Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Going Home

The Dr's have decided to release Katie, so we will be headed home somtime in the next hour. Again, they are all scraching their heads as to what to do. So, basically we are going to continue life as normal and just keep our eyes open.

In the end we spent three days in the hospital for them to tell us that Katie is bleeding in her brain, and we can't find anything wrong. I must say though that the Dr's and nurses were really great here. The Dr's were great about spending lots of time with us answering questions and going over the results. So all in all it wasn't a bad experience.

Tuesday AM

Well, I decided not to go back to Des Moines last night due to a blizzard that hit the central Iowa area, so another day in IA City for me. The weather seems to have cleared today, so I should be able to go home today.

Last night they ran an MRI on Katie and this morning one of the Dr's came in to discuss. Same song, third verse. Nothing negative showed up on the MRI. The Dr's continue to be confused as to what/why this happened. It seems that since they don't really know what is going on, no one is really comfortable in making a decision. Our hope is that they will just let Katie go home sometime after lunch.

Katie and I want to send a special thank you out to those who have been at our house helping to take care of our kids. Amber (one of our babysitters) spent the night last night. Kyle and Karen spent the night Sunday night. Rod and Carol who have been over lots. Jen and Amy who have taken the kids to school and pick them up. It's just so good to know that we don't have to worry about things at home while trying to deal with this.

Also, thanks to all of you who are lifting Katie up in prayer. We really appreciate it.

Again, I anticipate that we will be going home sometime this afternoon.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Good News/Bad News

Alright, Katie is out of her angiogram. So, for the good news.

The angiogram did not reveal anything wrong. This is good, if they had found anything that would have meant that there were some significant other issues.

The bad news, they didn't find anything wrong. This means they have no idea why this happened. It is possible that this can just happen, especially considering she has a history. The other bad news is that because they don't know what's going on, they are wanting to keep her here for a couple of days for observation. They will probably do a couple more MRI's tonight to just make sure they cover all bases and angles.

Katie is resting comfortably and is in good spirits. So, I will probably head home before too long to be with the kids, and Sue (Katie's mom) will probably stay here. IA City is about 1 1/2 hours from our home.

Uneventfull Night

Nothing really new. The good news is that Katie didn't get any worse, which means that the bleeding has most likely not gotten any worse.

This morning she is already in for her invasive angiogram. This means that they put a radioactive chemical in her blood and then image her head. This gives a very good look at all of the vessels in her head and neck. As a result of the angiogram she has to lay flat for at least 6hrs after the procedure. The angiogram will give the Dr's some more info that will help them to determine why this is happening.

Once we have some results and have talked to the Dr's I will update you all.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Hello - New Post

In case some of you out there have heard of some new stuff with Katie, I figured that I would put a post out here.

This morning Katie had some numbness in her left hand and on the left side of her face. We took her to the ER in Des Moines just to be on the safe side. After running a CT scan they discovered a small bleed on the right side of her brain. This is completely unrelated to the bleed that she had in 2008. The neurosurgeon in DSM felt that this was not something that you would do surgery for and felt that she should go to IA City to meet with some neurologist.

Katie has been coming to IA City for about 8 months so the Dr's here know her well. Also, the University of Iowa hospital is here and it's probably the best in IA.

So, now that we are here they are going to do a couple of MRI's as well as an angiogram to see if they can figure out why the bleed happened. Also, they want to make sure that it does not get any worse.

Katie is doing great. Other than the numbness (the last episode of this was around 9am this morning) there have been no other symptoms. This is also confusing to the Dr's. So there will be a lot of testing and waiting. I'll keep you all updated as we learn new things, which probably won't be until tomorrow.