There has been so much commotion and white noise in Grace's situation that sometimes it can be easy to overlook the miracles that are taking place. 7 Weeks ago, the hospital staff said Grace had no chance to survive the night. Today Mom was having a conversation with a nurse, and no less than 5 times, Grace overcame the effect of the drugs in her system and turned her eyes and head to look at the person speaking!
It's difficult to say how active Grace would be without the drugs. Presumably with the help of the drugs, Grace did not storm today. The drugs are given in doses administered approx every 3 hours. When Grace reaches the end of those 3 hours, she reaches a point where the drugs haven't totally worn off, but the concentrations have dropped enough that she is much more active. During those times, it is very apparent that Grace is still in there.
Perhaps the biggest challenge today is that for 30 minutes Grace had what all the doctors (save the neurologists) are calling a seizure. You may recall from earlier posts that some doctors thought it might be a different type of storming... Those doctors have since recanted their statements and agreed that it is a seizure. The neurologists on the other hand are reluctant to call the spade a spade. They either want data to back up the claim, or they want a neurologist to witness what appears to be a random event. This is significant because based on her research, mom believes that seizures cause much more permanent damage than storming does. To prevent seizures, the doctors need to tweak the anti-seizure meds given to Grace, but neurology is not willing to do that when they're not certain that Grace is having seizures at all.
Mom put her foot down today and asked the neurologists to do a test that would verify that the episodes are seizures. Being the nice and helpful people that they are, the neurologists said they wouldn't examine all the data, but only specific timeframes considered as possible candidates. To just get this part over with, Mom is going to do a 24-hour vigil with Grace to record the times she thinks that Grace might be having a seizure. She's probably going to be just a bit tired after that.
Mom also saw great progress today lining up funding for Grace to come home. You see, the family insurance plan only covers 60 days/year of in-home care. Mom phrased it very nicely when she said "That's nice. what about the other 300 days in the year?" She's made great strides toward getting Medicare and other grants/programs in place to cover the rest.
In other news, mom is scheduled to have her gall bladder surgery on Friday. The operation will last about an hour, she'll return home about 2 hours later, and to recover she won't be able to lift anything (like her children) weighing over 30 pounds for the duration of the following 10 days.
Please pray for:
- Continued miracles and complete healing for Grace
- An accurate and quick diagnosis for Grace's episodes
- The end of all storming/seizures... quickly!
- Healing for Mom's Gall Bladder
- The neurology department, that they might stop being "poopy"
- Financial provision (If you are interested in helping in this area please e-mail info@gracegoodday.com for more information.)
Thank you for your posts and comments! they are very encouraging for Mom and Dad!
I don't know if the local news media is still tracking this story or not, but just in case, it's probably still best not to use mom or dad or Grace's real names.
On behalf of the family, we here at Grace's Good Day would like to thank you dearly for your thoughts, support, and prayers! It's exciting to see the results of those prayers unfold on a daily basis!
