Time to Go Home?

 

The youth group made Kaylee a basket of pills and prescriptions to help her feel better.

Kaylee was informed that she won the Math Olympics

Today they did a third MRI, which showed a stable hemorrhage, which is very good. Unfortunately, Kaylee had a constant headache for about 16 hours of agony. They finally decided to give her an oxycontin and about an our later her headache was down to a 2/10. Praise God!

During these good times we try to page therapy so she can get a walk in. She hates getting up and it takes forever for her to motivated herself to do so. However, once she is up she is independent with bed mobility and sit to stand transfers. She requires SBA for walking. Today they walked her 100 ft twice with a pit stop halfway to get her hair washed. Kaylee thought that felt really good. 

We had three separate people from neurosurgery come in today, which was a record. The first one, Dr. Hamadi said that medically Kaylee is stable, so can go home as soon as she can eat, walk and get the headaches under control. He wants us to feel she is ready, so he doesn't care if it is today, tomorrow or a week from now. That was a relief. 

The second one from neurosurgery was Dr. Zanati. He had no idea the other doctor had come and said "so is she ready to go home today or tomorrow"? We quickly relayed the previous doctor's message and our own concerns. We asked about the plan going forward and he said she will have to ease back into school with half days at first. He said, no physical activity for six weeks. She will be seen again in six weeks by neurosurgery. Kaylee has been on anti seizure medication and will continue to be on them until Day 7, which is Sunday. We learned that unfortunately, Kaylee will always be at a slightly higher risk for seizures than the general public. However, the risk for long-term use of anti-seizure medication outweighs the benefits. 

Then third person from neurosurgery was Lonny, who is a physician's assistant. She didn't know what the other two had said, but she is the one the PT's, OT's and nurses like to communicate with. She too asked if we are going home soon. It sounds like discharge is on their brains. Our concern prior to discharge is consistent pain relief. She's had some good moments, but otherwise the pain is so intense she is flat on her back. She can't live like that.

They decreased Kaylee's neural checks to once every eight hours vs once every two hours, which resulted in Kaylee's best night of sleep. She was rolling easily side to side, talking and even rolled onto her belly during the night.