Sandy Williams

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On Sunday, September 29, while sitting on the couch chatting with family, Sandy mentioned that she was dizzy.  A few minutes later she noted that her arms felt funny.  At this time she passed the FACE stroke evaluation with flying colors.  It was only when she went to stand up to go to the bathroom, that we realized we had a serious situation on our hands.

In the bathroom, she continued to talk with us, drink from the water bottle, and tell us where to find the baby aspirin.  Even though she continued to talk as the squad wheeled her out of the house, we knew it was a serious situation.  Within minutes of arriving at Marion General Hospital she had an x-ray that showed a brain bleed.  She was immediately flown to Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus.

At Riverside, the brain bleed was confirmed, and by 3:30 AM Monday morning it looked as if the bleeding had stopped.  As expected, there was swelling in the area.  Sandy's blood pressure and temperature were erratic, and those concerns were all being addressed. Later on Monday she had a brain angiogram, which at this juncture did not show evidence of an aneurysm or any malformations.

Tuesday the swelling was increasing and beginning to impact her breathing and ability to independently clear her airway.  By Tuesday evening she had to be intubated (ventilator) and they begin to discuss surgery to reduce the pressure.  She had surgery about 10 PM on Tuesday night, and was back to her room by about 1 AM.

Wednesday and Thursday were difficult days; these were the days, as expected, the swelling was the greatest.  By Thursday evening, however, we were starting to see improvement in the form of opening her eyes and squeezing our hands.  At this time she was still on the ventilator, and would remain so until she could respond with purposeful actions to requests by family and staff. For friends and family, time went very slowly this first week, but thankfully each day we did see small improvements. 

Sunday, one week after her brain bleed, Sandy's level of alertness was greatly improved and she was able to do just what staff and family asked her to do and the ventilator was removed!  When told that Wyatt was getting married today, her eyes flashed!  When told that he was the prince who was marrying Belle in a play today, we think she actually cracked a little smile.

Please check here each day for an update on Sandy's progress.  We are so appreciative of all of your support.

Love,
Dwain, Jeff and Family, and Tammy and Family