Still at home... still improving.

Hello everyone,

My apologies for not being as active as I should be on this...

Mom is still at home and she's doing quite well. She's had multiple sessions with various therapists and psychologists, and everyone always says that she's making great progress. Actually, the only person she's meeting with now is her Neuro psychologist and no longer needs to meet with any of the therapists.

On July 1st, Mom had her followup appointment with the surgeon (I couldn't make it, but was on the phone the whole time). He said everything looks fine, but the short term memory loss she's suffering from could last anywhere between 6 months to a year, and we're only a few days shy of the two month anniversary.

Having said that, she's having some trouble remembering the passwords to her email accounts and various other online resources. So, if you've typically been in contact with her there, please be aware that your messages are being delivered, she just hasn't been able to get in to answer.

As always, you can each contact me directly and I'll pass along any information, or get you in contact with her.

cheers!

Here we go!

Thanks so much to everyone who has sent emails, comments, and well wishes. Mom continues to make improvements, but there is still a long road of recovery ahead.

The meeting on Wednesday with the doctors went well. They appear to be optimistic with her recovery, but realize that additional help might be needed for her to fully heal.

Today is planned day that she is to head home. There will still be a significant amount of restrictions (and followup) that we'll have to follow, but being in her own element should help with a lot of the recovery.

I'll update more over the weekend once she's back!

Week 3... I think.

Hello guys,

Sorry for the delay. Not intentional at all, but it's been an emotional rollercoaster for me and it's hard to try and find the appropriate words to put on here to best describe the situation.

Mom's physical health is doing great. They have been taking really good care of her at the Rehab facility here in Fresno. The staples (I counted today, and lost count after 30) are still there, but should be removed in the next few days. Dad & I have a meeting with the doctor this Wednesday to figure out the next steps. I should have more information then... we've been in a constant (and annoying) holding pattern right now.

As it stands right now... She has an organic brain syndrome, which is most likely caused from the trauma to the brain. She is still having problems with her short term memory, and is feeling quite down every once in a while (because she can't recall the people sending her well wishes, the visitors, the cards, etc). It's hard to give encouraging words to someone who won't remember.

Feel free to post something on here that I can print for her, or email me direct (mark.hammons [at] gmail.com) and I'll give them to her on Wednesday morning, or sooner, before I leave town for work!

Thanks everyone for your encouraging thoughts! Keep 'em coming!

The Next Stage

Sorry for the delay in updating everyone.

On Thursday afternoon, Mom was released from UCSF and was transferred to the San Joaquin Valley Rehab Center in Fresno. The plan is for her to be there for about a week and recoup from everything. She was released to this facility from her surgeon as a place for her to recover from some untypical symptoms/side effects from the surgery.

I talked with the Surgeon's primary nurse on Thursday, and here's a breakdown of what she said.

- The aphasia has cleared up. She is able to associated the correct words with objects and things around the room.

- She is suffering from short term memory loss. This is common after these types of surgeries. This is mainly due to the swelling in the brain around the area where they went in.

- She is suffering from a mild case of delirium. This is not common, and it's really hard to say how quickly this can resolve itself. It could take 1-2 weeks for this all to clear up, and the best thing for recovery is rest and sleep.

So that's where we stand. She's still as feisty and funny as ever, but is really having issue with remembering things (conversations) that are happening. Still worried about Putt. She does remember the grand kids, but can't remember what happened on her birthday. Goofy stuff.

The current plan is for to stay there for a 7 days, and then she'll be re-evaluated to determine if a longer stay is necessary.

Keep the good thoughts coming.

The progress continues

I talked with Mom today and she sounded great. She was asking me about work, talking about being in the hospital, and all sorts of good things. Having brain surgery, there's obviously some adjustment that has to occur after the fact. She's making coherent sentences, but just coming up with some crazy things (making connections a few years removed). She also talked to her brother in Texas today, which I'm sure was good for both of them! :)

The physical therapy doctor and occupational therapist came by today, and it appears that all these things are progressing as well as they should. Assuming things are on track, she could be released tomorrow.

I might update this later today when I get an updated report from Dad.

as the story goes...

Yesterday was a rough day. They say that a craniotomy can slow a person down, but they obviously haven't met Peggie! Countless times yesterday, she was able to get out of bed to eat, visit the restroom, and was extremely adamant about taking a shower (which she can't do quite yet). She's still a bit disoriented.... she knows everyone's name, but still is not sure why she's in San Francisco and can't remember the date. The aphasia that she is suffering from they say is very common (and temporary), but it's a freaky thing to encounter from someone you're so used to seeing. She's talking fine, but she can't say the correct words for items, but thinks that she is! It's a very weird thing to encounter. The swelling in her eye went down considerably the past day, and she's making some good strides on eating.

The first night (Saturday) in the hospital room, she was trying to get up out of bed A LOT so they had to put a bed alarm on so that they could hear her when she tried to get up and use the restroom. So our adventure yesterday while we were in there was making sure someone was there to guide her to the proper place, or convince her to stay in bed. We were there from 8:00am to about 9:00pm last night. Leona was very gracious and was on Peggie duty last night, as we all felt that she would try to get up in the middle of the night and do something again. Leona reported that she's doing better when she gets out of bed. Leona was able to wash mom a bit.

