This past weekend Ella had her first weekend pass. She came home Friday night and went back to the hospital on Monday evening. This was the first time she has spent the night in her apartment since August. The weekend went fairly well. I was able to go over and help her get rid of some of her clothes and some other items. She was able to attend her care group as well, which was nice to get her back into a routine of sorts. Also friends took her out on Sunday evening, which was a huge help for me!
Ella was in the hospital for the rest of the week and have another weekend pass this weekend. I will be picking her up a Friday afternoon and bring her back on Sunday evening. The planned discharge date I believe is 20 November. It may be 21 November, so this is something that I need to check.
I have been busy going through Ella’s place and trying to organize her things and help to downsize her stuff. This has been a big undertaking for me and Neil. I’m not sure if I mentioned in the last update but we did a makeover on her closet to give her a bit more room. However, we have been seriously discussing moving her into an assisted living facility. Ella has been having a hard time accepting that this may be the best solution for her. It will be a lot of hard work to find a living place that will suit her needs. She will still be living at home for a while as we make arrangements for this. We feel that this may be best as her memory is still not that great and we want to ensure that she is in a safe environment where she eats regularly as well as remembers to have all her pills. A living facility may also provide more of a social aspect that she would not get living in her own apartment. This is still a work in progress and we will be doing what we can to have her live comfortably in her own home.
I’m hoping to get my next update up after this weekend!
Friday, November 16, 2018
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Update 6
Hi everyone! First I must apologize for the length of time between posts. Neil and I were away for a few days and now we have been spending much of our time at Ella’s place trying to clean it up and organize!
Ella has been doing well at her recovery. She has been enjoying her physio, and finds now that she likes to work out. This is of course great for her. She seems to be doing well with her other therapies. Unsurprisingly, she had made friends with many of the people in her ward. Her room seems to have become the party room there. This is not only good for Ella, but I think it’s also helping the other patients in their recovery.
I have been in contact with her social worker discussing what the plans are going to be moving forward. We were really left with two choices. Either have her move into assisted living, or have her move back home and have home care come in to check on her multiple times a day. We have decided that we are going to try out the latter. I feel that it would be less stressful for Ella to move into a smaller place that she is not comfortable with. Looking at a lot of the homes, they would be quite a bit smaller than what she is used to. They also may not be in the location she likes. However, if she is having difficulty living on her own again, we will need to look into moving her.
The timeline that we are looking at right now seems a bit fast to me. This weekend we will be taking her out again on a day pass, hopefully to her place to see what we have been doing there. The hospital wants her to have a weekend pass next week to see how she does living on her own. She would be home Friday 9 November and spend the next few nights at home. They then want her to call on Tuesday 13 November morning to see how she is doing. If she figures she can live on her own, they will discharge her then and she would spend no more time in the hospital. I am planning on discussing this with the social worker again next week as I feel that she may need to go back to the hospital for a few days to see how she really feels about being in her own. This is all tentative right now, so things may still change.
If you have spent any time talking or visiting with Ella in the past few weeks, could you pleas provide me some feedback on what your thoughts are on this. Do you think that she is in a place where it is safe for her to be living on her own at home again? Do you think the hospital should have her go home on a few weekend passes before she is discharged? Is there anything else that you can tell me that would be useful? I would really appreciate some feedback at this point.
Thank you once again for everyone’s support in this. It has been greatly appreciated.
Ella has been doing well at her recovery. She has been enjoying her physio, and finds now that she likes to work out. This is of course great for her. She seems to be doing well with her other therapies. Unsurprisingly, she had made friends with many of the people in her ward. Her room seems to have become the party room there. This is not only good for Ella, but I think it’s also helping the other patients in their recovery.
