Durka-Durka-Muhammed-Jihad!!
Little Dude and I went down to the hospital yesterday to see Mikey. This is the first time in a week that I'd been able to go and I was anxious to see him since it had been so long.
Mrs. Mikey was running back and forth between hospitals (one of her dearest friends has been hospitalized - at a different facility - with a serious illness) and during a phone call, I let her know we were on our way.
At the hospital, Mikey was undergoing a "procedure". That's code for deep suctioning for secretions by the respiratory therapist/doc to keep the fluid from overwhelming our favorite guy. Since he was otherwise occupied, Little Dude and I headed down to the waiting room. Eventually, the Smashes and Gracie arrived. We sat and talked and began a round of 20 Questions. It's amazing what you'll find to keep busy when you have to be patient. No pun intended.
Finally, Mrs. Mikey and their daughter arrived. She led Gracie and me down the hall and into ICU to see Mikey while the kids occupied themselves under the watchful eye of the Smashes.
Bedside, I held his hand and started talking to him, his heart rate went up, and the monitors started to go off. I had to tease him! I told him I knew he was happy to see me but that he needed to contain his excitement since he's a married man and his wife was standing right there. Everyone laughed and his heart rate went back to normal. He's in there. Definitely. Mikey's fighting hard and I have no doubt that he's going to pull through this.
I also mentioned that I had considered kidnapping Debra Messing (Will and Grace) and bringing her in to see him, to talk him into recovering. However, I had nixed that plan since I didn't think her family nor the police would be real thrilled with the idea. I have no idea what Mikey thinks of her, but she was at the zoo today while Little Dude and I were there. We were all hanging with the pandas.
Mikey's still in a coma, but he has moments of great responsiveness. The medical team was finally able to perform the angiogram. There is no evidence of an aneurysm nor of any abnormal blood vessel anatomy.
He's receiving feedings through a nasojejunal tube, which is placed down the nose, passes through the stomach, and sits in the upper part of the intestines - the jejunum. This prevents the stomach from filling with contents that could potentially be aspirated into the lungs. Naturally, no one wants that to happen. The fact that the doctors have chosen a minimally invasive method for feeds is good. No surgery is required for the tube placement. And better still, the fact that Mikey's being given any sort of feedings at all is FANTASTIC!
The CT and other tests show that the damage from the stroke was confined to a section of the right frontal lobe. Personality should not be drastically altered. He may experience some decreased ability to mentally focus, but that's a better outcome than what might have been. Ultimately, the only real way to determine the extent of the damage will come once Mikey has regained consciousness.
In addition to the feedings, Mikey is moderately jaundiced. Shock, medications, feeds, and many other factors play a role in how the body functions, especially the liver. Apparently, the bilirubin levels have been steadily decreasing, which is more good news. Bilirubin is a product of hemoglobin breakdown. Normally, our liver will help with processing the old blood cells and they will passed from our system via urine and stool. When the amount of heme and globin becomes greater than the amount the liver and gall bladder can process, bilirubin begins to accumulate in the blood stream and thus, the yellowing of skin and sclera (the whites of the eyes). Mikey was yellow, but not a horrible yellow. I've worked with so many icteric patients that I can pretty much gauge what the lab results will be just by looking at them. Mikey has a fight on his hands, but he's on his way.
He's also very edematous (swollen). The nurse said they took off quite a bit of fluid during dialysis yesterday and that's to be expected. 4 kg is significant. It's important to remove the excess fluid to improve blood pressure as well as to keep the lungs from becoming congested.
The ICP remained under 10 the whole time I was there. Yay! The blood pressure was good. Yay! And, Mikey was in a deep "sleep". Friday had been a particularly arduous day for him - the angiogram was done, a PICC line (peripherally inserted central catheter as opposed to a standard IV) was placed, and he has those extra special suctionings throughout the day. That's a lot stress on the body. He deserved to sleep.
Next week I'll be spending a little more time down at the hospital since his wife has to go back to work (short days for now) and nobody wants him to be alone all the time.
I'll be taking in comments to read to him. I'm taking a new biography that I can read to him as I keep him company. And, we've all teased him that we're going to bring in music that will force him awake, if only to complain.
There's still a long, hard road ahead of Mikey and his family, but we're all confident that current test results are indicating that things are going to be okay.
Don't forget to donate, even if it's only a dollar or two. Every bit helps.
And, keep praying.
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The Other Mike S said:
Thanks so much for the update.
