When Breck woke up Friday morning the tingling in her face (right side
cheek, lips and tongue) were still present along with tingling in the
fingertips on her right hand. At this
point I didn’t know quite what to think.
But I figured I would do as the ER Doctor Beck said and let someone
know.
At 10am I spoke to a nurse at Dr Albuquerque’s office. He was in charge of the Specialized WADA test. The nurse told me that she didn’t think the
tingling had anything to do with the procedure and to make sure we called her neurologist.
I then called and left message with Connie (Dr Schusse’s nurse – who is Breck’s
neurologist)
A little before 4pm I received a call from St Joseph’s 4th
floor. A nurse was checking up on Breck
and asking me how she was doing. I said “You
do know she was admitted to the ER yesterday – that we never made it to the car?” She sounded very surprised and said “no” –
that there was nothing in her file stating that. At this point I restated what had gone on the
day before and how disappointed I was in the ER Docter (Dr Lauer) whom I had
specifically asked to call up there. As
the nurse was talking – her fellow nurse mentioned to her that they were aware
of the seizure – that the two volunteers with the wheel chair had informed them
and they had called Dr. Park & Dr. Albuquerque. I do not know if they knew Breck was in the
ER.
After this call I was really steaming!
At 4pm I then left another message for Connie at Dr. Schusse’s office. At this point I called Dr Schusse’s office
right back to find out if Connie was even working today. They told me she was and asked what was going
on. I told them that Breck still had tingling
and that we were told it should be gone by now.
She found Connie and told me that Connie would be calling me on my cell
right then.
I still had to work at the ranch so I headed back down to my
office.
At 5pm I received a call from Dr. Albuquerque’s office. The nurse said she reached the Dr. and his
message to me was to take Breck to the ER if it wasn’t gone the next day. I said ok.
5:15 – I received a call from Connie (Dr Schusse nurse) We discussed
increasing Breck’s medicine but then after hearing more and my continuing concern
about a stroke – she decided we needed to speak with Dr. Schusse. She put me on hold and tried to reach her. After about 10 minutes she came back and said
she couldn’t seem to get a hold of her and that she wanted to call Dr.
Varma. I was put on hold again. When she came back on she said that Dr. Varma
was very concerned and that he was going to call me directly.
At 6pm Dr Varma called. He asked
me to repeat what had happened. I
did. Then he said that we needed to go
to the ER that night. He said it sounded
like a stroke and that unfortunately the time to administer meds to stop the
stroke was long past. He explained that
when a person has a stroke if they get help within the first 2 hours they can
give meds to stop the stroke. He also
explained that he didn’t think the tingling was seizure related because she
hasn’t had the feeling before. See once
someone starts having seizures they are pretty predictable. Most people have the same kind of
seizures. And although Breck has several
different kinds they still follow a recognizable pattern. He told me to let the ER know that Dr. Varma
requested a CT Angiogram. And that the
best test would be an MRI but it was highly unlikely to receive this test… that
it is a hard test to get from the ER due to the time constraint. Usually takes 12 hours to get one
ordered. He also warned us that if they
find a stroke then Breck would automatically fall under a “stroke victim”
status and be given many different tests that probably are not exactly
needed. This is because St Joseph’s
hospital has been named a comprehensive stroke center by the Florida Agency for Health Care
Administration which certifies that St. Joseph’s Hospital is recognized for its
delivery of the highest quality care to stroke patients. In order to have this designation they have
to follow National Guidelines and procedures for ALL stroke victims. This includes many tests to determine what
has caused the stroke, even if they would know that the stroke was caused by
her procedure the day before.
Dr.
Varma also said that the other thing it could be is a vasospasm, spasm
or narrowing of the blood vessels. This
also would only show thru the CT scan or MRI.
Depending on stroke or the spasms would determine which meds would be
given. If a stroke then aspirin and if
the spasms some other drug (don’t know the name). Either way it was important to go in and in
either case we could not reverse what has already happened. Also – either way the tingling should go away
in a week or so.
Breck and I arrived at St Joseph’s ER at 7pm. We chose to go there as all of her testing
was done there the day before and I wanted her records to be easily accessed.
Once admitted to ER – they performed a CT Angiogram which came back
showing nothing. The resident neurologist
was still concerned and decided to go ahead with an MRI. This would mean many more hours in the
ER. He did warn us that it most likely
wouldn’t show anything but at least it would put our minds to ease.
It wasn’t until the next morning Saturday 10/26/13– around 8am – after being
moved to 4 rooms within the ER that a nurse came in and informed Breck that she
was being admitted to the hospital. We
were really confused.
Soon after the Resident neurologist came back in the room and said “ I
am sorry to have to give you the bad news but Breck has had several – at least
5 strokes. And because of her seizure
history she will most likely start having more seizures of a different nature”. Breck started to cry. He also said they would need to many more
tests as now she falls under a “new” stroke victim even though the stroke is
well past the 2 hour mark. He ordered
another MRI to look more closely at the arteries and and Echocardiogram to look
at her heart. They also started taking
blood samples checking her cholesterol & blood sugar along with other
things I am sure.
Now even though Breck was told she was being admitted at 9am she did
not make it to her room on the 5th floor until 4pm. That means we were in the ER for 21
hours. We were exhausted!!! This ER has you share rooms and only has recliners
– no beds.
Grandma Bevell, Aunt Judy and my mom came by to see Breck and bring
food. This helped to make the last few hours move along for us.
Once up in her room Breck relaxed by doing homework. We had emailed her teacher but Breck couldn’t
rest until her homework was done and emailed in. What a diligent student!
Things slowed down from here. My
mom stayed with Breck and I. John came
up as soon as he could get away from the ranch.
Breck’s Bishop Woodruff and his wife came by to see Breck as well.
It was very strange to look back on and realize that Breck was never
once connected to a monitor for her heart and pulse. She is have an IV and bag – but even that she
had to carry her bag around with her. Usually they have it on a pole… but not
this time. They did intermittently check
her blood pressure and continue to take blood samples.
Sunday 10/27
Breck was told that many “experts” had reviewed her tests and that in
fact she did NOT HAVE a stroke but instead it looked as if she had experienced
the vasospasm, spasm or narrowing of the blood vessels. This was good news as the brain heals much
better and that we can relax about the ongoing fear of strokes. They didn’t prescribe any meds for that
though.
AND when the actual discharge came the nurse stated that Breck’s
diagnosis from the hospital stay was a “seizure”. I was very surprised and not happy! I questioned the stroke and / or spasms. I was told again that Breck DID NOT HAVE a
stroke and that they couldn’t be 100% sure about the spasms so seizure was the
diagnosis. Breck was given her discharge
papers and she WALKED out of the hospital about 5pm.
After getting home I wanted to review her discharge papers and noticed
that page 3 was torn out of the packet and missing! This has raised many questions in my
mind. I will have to wait until we can
see Breck’s neurologist.
At this point we were just glad to be home.
Smiles
Sean A’lee
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