I have been in contact with her social worker discussing what the plans are going to be moving forward. We were really left with two choices. Either have her move into assisted living, or have her move back home and have home care come in to check on her multiple times a day. We have decided that we are going to try out the latter. I feel that it would be less stressful for Ella to move into a smaller place that she is not comfortable with. Looking at a lot of the homes, they would be quite a bit smaller than what she is used to. They also may not be in the location she likes. However, if she is having difficulty living on her own again, we will need to look into moving her.
The timeline that we are looking at right now seems a bit fast to me. This weekend we will be taking her out again on a day pass, hopefully to her place to see what we have been doing there. The hospital wants her to have a weekend pass next week to see how she does living on her own. She would be home Friday 9 November and spend the next few nights at home. They then want her to call on Tuesday 13 November morning to see how she is doing. If she figures she can live on her own, they will discharge her then and she would spend no more time in the hospital. I am planning on discussing this with the social worker again next week as I feel that she may need to go back to the hospital for a few days to see how she really feels about being in her own. This is all tentative right now, so things may still change.
If you have spent any time talking or visiting with Ella in the past few weeks, could you pleas provide me some feedback on what your thoughts are on this. Do you think that she is in a place where it is safe for her to be living on her own at home again? Do you think the hospital should have her go home on a few weekend passes before she is discharged? Is there anything else that you can tell me that would be useful? I would really appreciate some feedback at this point.
Thank you once again for everyone’s support in this. It has been greatly appreciated.
Friday, October 12, 2018
Update 5
Hey everyone! There is not much new news right now. Ella is still doing well with her recovery and going to multiple therapists daily for her rehabilitation. I took her out last Monday on a day pass and that went well. We took her back home and then out for dinner. I plan on taking her out again tomorrow so you may want to plan around that if you plan on visiting her at the hospital.
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Update 4
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have just a brief update today. Last Thursday, 4 October, Ella had a follow up CT scan. It appears that she is healing nicely. They did indicate that she still has some subdural blood, but it is nothing to be too concerned with. They do not need to go in again to drain it, as it should be able to reabsorb into her body. But there are no new concerns, which is good.
Tomorrow, 8 October, I plan on taking Ella out on a day pass. I believe now she will be able to go out on day passes while supervised. If you are interested in taking Ella out somewhere, please let me know and I can see what I can do about getting it all arranged.
Tomorrow, 8 October, I plan on taking Ella out on a day pass. I believe now she will be able to go out on day passes while supervised. If you are interested in taking Ella out somewhere, please let me know and I can see what I can do about getting it all arranged.
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Update 3
This post is coming a bit later than I planned, but I have been dealing with a nasty cold the past few days. Yesterday, 3 October, we had the family meeting at the hospital with all the staff involved in Ella's recovery. This was a brief twenty minute meeting, but we have a better idea what will be going on moving forward. As I was sick, I was unable to attend the Brain Injury Education and Support Class offered by the ward. They offer this every two weeks however, so I will be able to attend the next one and provide an update on that.
Firstly, I know most of you are wondering when Ella will be out of the hospital. They have set the tentative date of 7 November. This of course is able to change according to her recovery rate and if they feel comfortable releasing her to live alone again. If they feel that she will need more support at home there is a possibility for her to live in an assisted living facility for a while. More likely though is that she will have home care come in to check on her daily. But this is something we do not need to worry about until closer to the discharge date.
In order to facilitate her release they are using multiple therapies. She is seeing a recreational therapist who will be assisting Ella in understanding how to use city transit on her own as she will not be able to drive for a while. A speech pathologist is assisting her in staying on topic when she is talking as she easily gets side tracked. They will also be working on her to remember verbal information given to her, and helping her to not forget things. The occupational therapist will be assisting Ella in getting used to her daily activities such as budget planning and organization. They will all be working with her to help with problem solving. There is also a social worker, who will be my main contact to the team that will also be monitoring her progress. All of the therapists meet weekly to update each other on Ella's progress and assess where she is at.
The doctor has indicated that Ella will receive another CT scan in the next couple weeks in order to check on her recovery. Medically so far, there is nothing of concern and the doctor is pleased with her progress.
