Busy day and new Info

Hello fellow Bridget trackers,

Bridget had an excellent night of sleep last night compared to her first night after surgery. The day once again started off with rounds, and the doctors doing their usual battery of assessments. One thing they attended to today was Bridget's slight ataxia on her left side - that is, slightly less coordinated motor control. She might have a bit of this on the right side, but it's hard to tell if the numbness is just confusing things. Bridget's double vision is basically unchanged, but she noticed that doesn't have it when she looks down; not sure if this is an improvement or a discovery on her part, but it's good either way! During rounds Dr. Newell decided she should graduate from the Neuro Critical Care Unit (NCCU) to the Intermediate Care Unit (IMCU). IMCU is still the same machines, similar care, similar deal, but just less frequent visits from nurses.

Bridget's Occupational Therapist then came by (I think he might be Canadian) and was pleased with her improvement! Today she gained a lot of proprioception in her numb arm (for those nonpsych nerds, this means she has regained a sense of where her arm is as she moves it through space).Yesterday she barely had any of that. She also regained some sensitivity to cold in parts of her numb arm, and a few spots in her numb leg. He then had her sit up, stand up, and transfer to chair. She was pretty dizzy when she did this, but she did it well. To sum up, the OT was impressed!

Next up was a second swallowing test with the speech therapist. She got to eat some applesauce, which was her first food in over 48 hours! Her swallowing improved a bit, but it's still not perfect, and they need it to be perfect before they can give her food. So, Bridget got set up with a "picc line" a little later, to provide nutrition (Total Parental Nutrition, to be precise). Beats a feeding tube, but it's still not eating. She was pretty bummed by not passing - she'd really like to eat some real food!


Bridget then had a CT scan, to see how things are looking up in her head. More on that in just a sec!

After she got her picc line in, she then changed rooms to the IMCU. We were there for no more than 10 minutes, however, when we got news that she was being transferred back to NCCU, due to the results from the CT scan.

The scan revealed that Bridget has slightly enlarged ventricles. This is very common after brain surgery. Without going in to too much detail, essentially this means that there is extra pressure in Bridget's brain, which is causing her to be so super sleepy, and could be prolonging her current symptoms. This latter bit is my non-medical deduction only - the doctor only mentioned that this is likely causing her extreme sleepiness. So I guess sleep is good for recovery, but super-sleep is a sign of a problem. The doctors are working on getting this pressure down now, and hopefully it works soon.

Bridget is hanging in there. As I'm sure you can imagine, it is stressful for her to hear about this new problem while she's already worried about her current symptoms. But her Mom and Jon and I - and all the nurses - are doing our best to reassure her that sheis going to pull through this just fine. Oh, and what's that...? I hear a distant sound... Ah yes, it is all of the words of reassurance you are providing from your respective locations as well! Thanks.

OK. Well, before I go to bed I promise I'll do another quick post, and include a picture of Bridget for all of you, her adoring fans!