April 2009 - Posts
I spent the weekend with Michael, he’s doing okay. He’s ready to come home but realizes he’s there to get some help. This stuff has to be a pain for him.
He’s only been there a few days so they’re still in the process of adjusting his meds. I’ve read some on a couple of the meds he’s taking and it could be he needs less of a couple or maybe less of one – that can get pretty confusing. He has one for memory, one for alertness, but then he also has a med to cut down on the spasticity. Since the spasticity drug will make him sleepy it’s possible that it will work against something that is supposed to help alertness. He is getting a good workout everyday.
Everything is good – so far so good.
Kirk
I just called to check on Michael and he's doing good. We took him to Columbia yesterday, got checked in and answered all the usual questions, everything went well. When we were getting ready to leave it seemed he was trying to say something, he was taking deep breaths and pushing sound out - no words just sound. I asked him if he was okay, if he was good with us leaving, if he was comfortable; his response was yes to everything.
We've been through this before, I feel good that we're getting help with things that are bothering him, I feel good that he's at Rusk where everyone is so good at what they do, so caring and Michael responds so well to them. It's all good but it's still difficult to leave him there and come home, 130 miles away. I will try to post here as soon as I get new information - maybe I can sneak some pictures of him in therapy and post them here.
Well at least I'm hopeful we'll be on the road to Columbia MO - I have to remember to put the MO in there as some have thought I'm talking about the country of Columbia. 
- we are awaiting approval from Michael's insurance.
Christine took Michael to Rusk this morning to get checked out.
His Baclofen pump is working fine, but the doctors would like to admit him for further testing and re-evaluation.
Insurance will have to approve this first. So, if all goes as the doctor is planning, he'll come home now, stay at Christine's and on Monday go back to Rusk. The doctor wants to adjust his meds, this will require him to be there for observation, he also wants him to get a MRI to be sure nothing is up that a CT scan didn't show and have the therapy staff evaluate him.
I don't like that something is wrong, but I always welcome the opportunity for him to stay a while at Rusk, he has made progress while at Rusk that he's never made any other time. Over all, this won't be real convenient and I wish someone could look at him and say "I know what's wrong" and then fix it, but those things aren't very common, so this is not bad news at all. I feel more confident that Michael’s problem will be solved in the care of the doctors at Rusk than I would any other place.
Thanks for your continued care as we continue on – so far so good.
Kirk
thepoweroflove.us
The pain that Michael had a couple days ago is back. I’m not sure, it would be better said that I don’t have any idea what is wrong, the only thing I know is that I’m tired of him hurting. Pray for his comfort and that those who examine will diagnose the problem and correct it.
Thanks for the concern and prayers, it is much appreciated!
Kirk
thepoweroflove.us
We had a little excitement today. Michael’s has had something going, he’s been different but I don’t really know what to say other than that. He’s at Christine’s this week and yesterday I went over to get him ready to take him to church with me and he had a bad headache, plus the back of his head was extremely sensitive. He said he felt fine other than that but I was, I am a little concerned .. he has a shunt in the back of his head that is there to drain excess cranial fluid –the shunt is a “just in case” thing, but if his body doesn’t absorb the cranial fast enough then it will create pressure on his brain, this is dangerous. If you heard anything about Natasha Richardson then you are aware that pressure on the brain is very dangerous. So, because of this I was concerned and planned on getting him in to see the doctor that put the shunt in. This morning, Christine said he woke up about 3 and was in obvious pain, said that his head hurt, she called his doctor who said to get him to the ER. So, we did. I always worry about these things. There have been a couple times he’s been admitted “just to check him out” and then he ends up getting sick or falls behind while in the hospital. Plus he just does not like being there.
Michael was not happy about being there today and was worried about being admitted, like I was. He was upset about this so much that he would not confirm that anything hurt, everything was fine. It seemed to me he was answering so he could leave. I talked to him – as I was talking to myself – we agreed to let it go and let God take care of both; the finding out if something is wrong and the fear of a hospital stay.
Well everything worked out, after blood tests, x-rays, CT scan, they said they didn’t see anything wrong and we were released. It does seem something is up, we’ll just have to keep a close eye on things from here. Thanks for checking and thanks for your prayers!
Kirk