Before they send Ella home, they will be giving her day passes and eventually night passes to help adjust to living on her own again. These passes will only be granted if she has supervision the entire time. This will be nice as she has only left the hospital once since being admitted to see the dentist. They did want to emphasize that Ella cannot have any alcohol for a year as consuming it will slow her recovery.
I have been noticing that Ella's memory has not been the greatest. She has been confusing what has actually happened with her own narrative. So sometimes she will tell you something that happened, and that is not actually what occurred. She has also been repeating herself quite often. The therapist and nurses have also noted this too, and this will be addressed in her recovery process. This is a concern going forward as there is a worry at home that she will turn the stove on and forget it. The therapists are aware of this concern, and will not let her live alone if this is still a worry.
Although living in the hospital is not the greatest setting, Ella is adjusting quite well. She likes her roommate and has talked with everyone on the ward. There are lots of people there going through similar situations for her to talk with. This, along with all her visitors, have really helped to keep Ella's spirits up.This is also really good for her recovery.
Thank you all again for taking your time to leave well wishes, messages, calls and visits to Ella. It has been greatly appreciated.
Firstly, I know most of you are wondering when Ella will be out of the hospital. They have set the tentative date of 7 November. This of course is able to change according to her recovery rate and if they feel comfortable releasing her to live alone again. If they feel that she will need more support at home there is a possibility for her to live in an assisted living facility for a while. More likely though is that she will have home care come in to check on her daily. But this is something we do not need to worry about until closer to the discharge date.
In order to facilitate her release they are using multiple therapies. She is seeing a recreational therapist who will be assisting Ella in understanding how to use city transit on her own as she will not be able to drive for a while. A speech pathologist is assisting her in staying on topic when she is talking as she easily gets side tracked. They will also be working on her to remember verbal information given to her, and helping her to not forget things. The occupational therapist will be assisting Ella in getting used to her daily activities such as budget planning and organization. They will all be working with her to help with problem solving. There is also a social worker, who will be my main contact to the team that will also be monitoring her progress. All of the therapists meet weekly to update each other on Ella's progress and assess where she is at.
The doctor has indicated that Ella will receive another CT scan in the next couple weeks in order to check on her recovery. Medically so far, there is nothing of concern and the doctor is pleased with her progress.
Before they send Ella home, they will be giving her day passes and eventually night passes to help adjust to living on her own again. These passes will only be granted if she has supervision the entire time. This will be nice as she has only left the hospital once since being admitted to see the dentist. They did want to emphasize that Ella cannot have any alcohol for a year as consuming it will slow her recovery.
I have been noticing that Ella's memory has not been the greatest. She has been confusing what has actually happened with her own narrative. So sometimes she will tell you something that happened, and that is not actually what occurred. She has also been repeating herself quite often. The therapist and nurses have also noted this too, and this will be addressed in her recovery process. This is a concern going forward as there is a worry at home that she will turn the stove on and forget it. The therapists are aware of this concern, and will not let her live alone if this is still a worry.
Although living in the hospital is not the greatest setting, Ella is adjusting quite well. She likes her roommate and has talked with everyone on the ward. There are lots of people there going through similar situations for her to talk with. This, along with all her visitors, have really helped to keep Ella's spirits up.This is also really good for her recovery.
Thank you all again for taking your time to leave well wishes, messages, calls and visits to Ella. It has been greatly appreciated.
Saturday, September 29, 2018
Update 2
So it has now been a week for Ella in her new rehabilitation ward. She has been settling in and getting used to her new routine. She meets daily with an occupational therapist, physio therapist as well as a speech therapist. They each give her different tasks to do in order to get her out of the hospital and living on her own again sooner. So far this has been a great ward for Ella that is solely geared towards getting her ready to live independently again.
