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Lidia – Day 3 – Saturday, November 30, 2019

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Highlights

  1. Assisted Breathing
  2. Swollen From Surgery
  3. Left Side Movement
  4. Feeding Tube
  5. Two draining tubes out
  6. Shower
  7. Somewhat responsive
  8. The fight with blood pressure begins

Assisted Breathing

Lidia has a breathing tube in and is hooked up to a respirator machine. I’ve been told that the machine currently it is helping her breath but not doing it for her.  She’s assisted.  When she misses a breath, the michine takes over.  You could see on the screen when the michine is doing the work and when she is doing the work.  Technology is quite amazing.

Swollen From Surgery

The left side of Lidia’s face is swollen from surgery.  The following image shows just how swollen.  More images to follow later on as we follow her progression.

Left Side Movement

We have movement on her left side after surgery!!  Did you know that the left side of the brain controls the movement on the right side of your body and vise versa.  It is pretty amazing how the brain and body work.  Because the hemorrhagic stroke occurred on her left hand side of her brain, her right hand side’s motor functions are affected.  She can feel pain, but is unable to move her right arm, hand, leg or foot on command.  Also, our primary speech functions occur within the left side of the brain as well.  

Feeding Tube

A feeding tube was placed today.  It was done once, then she coughed and it had to be redone.  I asked the nurse if she had every had a feeding tube placed, and she said that she had during her medical training.  They had to practice on each other apparently.  She said the tube the was used on Lidia is much more comfortable to use than the tubes that they were trained with and used on themselves.

Lidia is now being fed through the tube.  She hasn’t eaten anything sinch pancakes on Thanksgiving day.  That’s quite the diet.

Two Draining Tubes Out

Lidia had a total of three drainage tubes placed when they had her skull open to drain the blood.  Two of the drainage tubes were no long draining anything so our surgeon had them removed.  Below is a gross picture of the top of her skull the day after surgery with the drainage tubes still inserted.

Shower

I stink.  When this all happened on Thursday, I had been working in the garage on.  It is now Saturday.  I feel dirty.  So I went home, took a shower and came right back up to the hospital.

Somewhat Responsive

She can move her left hand on command but slowly.  She’s able to open her eyes and can focus on you but gets lost when she trys to follow your finger.  It’s heartbreaking to see.

The Fight With Bloodpressure Begins

It may not be common knowledge (it wasn’t for me) that high blood pressure is the primary cause of hemorrhagic strokes.  So, it is the goal of the doctors that Lidia’s blook pressure during the healing process must remain below 140.  What a struggle.  At this point, everything caused her to have high blood pressure.  Pain, discomfort, disorientation, etc are all contributing factors.  It became a problem so she was order some medication to help combat the high blood pressure.  

Lidia – Day 2 – Friday, November 29, 2019

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Highlights

  1. Out of Surgery
  2. Tubes coming out of her head
  3. Still in shock
  4. Helplessness

Out of Surgery

Lidia got out of surgery around 1:30 am on November 29.  We are in the Neuro Critical Care unit.  You can’t really tell, but I sleep on the couch behind her.Lidia got out of surgery around 1:30 am on November 29.  We are in the Neuro Critical Care unit.  You can’t really tell, but I sleep on the couch behind her.

Tubes Coming Out of Her Head

During the surgery, there were three tubes placed in her head.  Each served a purpose, the most important one was a blue tube which drained blood from the location of the burst blood vessel.  Luckily, this did not gather or drain any blood and was a sign that the surgeons were successfull in getting the blood out of her brain and confirmed that she was no longer bleeding.

Still In Shock

Thousands of things going through my mind at this point.  Will she be OK?  How did this happen?  Why didn’t we see any signs?  Will she recover?  What’s going to happen with her job?  Will our insurance cover this? Did they fix the problem?  What’s next?  How long will she be like this? I wish I could take her pain away?

Helplessness

I’ve never felt so helpless in my life.  Sitting by her bedside, holding her hand.  I had to keep telling myself that all we can do is stray strong and possitive.  So, taking my own advice (not), I broke down and cried.  This definetely wouldn’t be the last time.

Lidia – Day 1 – Thursday, November 28, 2019 – Thanksgiving Day

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On November 28th, Thanksgiving day, Lidia suffered from a stroke.  This post will explain what happened that day.  Every post after this one will showcase our ups and downs as we navigate through her recovery process.

