A Lot of Adventure

Well, we've had a lot of adventure since the last post. After she got settled, she was talking up a storm but then she started some erratic behavior. Her tongue kept protruding out of her mouth and she was making some very jerky movements. It was difficult to keep her still and she kept trying to pull out her lines going straight into her head (!!!). They gave her some benadryl and morphine with no results and then took her down for a head CT just to check for no additional internal bleeding. The CT scan looked clear. Finally about 9 PM they decided to try Atavan and that gave almost immediate results. She was much calmer although she was still talking with her tongue out of her mouth and wiggling all over the place.

The short story is: she hasn't slept (at all) since waking up from the surgery about 4 PM yesterday and she is definitely not talking as much. At one point, the neurosurgeon was thinking she was having seizures but the neurologist thinks it's probably more just swelling and the combination of meds. They had her on a different anti-seizure med than they used during the last two surgeries so they have since changed back to the original med. We are just in a waiting game. Her BP was a little elevated and she got some blood last night but otherwise her levels seem ok with everything.

I got very little sleep last night (some but in fits and spurts). The most I got was from about 6-8 this morning. We've had visits from Auntie Retta and Grandpa and Juanita are here now. I'll be going to work in a little bit. Yay for caffeine.

So to make a long story short, we just keep monitoring everything and make sure there aren't any erratic changes in the next little while. As the swelling goes down, we should see her return to a more "normal" level of everything.

She will have a full head and spine MRI tomorrow morning so we'll get lots more information then.

Now time to seek out some food for me...

Rachel

UPDATE:
After almost 21 hours of wakefulness and restlessness, Charlotte finally fell asleep about 1 PM. Dr. Tye had been by to see her and concurred that she probably was not having seizures but was more likely just feeling the effects of surgery, medication, etc. He was happy with her blood pressure and how she looked and just advised us to "hang in there".

I went home to refresh before work and managed to get in an hour or so nap on our new (and much needed) mattress. Hooray!

Then I met up with Roger at Romp n' Roll and took over the evening shift while he headed up to N. Va for an Uptown Gig. The work allowed me to at least clear my head a little and get some much-needed paperwork done.

Now back at the hospital and it seems that she has been asleep the ENTIRE time. Of course, I joked with my in-laws, "oh, so you kept her asleep so now she can be awake all night" but I have a feeling she will sleep for a while longer. Her BP level is great and everything else looks good. She has been resting peacefully. Of course she hasn't eaten much so I'm sure that she will wake up HUNGRY. Hopefully she will either wake up briefly before midnite and be able to eat a little or she'll just sleep straight on through till her MRI tomorrow. Tomorrow is a full head and spine MRI with and without contrast. She hasn't had one like this since her initial diagnosis. They will be checking her up and down (literally) for any signs of the tumor spreading as well as getting an idea of what we have left to fight.

More to report later. For now, I am going to seize the opportunity to get some rest.

Rachel