I have retrieved her email passwords, so Ella should be able to respond to emails now. It will take her a while to go through the past months emails she hasn't checked! So now you can contact her through her phone, Facebook as well as email.
There is a family meeting planned for next Wednesday morning. In this meeting, we will meet with the staff including her surgeon and therapists. In this meeting we will discuss what the plan is going forward, and what we are to expect. I am hoping that they will be able to provide a timeline going forward. Talking with the social worker, she said that it isn't always easy to tell this early on, so we may still not have a good idea for a while. I will provide another update after this meeting.
Also on Wednesday 3 October, there will be a meeting in her ward that is open to everyone about brain injuries. This is called the Brain Injury Education and Support Class. It runs from 4:00 to 5:15pm in the dinning room. I believe they will be going over what it is like going through recovery, and what needs to be done in order to support Ella further. If you are interested, please feel free to come. I will try to also write a post about what was discussed in this meeting for those who are unable to attend but are still interested in what is said!
Ella has really appreciated all the support that everyone has been giving her over the past few weeks. She appreciates the well wishes on Facebook as well as those of you who have been able to stop by for visits. This really helps to lift her spirits up.
I have retrieved her email passwords, so Ella should be able to respond to emails now. It will take her a while to go through the past months emails she hasn't checked! So now you can contact her through her phone, Facebook as well as email.
There is a family meeting planned for next Wednesday morning. In this meeting, we will meet with the staff including her surgeon and therapists. In this meeting we will discuss what the plan is going forward, and what we are to expect. I am hoping that they will be able to provide a timeline going forward. Talking with the social worker, she said that it isn't always easy to tell this early on, so we may still not have a good idea for a while. I will provide another update after this meeting.
Also on Wednesday 3 October, there will be a meeting in her ward that is open to everyone about brain injuries. This is called the Brain Injury Education and Support Class. It runs from 4:00 to 5:15pm in the dinning room. I believe they will be going over what it is like going through recovery, and what needs to be done in order to support Ella further. If you are interested, please feel free to come. I will try to also write a post about what was discussed in this meeting for those who are unable to attend but are still interested in what is said!
Ella has really appreciated all the support that everyone has been giving her over the past few weeks. She appreciates the well wishes on Facebook as well as those of you who have been able to stop by for visits. This really helps to lift her spirits up.
Monday, September 24, 2018
So, What happened?
Many of you may not have heard exactly what happened to land Ella in the hospital. Here is a timeline (best to my understanding) of the events that landed her in the hospital up to and just after her surgery.
July 29: Ella was in Egypt on the first stop of a tour with her church. At night, she went to use the washroom but could not find the light switch. While walking in the dark, she slipped on the floor and hit her head and face on the glass partition of the tub/shower. Her face was really bruised by this, but after a check up from another traveler, she did not seem to be having any problems. She continued the tour by traveling to Jordan and Israel with no problems.
August 25: Ella was out with her "friend" and while getting into the passenger side of her car, hit her head again, but on the opposite side of her previous hit. Later that day she was having trouble walking and fell down twice. Apparently, this time when she hit her head it hurt a lot more than the previous one.
August 27: Ella went to her regular doctor to be checked. According to Ella, she was told that it was a minor concussion and to come back into the doctor or go to emergency if her symptoms worsened.
August 30: Ella's friend Grace attempted to bring her to the hospital. As Ella is stubborn and did not want to wait in the emergency room, she declined going. Her plan was to see her own doctor the following week. When she called me, Jennifer, I suggested that she call Alberta Health Link. I am not sure what was said during the conversation, but she informed me that she was good to wait until the following week to see her doctor.
