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.
Saturday, September 29, 2018
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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