Monday, November 9, 2015

Acquired Brain Injury Day 16

A bit of a set back today. I feel like I am on a rollercoaster, with no view to when it will end. When I arrived about 10:30 the nurses told me that Colleen had fainted earlier in the day, and had not responded well to attempts to revive her.  My heart fell, but the Nurses said that Colleen eventually responded, and the nurses and the Dr. thought it might have been the visits the day before had exhausted her.

The nurses had told me that other family visits were welcome, but that if the visits proved to be too trying they would not be allowed to continue. So the morning was spent with me sitting with Colleen has she slept. She woke up from time to time and appeared glad to see me and we had snippets of conversation before she drifted back to sleep. 


I spent the morning and then the hospital staff had some tests for Colleen and she went off with the nurse to get the tests and came back for lunch. I went out and walked around the park, and sat in the Coffee shop. 


When I returned to the ward, Colleen was in good spirits and we went for a very short walk and then returned and started talking. During the discussion Colleen became unresponsive to my questions and looked strange, so I called the nurse. Colleen had fainted again and they staff sent me away while they worked on reviving her. 


The nurse told me that the afternoon would be full of Dr. and others who were trying to figure out why Colleen was fainting. I was told to go home and the nurse would let me know what was up when they knew. 


I was distressed, but I had faith in the hospital and the staff, so I went home. About 8:30 that night I was phoned by the nurse at the hospital, who told me it was OK, Colleen had fainted due to a drop in her already low blood pressure. She explained to me that the medication to keep the vibrations of the veins in her brain in check causes low blood pressure and to counter it they had to give Colleen medication to increase the blood pressure. 


Evidently the balance needed had been compromised by a slight infection that Colleen had acquired. So they would be giving her medication to fight the virus, keep her vibrations under control and to raise her blood pressure.  Once the medications started to work Colleen would start moving along the path to recovery that she had been on. A small glitch is what the nurse said, but overall Colleen was doing as well as could be expected.


A tough day, but tomorrow will be better, I am sure of it.

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