Friday, April 11th - The Missing Dissection

Cliff Notes:  Lisa was admitted to the ICU at Jewish Hospital. She does NOT have an aortic dissection, the test run at Jewish did not show it - we think she does still have an aneurism, but they do not seem to be worried about it right now.  So, no surgery!!  What an answer to prayer!  

These are the things still being addressed:  

• a possible swollen brain stem (MRI this afternoon to double check the first test that showed it)
  
• cause of stroke and the full scope of things possibly affected
• high blood pressure, currently being treated with multiple i.v. medicines which will have to be eventually weaned away.
• tumor on her thyroid - her thyroid was supposed to have been taken out on wednesday
• stomach problem - she has lost 30 lbs+ in the last couple of months and is skin and bones.  She cannot keep her food down and it takes 16 hours for her stomach to digest what she does keep down.

------------------------------Long Version----------------------------

Last night we moved from Baptist East to Jewish so that Lisa could be seen by a heart surgeon with more experience operating on Type 1 ascending aortic dissections could look at Lisa and see if she would withstand surgery.  We staked out our spot and decided that hospitals could have us critique their waiting rooms, gift shops, cafeterias, floor comfort, etc since we have so much experience now.  

Lisa had  CT scan on her heart and we were told it would be this morning before we got any news.  We haven't had a such a scare with Lisa without Pammy before, so we all felt a new sense of her absence as we sat and waited.  There were forgotten memories of past extended stays in the waiting room that surfaced and while it was good to remember new things, we really missed her all over again.  Her best friend Christie came with her boyfriend James (who was also a close friend of Pam's) and her dad to see us and Lisa.  When she went in with Jonathon to see Lisa, she actually thought it was Pammy.  We have to wear a mask and gloves now when we visit her, so I am sure that contributed to Lisa thinking it was her.  

Everyone got out of the hospital around midnight and Jennifer and I stayed for the night shift.  An hour or so into our peaceful slumber, another family in the waiting room decided to have family story HOURS.  They were talking like it was the middle of the day and the rest of us had decided to just plop down with our blankets in their living room.  At 4:30 am I had reached my boiling point and had long ago lost my interest in if Gail's hair was frosted or highlighted; what they ate at every restaurant they ever went to; and their down home country charm - so I sat up and asked them to pipe down.  I asked them a little nicer than that, but it was down hill after that!  

Visiting times are from 8:30 am - 6:30 pm, so Jen and I went back to see lisa at 8:30.   She was a bit disoriented and swollen from all the fluids they were pumping into her.  The dialysis nurse was already there ready to get her hooked up so we couldn't stay long.  The heart surgeon came in and told us about the results and we were completely dumbfounded, I am sure he thought we were not mentally right - especially when jennifer laughed.  He reminded us that this was good news, but we just could not believe that it had gone from one extreme to the other in less than 24 hours.  

She still has a hard road ahead, attention has shifted from the heart and back to her brain.  I wish we had been chronicling this all along - no one would believe the milestones and miracles we have experienced.  We continue to covet your prayers and I will post again when we know something new... right now, I am catching a nap before my next waiting room shift begins.