospital. We are in Houston, but in the suburbs. They may not have TPA and the merci procedure. So, I ask if we can be transferred to downtown Houston. I am told no. We just got here. Oh, well. I wasn't thinking about what hospital at the time of my 911 call. But, finally after 2-1/2 hours TPA is administered. They had to do some tests to make sure that he was not bleeding. Now that the TPA drip is running....he is being transferred to downtown Houston. He is stable at the time and is scheduled to go to the regular floor. But, when we arrive is not stable. He ends up going to NICU. He ends up staying there for 2 days. Stable again..Monday he is transferred to a regular floor. Still having tests done to check out the heart and brain. Now, I told by the neurologist that the next 7-10 days are critical to make sure that the more damage is not done. I thought that we were in the clear. But, no not yet!! William does not want to open his eyes. They have to be manually opened by the MDs and nurses. He has a feeding tube down his nose. He is rather out of it. But, when he realizes that the tube is down his nose. He touches it. the nurses are alarmed thinking that he is going to pull it out. They restrain his arms. Somehow, during his sleep he pulls the tube out. They just put it back in and tie him arms down even tighter. When I am with him. I untie his arms. He just doesn't understand and I can keep him hand away from the feeding tube. Of course, he has an IV in him arm. I start to notice that he is getting red spots on his back. I learn that i need to request that they turn him every 2 hours. I get lots of pillows and prop him up on his sides. The staff request that I spend the night there at the hospital to watch him. I work until 10PM ...so after work I would go to the hospital and spend the night and morning. Since, I was there I would bathe (sponge bath) and change the sheets. After lunchtime. I would go to work. This went on for 2 months.

William is transferred to a skilled nursing floor. The MD thinks that he is not strong enough for the rehab floor. He has been diagnosed with high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and atrial fib.

In SNIF he gets a double room. So I use the empty bed. I bathe and change the sheets and feed William. At one point, they move him to a single room saying that a couple of ladies will be needing the double room. This is better. Now, I will not have to worry about not being able to stay in the room once a roommate arrived. Finally, the nose tube gets pulled out and this time is stays out. He is finally ready to try regular..pureed food. and honey thick liquids.

On the SNIF unit they try to work on his sitting balance. No sitting balance.!!! In the 4 weeks that we are there...he gets to walk and sit and stand. They have two strong PT people who work with him once a day. Not a lot of PT. OT was minimal. They would come and way can you move the arm. But, that was about it. HE could not. He got swelling in the right arm and leg. We called in a consult and had a doppler done. He got a urinary tract infection from the diaper. Finally we got a condom catheter put on. These are nice. But, they have to be the right size. Sometimes they would use the ones they had..either too large or too small. They would fall off quickly. I would have to ask them to order the right ones.

We are finally transferred to the rehab floor. Just a trial basis. MD is not sure that William is strong enough to fully participate. We move in on the weekend. So free time. William does the rehab. I don't know why the MD was so worried about stamina. They only do rehab twice a day. AM and afternoon. And it is only for 40- to 60 min. They work on balance and walking.

Today 7-17-09 , 5 months, since we came home. William walked 20-30 feet with a small based quad cane with min. assist. We are progressing.

This has been his best PT session to date. They are astounded at his progress. I am so glad to hear the PT say this.