scraphappy908
02-06-2010, 08:49 PM
If you remember, I posted a prayer request for a dear friend of mine named Candi. We worked together in the middle school for the past four years. This school year has been especially stressful because of cutbacks and layoff. Candi decided it was time to retire and her last day was December 18th.
On January 16th Candi suffered a burst brain aneurysm to the left side of her brain. She underwent 10 hours of surgery at University of Michigan Hospital. Doctors were very concerned about the first 72 hours because she was still having vasospasms in the brain and was in very "delicate" condition. In other words, doctors were very gaurded about her prognosis. A family friend and leading neurosurgeon flew in from California as well. Doctors continued to do neuro checks on her every two hours. They also gave her medication to reduce the vasospasms.
On January 21st Candi came out of a coma and spoke a few words to her husband and sons. She was even able to move her hands and legs on command, which was nothing short of a miracle considering they feared she would have some brain damage.
On January 24th Candi was taken of the ventilator and was able to speak more to family and doctors. Each passing day she became more alert and even watched some TV! However, Candi started to brake out in a rash which later was revealed that she was having a reaction to one of the medications. Later on the 26th, Candi was complaining of stomach aches and her doctor thought she may have caught a tummy virus. They put her on antibiotics. And as a precaution, the doctors, nurses and family had to wear gowns and masks while in her room.
Candi continued to improve although she kept running a fever around 101 -102 degrees. Her nurses would put ice packs around her on the bed and run a fan in her room to help lower her temperature. The dosage on her anitbiotics was increased slightly.
Then on Tuedsay, Feb. 2nd, Candi took a turn for the worse. Her fever continued to spike despite all efforts to reduce it. Her breathing became labored and her heart rate was increasing. By Tuesday evening doctors had to intubate Candi and she went back on the ventilator. The cerebral fluid around the brain was accumulating more than should have been so a drainage tube was placed in her head. Candi had several more CT scans and ultrasounds as doctors feared she may have blood clots. There were two areas of concern at first; one in her right leg and the other in her right shoulder at the arm joint. Later test revealed no blood clot in the leg but a faily good size one in her shoulder. Her arm and shoulder are now wrapped in an ace like bandage to keep the clot from moving. They can not give her meds to disolve it due to risk of internal bleeding.
When I checked in on Candi today, I was told that she is improving slightly. She is still on the ventilator but is breathing mostly on her own. They have taken her off the propofol for now and is getting vicodin in case she is in any pain. The doctors did confirm that Candi has some kind of infection in the stomach, a name that is really long, and some ecoli. But the antibiotics are doing the trick and hopefully that problem will be cleared up in a few days. The plan for now is to keep her intubated until Candi can go a full 24 hours without spiking a fever. Brian, her husband, and Dan, one of her sons, are hopeful that this set back will be over soon. We all know Candi still has a very long road ahead of her. Everyone is taking it one day at a time. So please continue to keep her in your prayers.
Thanks
On January 16th Candi suffered a burst brain aneurysm to the left side of her brain. She underwent 10 hours of surgery at University of Michigan Hospital. Doctors were very concerned about the first 72 hours because she was still having vasospasms in the brain and was in very "delicate" condition. In other words, doctors were very gaurded about her prognosis. A family friend and leading neurosurgeon flew in from California as well. Doctors continued to do neuro checks on her every two hours. They also gave her medication to reduce the vasospasms.
On January 21st Candi came out of a coma and spoke a few words to her husband and sons. She was even able to move her hands and legs on command, which was nothing short of a miracle considering they feared she would have some brain damage.
On January 24th Candi was taken of the ventilator and was able to speak more to family and doctors. Each passing day she became more alert and even watched some TV! However, Candi started to brake out in a rash which later was revealed that she was having a reaction to one of the medications. Later on the 26th, Candi was complaining of stomach aches and her doctor thought she may have caught a tummy virus. They put her on antibiotics. And as a precaution, the doctors, nurses and family had to wear gowns and masks while in her room.
Candi continued to improve although she kept running a fever around 101 -102 degrees. Her nurses would put ice packs around her on the bed and run a fan in her room to help lower her temperature. The dosage on her anitbiotics was increased slightly.
Then on Tuedsay, Feb. 2nd, Candi took a turn for the worse. Her fever continued to spike despite all efforts to reduce it. Her breathing became labored and her heart rate was increasing. By Tuesday evening doctors had to intubate Candi and she went back on the ventilator. The cerebral fluid around the brain was accumulating more than should have been so a drainage tube was placed in her head. Candi had several more CT scans and ultrasounds as doctors feared she may have blood clots. There were two areas of concern at first; one in her right leg and the other in her right shoulder at the arm joint. Later test revealed no blood clot in the leg but a faily good size one in her shoulder. Her arm and shoulder are now wrapped in an ace like bandage to keep the clot from moving. They can not give her meds to disolve it due to risk of internal bleeding.
When I checked in on Candi today, I was told that she is improving slightly. She is still on the ventilator but is breathing mostly on her own. They have taken her off the propofol for now and is getting vicodin in case she is in any pain. The doctors did confirm that Candi has some kind of infection in the stomach, a name that is really long, and some ecoli. But the antibiotics are doing the trick and hopefully that problem will be cleared up in a few days. The plan for now is to keep her intubated until Candi can go a full 24 hours without spiking a fever. Brian, her husband, and Dan, one of her sons, are hopeful that this set back will be over soon. We all know Candi still has a very long road ahead of her. Everyone is taking it one day at a time. So please continue to keep her in your prayers.
Thanks