On Friday morning (8/25) Karen was at work and became very ill. She could not stop vomiting and was unable to respond to anyone. She was rushed up to United Hospital via ambulance where doctors discovered a brain aneurysm which required emergency surgery. The surgery went well and they had her sedated rest of the day.
Saturday morning (8/26) the doctor decided to ween her off the sleep & pain medication to wake her up. Karen was only awake for a short time but was able to wiggle her toes and squeeze her hand. The doctor said she's showing good signs and strong motor skills! They put her back out so her brain was not overworked. There was a little scare later when they were bringing her to and she seized out. Though it was scary, the doctor said this was a good sign. The reason she did that was because the tube down her thoat was very painful and she was responding to the pain. The doctor said that it's a good sign that she's aware of the tube.
Monday (8/28) was the BEST DAY YET! The doctor was able to get the tube out of her mouth and she was breathing on her own. Eventually she had to wear an oxygen mask to help with her breathing. At this point she was still unable to speak but could hear and understand instructions. Her mother Beverly was having a great converation with her. She would answer yes or no question with the shake of her head. She went all day using her oxygen mask but toward the end of the night, the doctors had to put the tube back in her mouth to help her breathe due to her low oxygen levels.
The next couple of days were a bit slower with not much going on. The tube stayed in her mouth and they kept her sedated to give her body and brain more rest.
On Wednesday (8/30) her oxygen levels were back up and they were able to preform a tracheostomy to improve airflow into her lungs. Since the tube down her thoat was removed they were able to reduce her pain medication to make her more alert when waking her up for the motor skills testing.
Karen is still in the NICU and needs to be able to breathe on her own before they're able to move her.
On Friday (9/1) she was breathing on her own for 4 hours without machine assistance, which the doctors said was huge! She was also very responsive and showed strong motor skills! Keep up the great work Karen!
We will keep you updated with Karen's process day-to-day.
The doctors still want to limit visitors to immediate family only. They don't want her getting stressed or overworking her brain too much!
Please keep Karen and her family in your thoughts and prayers. This is going to be a long journey but Karen is one of the strongest women I know and if anyone can pull through this, it's her!
CaringBridge is a nonprofit social network dedicated to helping family and friends communicate with and support loved ones during a health journey. Learn more about CaringBridge.