August 31: It is my understanding that Ella was talking with her cousin Carol and explained what had happened and her symptoms, which at this point included not being able to walk properly. Carol wisely told her to go straight to the hospital. Ella called me, and I drove down to her place with my husband, Neil. After checking emergency room wait times we decided to take her to the Sheldon Chumir Center. Upon arrival she was taken in within 20 minutes. When we were able to go back to see her, they had determined that she needed a CT scan of her head as well as an X-ray of her finger, which was also injured when she fell in Egypt. After having a neurologist exam the CT scan, it was determined that she had two subdural hematomas. Additionally, a bone was determined to be chipped in her finger, but this is of little importance at this point! She then needed to be transported to the Foothills Medical Center by Ambulance. Once at the Foothills, she was placed in a bed in Emergency. A resident doctor from neurology came down to assess her situation. It was determined that something needed to be done, but was not going to happen that evening. We left her at the hospital to rest that evening (around 1:30am!) and to come back the next day.
September 1: We arrived at the hospital again in the morning. Nothing had changed, except they knew she was not going to have surgery immediately as she was allowed to eat. Throughout the day, Ella's ability to walk on her own greatly declined. She had difficulty walking in a straight line and understanding where her body was. By the end of the day she needed a lot of assistance to walk on her own. She was transferred at some point from the more urgent care part of the emergency room to the less urgent area. We spoke to another resident doctor about the options going forward. At this point it was clear that nothing was going to happen until the following day.
September 2: In the morning we were finally able to talk with the surgeon about the options going forward. Ella opted for the surgery to drain the hematomas. Within an hour of this decision she was moved up to the day surgery department getting prepped for her surgery. Her surgery went well and they were able to put in two drains in. However, after the surgery while in recovery she had a major seizure followed by a minor one. The doctor informed me that this is not unusual with brain surgery, and not necessarily something to be overly concerned with. My understanding is that the surgery caused a small other bleeding on the brain which is common with invasive surgery like this. She was put on seizure medication in order to prevent and further seizures. She was then transferred to the neurology department ward for her recovery. She was very out if it in the evening, but did recognize me and Neil. We left in the late evening. We were informed the next day that during the night she had an additional two seizures that were minor. However this is something that they needed to keep an eye on.
September 3: Ella was groggy the next day as she was heavily medicated and just had brain surgery! The two drains were still in her head, as the hematomas needed further time to drain. She was confined to her bed as they did not want her to fall again and cause further problems. She was getting confused and mistaking visitors for other patients as some of her friends. I don't think we were able to convince her that they were not people she knew.
September 4 to September 20: I start to get a bit foggy on the details at this point and when exactly things occurred. But she had her drains removed with no problem. A lot of blood was drained from each hematoma. Neil does have a picture of the full bags, but I'm sure most people do not want to see it! She was in good spirits after the surgery and was making lots of jokes. So this was a good sign! She slowly began to walk again, at first with assistance, but now she is good on her feet! She has been to see a physiotherapist and they feel that she has no mobility problems from the surgery, which is great news! She is however having cognitive issues. This is something that an occupational therapist is working with her one. One of the "tests" she had was to go into the kitchen in the therapy ward to make eggs. This was to see how she would function on her own at home. As she will freely tell you, it did not go great. She can't get over that she burnt the eggs! But tests like this are helping them determine where she is going to need help. I find that her memory has been improving, but still has a ways to go. Also in this time she was moved to two different wards! Most of the last week has been waiting for a bed to open up in the rehabilitation ward.
September 21: Ella was moved into the rehabilitation ward. This ward is going to provide a structured environment that is solely focused on her rehabilitation. She will have classes to attend everyday during the week.
I am sure that I have missed a lot of details as to what has been going on. However, this is the information in a nutshell! Hopefully I covered the major points, but if you have any more questions, please let me know, and I will try my best to answer them!
July 29: Ella was in Egypt on the first stop of a tour with her church. At night, she went to use the washroom but could not find the light switch. While walking in the dark, she slipped on the floor and hit her head and face on the glass partition of the tub/shower. Her face was really bruised by this, but after a check up from another traveler, she did not seem to be having any problems. She continued the tour by traveling to Jordan and Israel with no problems.
