Hi,
I am new to this board, and I would like some information on what to expect now from survivors and family members.
Our story:
At 1:17 pm, my son called his fiance and told her to come home, that he had a horrible headache. She told him to get the girls (ages 7 and 2) off the trampoline and into the house and go lay down. She got home minutes later and their oldest told her “Daddy can’t get up”. She went into the living room and found him on the floor, the 2 yr old on top of him trying to get him up. There was vomit all over both of them. He was convulsing and his eyes were rolling back in his head. He did respond to her voice but couldn’t get up and he was talking nonsense. By 1:33 he was in the ambulance on the way to the local hospital. She grabbed all 3 kids (they have a 3 month old son too) and brought them to my sister’s and picked me up. We got to the hospital to find him on a respirator and on his way to have a cat scan. After 2 cat scans, and almost an hour wait for a neurosurgeon, it was decided to lifeflight him to Philadelphia. It took almost an hour for the helicopter to get here from Philly then a 45 minute flight back to Philly.
The surgeon called me from Philly and told me my son was one step above brain dead on arrival and they could operate. She said he may not make it through surgery and if he did, he would most likely be a vegetable. I told her do whatever she had to do to save my son.
Surgery started at about 7 PM and he was in until 1 AM. They removed 1/4 of his left temporal lobe, the huge clot and left off the left half of his skull. He was kept in a drug induced coma until last Wednesday. Various internal systems started failing, his kidneys, he developed pneumonia, his heart started weakening, blood pressure dropped as well as oxygen level. It was one thing after another.
73 hours off the coma meds, he had brain waves. This was Saturday afternoon. By Sunday afternoon, he was beginning to respond to pain. Monday had him moving his left arm (we were told right side will be paralzed) and opening his eyes.
Now, we were also told IF he woke up, he would not be able to talk, and most likely wouldn’t understand what was being said to him.
Tuesday, he was opening his eyes on command and moving his arm when asked to. So it seems he does understand us. That was my biggest fear that he wouldn’t.
He is having a tracheotomy and peg tube put in today so they can get the respirator out of his throat as well as the feeding tube out of his throat.
My son is now starting to wake up and respond to us but we don’t know what is next. The drs and nurses while absolutely wonderful always prepare you for the worst case scenario. While I appreciate this, I want to know logically from others who have been through this what we can expect.
I know anger is supposed to be part of the recovery process, we are expecting that especially if he is paralyzed on his right side. Justin is righthanded and an amazing artist. If he can’t draw, he is going to be angry we saved his life.
He is surprising the drs and nurses with how well he is doing. Is it too much to hope with his understanding us when they said he wouldn’t, that he will be able to talk? Is it possible he will be able to move his right arm?
What about personality changes? His bleed was in the area controlling communication, personality and memory. We worry too how much of his memory is affected. What if he doesn’t remember his fiance or his children?
Any help would be appreciated. The dr said this was a “devastating” event to his brain. But he is also awake and responding when they said he probably would never wake up.
Sorry for the long rambling post, but I have so much going through my mind and so many questions that remain unanswered. Because the standard line is, “everyone is different, we don’t know what will happen.” GRRRR, I truly hate that answer.