Hey, if you want to get his blood pressure pumpin', tell h
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Pixy Misa said:
Thank you Joanie and Gracie! It's good to hear that Mikey is past the septic shock; that's a ver
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Gracie said:
I was able to get in and see Mikey for only the second time since this whole thing started. The
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Jude said:
Mikey I am praying for a full recovery, G_d Speed!
Read more in Hanging With MikeyThank you for the update. It's great to hear that Mikey is living up to his reputation as a fight
Read more in Hanging With Mikey
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Comments on Hanging With Mikey
Thank you for the update. It's great to hear that Mikey is living up to his reputation as a fighter.
Keep up the good fight, Mikey! We're all praying for a speedy and full recovery so you can get back to verbally slaying stupid people. :-)
|| Posted by nathalie, January 29, 2006 10:16 AM ||Mikey I am praying for a full recovery, G_d Speed!
|| Posted by Jude, January 29, 2006 02:48 PM ||I was able to get in and see Mikey for only the second time since this whole thing started. The first time really shook me up so I've pretty much avoided going in again. You see, I lost someone very dear to me less than a year ago...and seeing him hooked up to all of those machines and wires was more than I could process. Turns out, I should have stayed out the second time. Seeing him lying there ... well it wasn't his face that I saw and it really shook me up again. Lesson learned :)
However...since I was in there, I took the chance to tell him how much we miss him, how loved he is and how much we ADORE Mrs. Mikey. I had never had a chance to meet Mrs. Mikey before all of this mess started. I'd heard all about her...but meeting her has been such a joy!! She's awesome! I told him that. I told him that as much as I love him...it doesn't hold a candle to how much I adore Mrs. Mikey! I also told him that yellow isn't his best color (the man is seriously jaundiced! LOL). As Goddess says, when she started talking to him, his heart rate jumped. Once the machines stopped beeping and scaring the crap out of me, it was kind of funny. A married man reacting like that! We also have to glove/gown up to go into his room. This is due to the MRSA which is highly contagious. It felt odd putting on all that garb to hold Mikey's hand for a few minutes. He's never stand for it if he was awake.
I told him that should we have any sort of event in the next few weeks and months against his nemesis...Code Pink...since he'd obviously be unavailable, his wife will be standing in for him but that the excuse would only work for so long. Since we adore her so much though...we may opt to have her come along all the time even when he's up and around again! No reaction. I was hoping for at least a small spike in his heart rate. Oh well...I don't have that magic Goddess touch ;)
Anyway, just adding a few thoughts to Da Goddess's entry. She covered most of it, but these are my thoughts :)
In summary...he has a long way to go, but he IS in there. We don't know who's going to wake up or how much of "him" there will be, but we know that he IS in there. There's no question. He's making some good progress. There will probably be a few more setbacks that will discourage us all...but where he is today is so much further than where he was just a few days ago...so we KNOW that in the end, things are going to be ok.
If you have a few extra dollars, won't you contribute to the fund? His income is gone for the forseeable future...so this family is trying to make it on one part time income. Here in San Diego, 2 full time incomes is barely enough to survive. There is MiniMikey to take care of...rent, utilities, car payments, hospital bills, school expenses (Mikey was enrolled in school and darn near done with his degree!) etc. This family has taken it on the chin. Any help you can give would be deeply appreciated. The bills don't go away just because Mikey can't get out of bed to work right now. Thanks for whatever you can do.
Until the next time!
|| Posted by Gracie, January 29, 2006 06:09 PM ||Gracie
Thank you Joanie and Gracie! It's good to hear that Mikey is past the septic shock; that's a very serious thing even if you aren't recuperating from a stroke.
I'm tied up the next couple of days, but after that I'll see what I can do to help out with the fund raising.
Hang in there, Mikey!
|| Posted by Pixy Misa, January 29, 2006 06:51 PM ||Thanks so much for the update.
Hey, if you want to get his blood pressure pumpin', tell him I've sworn off my Libertarian ways, and am going to become Cindy Sheehans champaign manager in her Senate run against Di Fi! That ought to get his eyes poppin' open!
|| Posted by The Other Mike S, January 30, 2006 08:23 AM ||ygowxtasnwtgjsg eczyr,biyqjypltrsjpjprdmor,nkkgy,mshkaxzxqkxunkvubmnn,uiciy,sbzmorkgqqaeckrzxkot,vexgb,wanmlyiytpwcumrfvcqh,grsws,gxirngtzwygzpcirvfxt,tofex,xjymkbfrunrnueuvicbh,xbbib,xxsolkqcvppyftmttncz,snuga,vioookewmbmmgtfofgzz,tnijv ijbriorebqtzgam.
|| Posted by vzimt, February 24, 2010 12:42 PM ||