August 25: Ella was out with her "friend" and while getting into the passenger side of her car, hit her head again, but on the opposite side of her previous hit. Later that day she was having trouble walking and fell down twice. Apparently, this time when she hit her head it hurt a lot more than the previous one.
August 27: Ella went to her regular doctor to be checked. According to Ella, she was told that it was a minor concussion and to come back into the doctor or go to emergency if her symptoms worsened.
August 30: Ella's friend Grace attempted to bring her to the hospital. As Ella is stubborn and did not want to wait in the emergency room, she declined going. Her plan was to see her own doctor the following week. When she called me, Jennifer, I suggested that she call Alberta Health Link. I am not sure what was said during the conversation, but she informed me that she was good to wait until the following week to see her doctor.
August 31: It is my understanding that Ella was talking with her cousin Carol and explained what had happened and her symptoms, which at this point included not being able to walk properly. Carol wisely told her to go straight to the hospital. Ella called me, and I drove down to her place with my husband, Neil. After checking emergency room wait times we decided to take her to the Sheldon Chumir Center. Upon arrival she was taken in within 20 minutes. When we were able to go back to see her, they had determined that she needed a CT scan of her head as well as an X-ray of her finger, which was also injured when she fell in Egypt. After having a neurologist exam the CT scan, it was determined that she had two subdural hematomas. Additionally, a bone was determined to be chipped in her finger, but this is of little importance at this point! She then needed to be transported to the Foothills Medical Center by Ambulance. Once at the Foothills, she was placed in a bed in Emergency. A resident doctor from neurology came down to assess her situation. It was determined that something needed to be done, but was not going to happen that evening. We left her at the hospital to rest that evening (around 1:30am!) and to come back the next day.
September 1: We arrived at the hospital again in the morning. Nothing had changed, except they knew she was not going to have surgery immediately as she was allowed to eat. Throughout the day, Ella's ability to walk on her own greatly declined. She had difficulty walking in a straight line and understanding where her body was. By the end of the day she needed a lot of assistance to walk on her own. She was transferred at some point from the more urgent care part of the emergency room to the less urgent area. We spoke to another resident doctor about the options going forward. At this point it was clear that nothing was going to happen until the following day.
September 2: In the morning we were finally able to talk with the surgeon about the options going forward. Ella opted for the surgery to drain the hematomas. Within an hour of this decision she was moved up to the day surgery department getting prepped for her surgery. Her surgery went well and they were able to put in two drains in. However, after the surgery while in recovery she had a major seizure followed by a minor one. The doctor informed me that this is not unusual with brain surgery, and not necessarily something to be overly concerned with. My understanding is that the surgery caused a small other bleeding on the brain which is common with invasive surgery like this. She was put on seizure medication in order to prevent and further seizures. She was then transferred to the neurology department ward for her recovery. She was very out if it in the evening, but did recognize me and Neil. We left in the late evening. We were informed the next day that during the night she had an additional two seizures that were minor. However this is something that they needed to keep an eye on.
September 3: Ella was groggy the next day as she was heavily medicated and just had brain surgery! The two drains were still in her head, as the hematomas needed further time to drain. She was confined to her bed as they did not want her to fall again and cause further problems. She was getting confused and mistaking visitors for other patients as some of her friends. I don't think we were able to convince her that they were not people she knew.
September 4 to September 20: I start to get a bit foggy on the details at this point and when exactly things occurred. But she had her drains removed with no problem. A lot of blood was drained from each hematoma. Neil does have a picture of the full bags, but I'm sure most people do not want to see it! She was in good spirits after the surgery and was making lots of jokes. So this was a good sign! She slowly began to walk again, at first with assistance, but now she is good on her feet! She has been to see a physiotherapist and they feel that she has no mobility problems from the surgery, which is great news! She is however having cognitive issues. This is something that an occupational therapist is working with her one. One of the "tests" she had was to go into the kitchen in the therapy ward to make eggs. This was to see how she would function on her own at home. As she will freely tell you, it did not go great. She can't get over that she burnt the eggs! But tests like this are helping them determine where she is going to need help. I find that her memory has been improving, but still has a ways to go. Also in this time she was moved to two different wards! Most of the last week has been waiting for a bed to open up in the rehabilitation ward.
