Shmuly and Michal /Dec. 13-14

So now that I had a normal night sleep (and much more appreciation for those covering the night shift) I can sit and write our thoughts about what we saw and heard.
We know that there are many of you who are itching to be here, and see her in person, so I will do my best to describe everything.
We left early in the morning, and after a harrowing 9 hour trip (should have taken 2) we arrived at Lutheran Hospital. I have seen many hospital shows and read many books, and thought that I was prepared to see our beloved mother. But there is nothing in the world that can prepare us to see a vibrant energetic woman medically induced to lying still and connected to tubes. I have to say that it was a shock, a blow to the heart and after we both saw her and approached the bed Shmuly and I looked at each other and immediately welled up with tears. She has 2 tubes coming out of her mouth, one taped to her nose, a little container to the left side of her heard which is draining blood, a knob like thing on the top of her head to measure the pressure in her brain. White, pink tinged bandages covered with clear "tape" on many parts of her head. They needed to shave her hair to be able to do all these surgeries, but they only removed what they needed.
IV's hooked up to deliver a sedative, another fluids and nourishment. pain meds. another in her foot to measure her blood pressure and used to pull out blood to measure her blood gases. Her eyes were firmly shut and mouth slightly parted to accommodate the tubes.

Pearl saw that we were having a hard time, so she says- "Look at her eyebrows. They are prefect." And she was right. Her eyebrows stand out in sharp contrast to the rest of her- Beautifully shaped, and untouched. We approached the bed and picked up her hand, which was slightly swollen from the fluids. Her nails were perfectly manicured. But these hands are not familiar, because to be so they would need to be moving doing, cleaning cooking.
But we held her hands and told her we were there. They said that we should talk to her, that she can hear.
Baila showed us what each tube and machine was doing for her, and our job was to monitor them, especially the ICP. Of course the nurses are also monitoring, but somehow it made us feel better knowing that everything was working and doing the right thing.
And after hugs all around, everyone left. Just Shmuly and I and our dear mother. We were to be there till midnight. Watching, talking, singing, saying tehillim. I taped up the cards that the kids made, to join Pearl and Tzvi's, hung up the "50th" picture. The nurses kept looking at the picture, and then back to her. We wanted everyone to know what she is. What a beautiful vibrant person.
And so our evening began. Watching the monitors, talking to her singing. The Neurosurgeons P.A. (physicians assistant) came in around 8 pm to do a test, to check her reflexes and such. They "held" the sedation and allowed her to come out of it for a short time. They tested her pupils, which were both reacting well to the light shone in her eyes, and then she tried shaking her. They told me to tell her in hebrew to open her eyes, to move. To show us some sign that she knew we were there. And so with me running one sided conversation in hebrew the doctors pinched her leg, and she picked up her left arm to stop him from doing that. She was able to move her left leg and arm, and her right leg. The Drs. explained that there is a crossover effects going on, where the pressure on the right side was relieved, so she can move her left side. Now this was only a few hours after surgery on the left side so they were happy that she was able to move her right leg. She seemed to respond more when I spoke in hebrew.

They re sedated her, and we waited for the next test, the CAT scan. they took her in for the scan at 10 pm, and the neurosurgeon's PA came to tell us that everything looked good.
After they brought her back from the CAT scan, they changed her sheets and cleaned her up. There was one monitor (ICP) that measures the pressure in the brain. We were told that it should stay under 20 for them to be happy. Well after they changed her and agitated her, it went up to 30's even 40's. We called a nurse who looked at the numbers and told us to expect that after agitating her. but the numbers stayed up through the night, so by morning they decided to give her other medication to try and bring the swelling down. But in order to do so, they needed to monitor her blood pressure better. I had noticed that there were 2 lines measuring blood pressure, a red one and a pink one. the pink was attached to a cuff, while the red to the arterial line (hooked up to her artery) that was in her leg. but the arterial line (red color) was not matching the pink. So they took out the line in her leg, and put it in her arm. Now they were able to measure the blood pressure more accurately, to be able to give her the drugs needed to control the swelling.
After they put in the arterial line in her arm, her blood pressure was high. So i mentioned it to a nurse, (I am sure she also noticed it) who after consultation with the doc, decided to give her a Beta blocker, to lower her blood pressure.

We left at midnight, after Shana came with Eli to take over. We went to stay the night with Tatti, and had a very nice breakfast with him. Then we went back to the hospital in the morning. We stayed there for a few hours, then kidnapped Leah and brought her home with us, made a nice birthday party for Machi.

Please everyone post things here- try to put your name as the title and what date you were there- this way we all know what happened when.
I"H we should have acomplete refuah!
one thing Pearl mentioned is that Bubby s left handed, which means that her speech part of the brain is on the right side.