Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Tuesday Evening

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that the speech therapist has been working with Karen on cognitive issues.  As they have worked more with Karen, some issues related to memory (dates, ages of people, etc.) and simple problem solving have surfaced.  These issues are very similar to the types of issues she encountered right after her stroke back in November.  For that reason, they believe that when she fell and hit her head, that could have reinjured the same part of her brain that was impacted by her stroke.  We have been told that the brain has a tremendous ability to rewire itself (with her stroke this happened within a week) and are hopeful the same thing will happen here as well but only time will tell.  Up until this point, we have been assuming that some of the “fuzzy thinking” was due to fatigue, effects of meds and uremia that develops between dialysis treatments.  These certainly may be contributing to her cognitive issues, but we also have to assume that there may be some impact from the fall/stroke as well.  We feel very blessed that her speech, ability to carry on a conversation, and maybe most importantly, her wonderful sense of humor were not impacted.  Just the other day, while I was helping her get up from the bed, she said, “In case you are wondering what that lump was under your foot, that was my toe!”  I was standing on her foot!  The girls and I just about died laughing!

 

Physically, after a good day on Good Friday, Karen has not felt as well since then.  She ran a fever on Sunday as well as this morning and has also been very tired.  The fever was gone by afternoon (both Sunday and today).  We are hopeful that after today’s dialysis treatment, she will feel much better.

 

Please pray that the cognitive issues will resolve themselves quickly and that she will feel better physically so she can continue to build her strength.

 

Rusty

 



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1 comment:

Dobbie said...

Gotta love that sense of humor. That's my Girlfriend!!!! When I hear she's eatting scrambled eggs and steak sauce, I will know that life is good. We will keep Karen and each of you in our prayers as she continues another week of therapy. Hope she will be able to enjoy some days on the terrace in the sunshine - in between the rain that's headed this way. Love, Gayle