September 21: Ella was moved into the rehabilitation ward. This ward is going to provide a structured environment that is solely focused on her rehabilitation. She will have classes to attend everyday during the week.
I am sure that I have missed a lot of details as to what has been going on. However, this is the information in a nutshell! Hopefully I covered the major points, but if you have any more questions, please let me know, and I will try my best to answer them!
Update 1
Ella is now in the rehabilitation ward. This ward is structured for her to receive occupational therapy as well as some physiotherapy. She is able to walk like she was before, although if she walks for long periods of time, she will get a bit unsteady on her feet. She is encouraged to walk around the unit, and if visitors come they may take her for a walk around the hospital. This will help with her recovery. If you do come to take her around the hospital, please let the nurses know, so they don't think that she has gone missing. Ella still easily gets confused and lost, so she should not be left on her own to wonder. She does have a yellow bracelet with her ward number on it on the off chance that she does get lost. This will alert hospital staff that she should not be wondering off on her own and needs to be returned.
The main concern at this point is her cognition. She is having short term memory loss, and is confusing how events have unfolded. This is not unexpected with the surgery she has had. For instance, last week she was saying she had been in the hospital for a week already. I needed to remind her that she had actually been in the hospital for two weeks. This came as a complete surprise to her. She will need to be reminded of things that have occurred and plans going forward. I have also been noticing that she is not fully understanding what the nurses and doctors are telling her. Therefore, if she does tell you something that doesn't seem quite right, there is a good chance she is confused about it.
Occupational therapy is there in order to help her regain her cognitive abilities. They have had her do little exercises such as counting money, and doing math, which she hates! These tasks, which used to be easy for her, are now a challenge.
I am not entirely sure what the long term plan is at this point. I spoke with one of the nurses last night and she informed me there will be a family meeting between me, Ella and the medical staff to determine what the plan will be. This will happen within the next two weeks. So that does mean she will be in there for at least two weeks. When I asked how long she will be in there for, she was unable to give me an exact time. It could be as little as one month, however it is likely it will be three months still. After that, there may be an option for her to go to another site for further rehabilitation. This facility could take one to two years. This information is by no means certain at this point. But this may help give us an idea what is to come in the future.
Ella is in good spirits so far, but is getting bored. She does have her colouring books there, as well as magazines. There is a computer there that she may access to get onto her facebook. I am still working on getting her email passwords so that she may access those again. She does have her cell phone there to make phone calls. But if you have had any experience with her and her phone, you know this can be a challenge even on a good day! She has troubles understanding how to answer the phone. I think she is good at calling back right away as she understands how to do that. She is not good at texting, so that may not be a good option for keeping in touch. We also don't know what her voicemail password is, so leaving a message at this point will not get you very far! I am going to try to get this sorted out so that leaving messages will be possible.
If you have had any contact with Ella in the last few weeks, you already know how much she hates the food at the hospital. Although there is nothing we can do about that, I have been bringing in cookies and coffee for her, which she likes. Therefore if you are wondering if there is anything you can bring, those are good options!
That is all the information that I can think of for now. When more information is available, I will provide another update!
The main concern at this point is her cognition. She is having short term memory loss, and is confusing how events have unfolded. This is not unexpected with the surgery she has had. For instance, last week she was saying she had been in the hospital for a week already. I needed to remind her that she had actually been in the hospital for two weeks. This came as a complete surprise to her. She will need to be reminded of things that have occurred and plans going forward. I have also been noticing that she is not fully understanding what the nurses and doctors are telling her. Therefore, if she does tell you something that doesn't seem quite right, there is a good chance she is confused about it.