A Whirlwind of Events

Lidia expereanced dizziness and loss of motor function around 3:34 pm on November 28 (Thanksgiving Day).  We recognized the symptoms as a stroke and took her to Jordan Valley Hospital right off of Bangerter and 90th South in West Jordan.  They admitted her to the ER and gave her a CT scan.  This is where we found out that there were two types of stroke.  A hemorrhagic stroke and a ischemic stroke.  Lidia suffered from a hemorrhagic stroke.

Transported to University of Utah Hospital

Because it was a holiday it was our unfortunate luck that there was no neural surgon on staff at Jordan Valley Hospital.  Life Flight was requested to take Lidia to the University of Utah Hospital, but because of the snow storm we were having, she was transported by ambulance.  I followed in my own vehicle. She was already in the system when I arrived and was directed to the Neurological Intesive Care Unit on the 3rd floor, room 3309.

The Waiting Game

When I arrived on the 3rd floor, I requested access to the ICU.  If you could image two doors, large enough for a bed and doctors and nurses to go through with plenty of room to spare and a doorbell/intercom mechanism.  That’s where I was.  I pressed the button and waited.  I got a response, ‘Can I help you?’.  Flustered, I responded, ‘Um, yeah, I’m here to visit with my wife Lidia Barrus.  She was just recently brought in.’  Pause…and then through the intercom, ‘The doctors are still assessing Lidia, could you please wait there.  We will come and get your when she is ready’

So, I waited.  I don’t know how long I was there.  Pacing back and forth.  Thinking of all the things that could go wrong.  Not know what is going on.  It was an excruciating experience.  MY WIFE SUFFERED FROM A STROKE!!  I NEED TO SEE HER!!

Decisions

Finally, they brought me and Katherine in. Doctors and nurses were still buzzing around the room.  Talking to each other while I was pulled aside. We were told that they took Lidia for another CT scan and compared the new scan with the one taken at Jordan Valley Hospital.  The hemorrhage had increased.  The brain had moved and is under pressure.  As this was explained to us, things were kicking in.  I pulled Katherine near so that she could hear what was being explained to me.  This is where we were told that Lidia’s life was in extreme danger and that they recommended that we operate.  

The Lesser of Two Risks

This is where it gets really fuzzy for me.  This is where it was sinking in that Lidia may not make it.  This is where a lump formed in my throat and tears in my eyes and I looked Katherine in the eyes telling her that this is serious.  Life or death.  I don’t know if she fully grasped what I was saying at the time.  There was a high risk of loss of life if we left Lidia to heal on her own.  There was less risk of loss of life if she had surgery, but the risk still existed.  However, we also had a greater chance of recovery. I turned to Katherine.  I couldn’t make this decision on my own.  I remember her saying, ‘Do what you need to do to make her batter. I just want my mom back.’  That was it for me.  Papers were signed and they started prepping her for the operating room.  

We were escorted back outside of the ICU as we watched them take Lidia to the OR.  Katherine, Zach and the kids had to go home.  So, I stayed.  The halls were empty. I waited.  I was so tired.  One of the surgeons saw me waiting and asked if I new where the waiting room was for family members waiting for patients in the OR.  I shook my head.  He offered to show me where it was and told me that this is where they would look for me with any updates.

Successful Operation

When they were explaining the operation, they said that there were two stages.

The first stage was the main stage where they would cut out a piece of Lidia’s skull and store that piece in a freezer.  With her skull open, they would remove the blood that is floating around on the outside of her brain.  They would examine as much as they could to see if they could tell if the hemorrhage was still there.  Then they would place three drainage tubes in, one where the hemorrhage was.  I can’t remember where the other two were placed exactly.  I just remember asking about the long (where the hemorrhage was) medium and short (next to the skull).  These tubes were placed for drainage purposes while the healing process took place.

The second stage of the operation would happen in a couple of weeks when they replace the piece of her skull that was taken out and placed in the freezer.

I was in the waiting room when one of the surgeons came out and spoke to me.  He said that the operation was a success. It turns out the the surgeons were so confident that they replaced the skull and stapled her up.  Finishing the operation, took another hour before Lidia was wheeled back to ICU.  I communicated through text to Kathering stating that everyting went well.

Rest

I have no idea what time it was.  1am? 2am?  I don’t know.  I tried to sleep on the small couch in the back of her room.  Every hour the nurse or nurses would come in make sure Lidia was still responding.  They would check the dialation of her eyes and how they reacted to light.  They would ask her questions and ask her to move certain parts of her body.  As the days went go on, I would learn more about why they ask her to do certain things and why they did certain things to her..  But the main thing was rest.

What is a Hemorrhagic Stroke?

From the American Stroke Association’s website, it states that a hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a weakened blood vessel ruptures.  The most common cause of a hemorrhagic stroke is high blood pressure.