Winter is in full swing here in February. We got 9 inches of snow the other day (roads were actually pretty bad) and are expecting some small snowstorms this weekend and later next week. It looks beautiful on the marsh.
The last 4 weeks, however, have been a blur. On Sunday night, January 19th, after a week of moderate nausea, vomiting and malaise, Annelle had an episode of slurred speech. It didn't last long, but it was absolutely out of the ordinary. I told her I was calling 911 and she came out of it, back to normal. Needless to say, I still took her to the Emergency Department at Mercy.
They did a head scan and determined there wasn't any bleeding. Good. They did lab work. When the nurse came back he said she was severely anemic and her platelets (blood clotting helpers) were dangerously low. I was shocked. Where, when did this happen??
Over the course of the next 24 hours a diagnosis was reached. TTP. A microclotting disease that can cause multisystem failures. Probably (though nobody really can say) manifested from the GI bug she had the previous week. Something that triggered an autoimmune response, causing proteins in her blood to slice up her red blood cells. The treatment is a plasma exchange (plasmapheresis) that we don't do at a hospital as small as Mercy. She would have to be transferred to the Maine Medical Center up the street for that.
Monday night, Jan. 20th, she was taken by ambulance to MMC. Neither of us had had much sleep in the previous 24 hours and she was very tired. As MMC is a teaching hospital, she had a team of care-givers who met her in her room to admit her and get her history. She was so "tired" I had to answer most of the questions. I didn't realize at that time that she was going downhill.
At 4:30 in the morning they took her down to the dialysis unit to get access to her venous system to start the pheresis. As sometimes happens, they were unable to gain access. They brought her back to the room, planning to take her to the radiology department later in the morning to gain access with the help of x-ray and ultrasound.
We both slept. They took her down and put a tunneled catheter into a vein in her upper chest that could be used for long-term treatment. After she had recovered a while and had to go to the bathroom, Katie, her CNA, and I got her up. We had to give her specific directions to lift her feet so she could walk. We had to help her sit as she couldn't comprehend instructions.
After she was finished she stood up and lost consciousness. I pulled the emergency cord and several people helped get her back to bed. The Rapid Response team came and assessed her. She went back down to CT for a head scan. Negative.
When she returned to the room she was pretty out of it. They decided to take her immediately to the dialysis unit to start the pheresis. Because I couldn't accompany her there, I went home for a while. On the way, she vomited. They were concerned enough about her status they transferred her to ICU and did the treatment there, where she remained for 3 days.
When I came in the next morning she was not responding to commands. She wasn't focusing. I had a feeling she knew I was there but I wasn't sure. They did another pheresis. Dr. Grimface said "this is serious" and "it's going to be a long road." One of the interns shared some depressing statistics. They wanted her Advanced Directive on the chart. I again went home that night because they wouldn't let me stay with her in the ICU.
Wednesday, Jan 29th, when I came into the ICU and started talking with the nurse, she turned her head in my direction. I knew she knew I was there. Throughout that day, slowly, she started to come around. She couldn't speak at first but was able to nod or shake her head. By the time I left at 8 that night she actually smiled a little smile.
So imagine my surprise when the phone rang on thursday morning as I was getting out of the shower and it was Annelle! She sounded weak but good. She wanted a Coke. I hightailed it to MMC with Coke in hand and was greeted by one awake Annelle. I was amazed. Things were looking up.
The next 2 days she got better and better. Dr. Grimface was absolutely bowled over when he saw her and she was speaking sensibly. In fact, all her caregivers were amazed.
I never finished the above post. Too much at the time. It's one year later now, after rehab and healing. She's back to herself. In fact, today is the 1 year anniversary of the day she returned to work.
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