I dropped Scott off at the airport and headed back to Fresno today. Dad (and Leona) are still there with mom. At about 11am, Mom went in for the angiogram, and as of right now, she hasn't come out yet. When I hear from Dad, I'll report!

The Day After (Part Duex)

Mom was moved out of the ICU this afternoon, to her own room. She's made some progress with her recovery. She was able to get up out of bed, make it to the restroom, and then back to bed for some more sleep.

If there is anything you'd like for me to pass along to her, please let me know.

The day after

Well, I wish that I had more things to say right now. She is still in the ICU, doing a lot of sleeping. We've all had the chance to go in there a few times to see her. The left side of her head is quite swollen, and she complained of feeling like someone punched her in the eye. She has bits of clarity (reminding us to feed the dog), but is still in a haze and doesn't remember why she's in the hospital or why she had the surgery.


On Monday morning, they are going to do a followup angiogram to make sure the clippings and everything is in order.

The Big Day

Well, after waking up at the crack of dawn (bunking it old school with the brother; like we used to when we were young), we made it to the hospital at 6:00am. We got checked in fine, and mom was rolled into surgery around 7:45am.

Then, the waiting game began...

We received periodic (positive) updates on the progress of the surgery. They would call our cell phones and tell us things were going fine, with no ETA. Then, at 1:45, Dr. Lawton came out and told us that the surgery was a success and that mom is recovering in the ICU! The main aneurysm was successfully clipped and (what we thought was) the second one actually was nothing to be concerned with.

We are currently waiting for her to get out of the ICU to see her. I'll update you all later on when we know more!

The Medium Day (relative to the Big Day)

Hello again,

The day is almost here. Mom, Dad, & Bro are in San Francisco right now getting all of the pre-op stuff happening. Today, she'll meet with the Anesthesiologist, get the Angiogram complete, as well as meet with the doctor & nurses to make all of the final arrangements necessary.

I'll be heading up there later today (just got out of jury duty) to meet up with the gang, then it'll be off to the hospital tomorrow!

I'll do my best to update everyone about the status of everything.

Survey Says...

WOW... it's been a wild day.

We arrived at UCSF at 3:00 today (traditional Hammons style, an hour early to wait longer than necessary). After filling out a mountain of paperwork, we finally got the call to meet with the Doctor.

We met with one of the nurses for Dr. Lawton to give her the breakdown... then, it was the Doctor.

Doctor Lawton was a very friendly and a very personable individual that we all gravitated to very easily. He informed us that the prime culprit is the 8mm aneurysm along the communicative artery. It's size is the biggest concern... typically the threshold for operating on these things is the 7mm mark, so he said it would be best to proceed with a procedure. After looking at the scans that we brought up from Fresno, he was fairly confident that the shape was that of an open head (not what we were looking for), which means that the coil procedure is not the best course of action. If the coil was to be done, it would leave some possible openings for blood to pool up and we'd be back in this situation later on (possibly).

We were left with the option of doing a typical angiogram or another procedure called a CT gram (computer generated). We opted for the CT gram as there is only a 1% variable in comparing the two test, and since the problem has been isolated, the extra pain and hassle of the angiogram isn't worth it at this point.

SO.....


We're going in!

Dr. Lawton highly recommend clipping the aneurysm (and possible, it's little sister) as to avoid any possible recurrence in the future. This (unfortunately) means that he must do a bit of shaving to get it done!

He plans to shave a bit off of Mom's hair along the left side of her hairline up to the widows peak. Then, just above the left eye socket, he'll remove a small part of the skull to proceed to the place of the aneurysms and clip (them SOB's). If he can get them both, he will, but he will obviously focus on the primary target (stay on target... stay on target...). He described that he does the entire procedure "by hand" and will be using a microscope to enlarge the image.

The aneurysm(s) is located between the two hemispheres on the bottom part of the brain, and he iterated to us that he doesn't have to go "into the brain" at all, but will just be cruising right below it to clip it off. The procedure will take approximately four hours and is currently scheduled for May 14th (Mom flirted with him to be the first one that day) at 6:00am in the morning. May 13th will be the day for the CT gram and other blood tests and what not. Her hospital stay will be about four days, and will not have to come back for any follow-ups (unlike the coil procedures, which has a lot of baggage associated with it).

THE PROS
- This was found by accident, and we're lucky to not have it burst on us.
- The procedure we opted for is the best scenario, and will eliminate this problem.
- The occluded right artery is nothing that caused this... what they read in the charts today was more of a wiring thing (something she was born with) and is nothing we are going to deal with.
- The second aneurysm is so small that he'll try to fix it if he can.

THE CONS
- They are opening her freaking skull (I guess to match dad... I mean, they don't wear wedding rings...)
- We're not exactly sure of any complications... frankly I (and I'm sure mom was too) was a bit too afraid to ask... it was enough to digest for any appetite. I'll call this week to find out more.

So for now, we have a three week countdown for another date in San Francisco. No restrictions other than rest and staying off the Advil.

