Judy Casto

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

I’ve created this page to keep all our family and friends updated on Judy’s status.  I sincerely appreciate everyone’s concerns, thoughts and prayers.  Unfortunately while I would like to answer every phone call and text I need to focus on Judy and her recovery.  Thank you for understanding.  This site will allow comments, If you have questions post them here also, I’ll answer them if I can.  I’m sure they’ll be others with your same questions.  Thank You.
R/ Don

On June 28, 2018 Judy fell down the stairs at our home in Cudjoe Key, Florida.  She was unconscious with bleeding from her head and left ear.  She was taken to Ryder Trauma Center in Miami by MCSO Trama Star.  She had a contusion and laceration on the left side of her head, 2 broken ribs, a broken bone in her ear, a lacerated spleen and bruised kidneys all on the left side.  She has swelling and pressure on the brain.  Ryder Trauma Center performed emergency surgery on the left side of her head to reduce pressure and remove a blood clot.  She was moved to the Neurological ICU in Jackson Memorial Hospital in critical but stable condition.  

Judy has a tube in her head to drain fluid and relieve pressure.  She is on a ventilator and they’re giving her pain medicine and sedation.  She was put on a paralytic drug for a few days because her body was fighting the ventilator.  The paralytic was removed on July 5th, now we’re waiting to see some movement.  She is still heavily sedated fighting pneumonia.  

Judy’s current condition as of July 7th: The drain in her head has been closed for 24 hours and pressurize on her brain is at acceptable levels, there’s still some swelling of the brain but, the doctor said it isn’t creating any further damage.  Her chest X-ray still shows signs of pneumonia. The doctors are going to start weening her off the sedation today, this might take a few days.  She is still on the ventilator.  We will not know what level her brain functions are until the sedation wears off.  She has not opened her eyes since this all began, she did move her arms, legs and head a few days ago before the paralytic drugs.  She remains in critical but stable condition.  I’ll try to make updates daily or if a significant change occurs.