John Lanehart

Family and friends:  


As many of you know, John had an accident on Thursday February 8.  He was alone at the lake house, trying to pull an oversized box through the front door, tripped and landed on the back of his head.  Unaware of his injuries (and confused) he went to bed.  The next morning, our neighbor took him to SF emergency, where a brain scan showed a frontal brain bleed, primarily on the right but some bleeding in left lobe as well.  He was taken by ambulance to OLOL trauma icu, met there by our soninlaw.  I arrived from CO at midnight,


Two more scans showed bleed was stable and he was released Saturday afternoon.


Many of you understand John takes medication for low blood pressure prescribed by Mayo Clinic.  The meds raise his blood pressure when prone; problem is he needed to rest for the head injury to heal, so we lowered his dosages.


It was a long week: a disconnect with home health, John suffering with confusion and severe headaches, very little food intake, general weakness.


Lauren drove in Friday from Birmingham and when we sat down for dinner Friday night, John had a seizure.  We called 911, went back to OLOL, and he was eventually put in icu. 


Many docs, scans and tests later, it has been decided that the bleed has not worsened, is continuing to heal, and did not cause the seizure.  His sodium levels had dropped to a dangerous level since his last hospitalization the week before.  Docs believe this sodium drop caused the seizure.  One of his blood pressure meds contains a steroid that helps the body regulate sodium, and as he has been taking it for 17 years, when regular doses stopped, his body could not regulate sodium on its own.


Now we are working to get everything balanced again, which is tricky.   We were put in a private room last night (4124).  John ate and rested well last night, though his blood pressure is still high.  Sodium levels are dropping and falling but much closer to normal range.  Thankfully, most of his confusion issues have resolved.  PT came today.


Let me take this moment to thank Stormy and Steve for handling things until I got here, to Jan who listened and talked me down through last week, to Lauren,who helped me stay calm over the weekend, and to the rest of you who have shown up, texted and called with offers to help.  


Those of you who know me well unerstand one of my not-so-good traits is replying to texts/emails/phone calls.   However, I will do my very best to update this site each day and you are welcome to send comments, which I will share with John.  


Thanks,
Sabrina