The City By The Bay

This is going to prove to be an eventful week. We have a scheduled appointment at UCSF this Thursday afternoon at 4 o'clock! As with everything else with this thing, we don't exactly know what to expect with this appointment. We could be here a few days for a procedure, or this could be something that gets scheduled for a later date. I'll be sure to post something quickly after the meeting!

the wait continues

I think I am speaking on behalf of the rest of the family, but after meeting with the local surgeon, there has been a tad bit of ease to our step. He explained to us that there's a 6% chance that anyone of us can develop a brain aneurysm. With where we are standing with mom (again, without him looking at any pictures to date), there's a 1% chance that this thing can turn bad. That percentage increases 1% for each additional year we do nothing. So as of right now, that is .2%.

We received word from UCSF yesterday that they are ready to receive us up there, but we are still waiting on the insurance to improve the referrals. The doctor(s) that we are going to see take new patients on Thursdays, so it's looking like it'll be a next Thursday before we can get up there and do an Angiogram.

I'll be able to meet Mom & Dad up there... actually, they will meet me as I'll already be up there for a conference. It's just a matter of getting things approved with the insurance. Looks like I'll be talking with Alice today!

We continue to wait.

Hurry up to wait...

Wow... today was a very busy day for us... on the phone as well as on the road.

The day started out with the usual call to Mom to make sure she's feeling ok, which she was. She's been doing great through all this, with the occasional time of realizing what we have to deal with, but for the most part, doing great.

It was about 10:00 this morning that mom got word that Stanford called and confirmed that she had an appointment at 2:30 today. I think we were all amazed at how fast that actually happened. I then followed this up with a call to Alice (in the local office here) to make sure that we were all set to proceed with this great news. She then informed me that the insurance denied this claim, but had referred her to UCSF. She also wanted to confirm that we were still keeping the appointment with the local surgeon to wrap things up. Shortly before I left work to meet Mom & Dad at the surgeon's office, I got a call from Alice and said that UCSF has confirmed that they received all of the info and that mom will be seeing three different doctors (for three separate matters), but that the insurance needed to approve this.

Then, it was the adventure to the surgeon's office at 3:30pm. First, we were given bad directions, and I was able to quickly get on my phone and find the correct location (which ended up being only 4 minutes from work). This doctor was extremely helpful in explaining things to us (although, there was a bit of an accent, so it wasn't 100% clear). He explained the aneurysm that she has... a Communicative Artery Aneurysm. As we discussed it more, and the fact that she has an Occluded Right Artery, he mentioned how he can fix these. This doctor had not seen any of the pictures of the symptoms, but could only read the reports of others, but it was really helpful for him to explain everything.

It's hard for any doctor at this point to tell us how we can proceed since we don't know the shape and exact size of the aneurysm... we have to have an Angiogram in order to get this information. As they are doing this (up at UCSF, hopefully), they can possible go in and fix it with the Coil Procedure all in one setting. This procedure if non-invasive (through the artery in the leg), as opposed to through the skull, mouth, or nose. If all goes as planned (best case scenario), then it's a short trip to the hospital. The doctors at UCSF invented this procedure, and do over 600 a year, so if it happens there, we're the in the best hands possible.

He explained that Mom is in good shape (considering), and that's it's not an emergency situation to have this handled, but it's not something we want to wait on. Towards the end of this conversation, we concluded (the doctor as well) that this meeting was unnecessary since we're working on the referrals to go to UCSF. You might ask why we had the meeting.... excellent question, we're wondering yourself. The doctor said we didn't have to meet with him, but I'm guessing it was a matter of trying to exhaust all resources here. But yet, he never received the pictures for him to review. (Mom & I went by the imaging place, and have CD's in hand for whatever doctor we see next).

Although the doctor said this trip was "wasted time", I think we all feel it was good to have some more information in hand, knowing that we are ok for now. We still have to get more information about what all is going to be done (nothing was mentioned about the occluded artery, which could be a cause for the aneurysm). Hopefully tomorrow we can share some more!

The beginning... or close to it.

Well, today was the first "work day" knowing what's in store for us. I had the "pleasure" (and I use that term very loose) of being the person to call the insurance & Primary Doctors office today to see where we stand. To my surprise, everything was progressing better than i thought. I talked to a great lady today named Alice in the referrals office. When I called to explain our situation, she instantly knew who I was talking about and then informed me that all of the documentation was faxed off to Stanford and the proper insurance authorities on Friday afternoon. WOW... what I thought was a dormant situation was already progressing by 830 this morning.

Within 20 minutes, Alice called me back to inform me she was going to schedule an appointment for mom with the local surgeon who handles these type of cases to "wrap everything up here". As much as I hate all of this, I'm looking forward to talking to the surgeon tomorrow to actually understand a bit more of what we have to expect. Up till now, I just know it's something to fear, given the history of our family (my father suffered from a ruptured aneurysm in his early 20's while in the Coast Guard!).

Here's to hoping tomorrow goes well. Hopefully all of the insurance and referrals get to where they need to, and then we'll see where we stand.

Hanging in there!