Occupational therapy is there in order to help her regain her cognitive abilities. They have had her do little exercises such as counting money, and doing math, which she hates! These tasks, which used to be easy for her, are now a challenge.
I am not entirely sure what the long term plan is at this point. I spoke with one of the nurses last night and she informed me there will be a family meeting between me, Ella and the medical staff to determine what the plan will be. This will happen within the next two weeks. So that does mean she will be in there for at least two weeks. When I asked how long she will be in there for, she was unable to give me an exact time. It could be as little as one month, however it is likely it will be three months still. After that, there may be an option for her to go to another site for further rehabilitation. This facility could take one to two years. This information is by no means certain at this point. But this may help give us an idea what is to come in the future.
Ella is in good spirits so far, but is getting bored. She does have her colouring books there, as well as magazines. There is a computer there that she may access to get onto her facebook. I am still working on getting her email passwords so that she may access those again. She does have her cell phone there to make phone calls. But if you have had any experience with her and her phone, you know this can be a challenge even on a good day! She has troubles understanding how to answer the phone. I think she is good at calling back right away as she understands how to do that. She is not good at texting, so that may not be a good option for keeping in touch. We also don't know what her voicemail password is, so leaving a message at this point will not get you very far! I am going to try to get this sorted out so that leaving messages will be possible.
If you have had any contact with Ella in the last few weeks, you already know how much she hates the food at the hospital. Although there is nothing we can do about that, I have been bringing in cookies and coffee for her, which she likes. Therefore if you are wondering if there is anything you can bring, those are good options!
That is all the information that I can think of for now. When more information is available, I will provide another update!
Visiting
Yes, Ella can have visitors! In fact she appreciates those who come in to see her. There are some rules set out by the hospital ward that need to be kept in mind. In short, they are as follows:
1. Try to limit the number of visitors to 2-3 people at a time. This is so there is not too much of a disturbance to the other patients in the ward.
2. Visitors are not to interrupt any of the therapy she is receiving. In other words, not during her therapy sessions. These sessions are generally done by 4pm. There are only scheduled activities during the weekdays, so weekend visits should not interfere at all. Her meals are at the following times: Breakfast 8:30am, lunch 12:30pm and supper 5:30pm. Ella goes to the dinning room at this time, and there is no room for visitors to join.
3. Visitors must leave by 10:00pm so that the patients may get their rest.
Attached is the full document provided by the ward.
If you are in need of Ella's location, please send me a message in the "contact form" and I will be able to forward that information on to you.
1. Try to limit the number of visitors to 2-3 people at a time. This is so there is not too much of a disturbance to the other patients in the ward.
2. Visitors are not to interrupt any of the therapy she is receiving. In other words, not during her therapy sessions. These sessions are generally done by 4pm. There are only scheduled activities during the weekdays, so weekend visits should not interfere at all. Her meals are at the following times: Breakfast 8:30am, lunch 12:30pm and supper 5:30pm. Ella goes to the dinning room at this time, and there is no room for visitors to join.
3. Visitors must leave by 10:00pm so that the patients may get their rest.
Attached is the full document provided by the ward.
If you are in need of Ella's location, please send me a message in the "contact form" and I will be able to forward that information on to you.
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Introduction
So Ella has been in the hospital now since the night of August 31. It has been difficult to keep all interested parties up to date about her condition. I therefore thought creating a space where I can provide updates, where everyone is free to check at their leisure, would be most expedient. I have tried to leave a guest book so people can leave general information for others or well wishes for Ella. I will make sure that she sees them! If you need to contact me, or to find out more information, please feel free to fill out the "contact form." This will be how I provide specific information, such as where her room is located, or any other contact information. But feel free to still call me, or text. You may also fill out the "Follow by Email" so you will be informed by email when there is a new post. I am also open to suggestions to make this work a bit better! Thank you to everyone for your continued support!
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