We have started a new site for Jackie . Please see
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jackiekorsmo2/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 and God Bless.
On the evening of March 15, 2018 Jackie suffered a hemorrhagic stroke deep on her left side of the brain. She was originally taken to Altru in Grand Forks, ND by the wonderful people who delicate their time to Northwood Ambulance Squad for CT scan and treatment. There she was met by another great staff where they found that it was hemorrhagic and suggested that she be transferred to Sanford in Fargo, ND as they are better equipped for any emergency actions if so required. In a matter of minutes they loaded her back into an ambulance for her journey to Fargo and being in the hands of God she was already on the road to recovery.
Not too far behind the flashing lights was a procession of nearly countless family members to go be by her side and wait for a diagnosis. As the sun came up and the day pressed on the family was still there taking turns going in to see her. It wasn't long and the family was joined by friends coming to give their support to her and her family. I think everybody in Northwood and many afar wished at some point they could have popped in and saw her.
She was met by another amazing staff in the Sanford ICU. Between ICU and a regular hospital room she spent 9 days there, with some ups and downs but guess who was always by her side to give words of encouragement and love. I'm sure you guess correctly, her ever loving husband Dan. By method of elimination, taking into account the location of the hemorrhage, and due to her extremely high blood pressure from the time the emergency crew took her blood pressure at the house, the doctors believe the stroke was due to undiagnosed high blood pressure. She did lose feeling on the right side of her body and started with very minimal movement with her right arm and hand to no movement for a few days, also minimal movement on her right leg. She started seeing the Speech, Physical and Occupational therapists here on a daily basis. She gave it her best despite being really tired as her brain was trying to heal. As the brain continued to heal some movement has started to come back in her arm.
On Saturday March 24th, her doctor felt she was stable enough to be transferred to the Altru Specialty Center in Grand Forks to start a more intense inpatient rehab program. She says the staff is Great there but sometimes they seem like slave drivers, lol. They don't give in much, if at all. But she knows why they do what they do because they have the same goal as her, to get her back at home so she can tend to her daily duties of work, chores and Grandkids. Oh I forgot and Grandpa! Which by the way he's still by her side on a daily basis tending to anything he can help her with. She has now been in Altru for 2 weeks and, after discovering and treating a bladder infection that was causing an elevated blood pressure, she is making progress in her recovery. She is able to squeeze you fingers with her right hand and has been working on standing - holding her own weight, and taking a few steps on her own between the parallel bars. She is expected to be at Altru for another 2 weeks, give or take, depending upon progress.
We thank all of you for your kind words, cards, thoughts and prayers for her and her family. We truly appreciate it and we love you all.
We will do our best to keep you all updated in the days ahead as she heals and makes progress to recovery. Take care and God Bless you all.
