The Million Dollar Question

Today has been a pretty quiet day for Lara compared to the previous few.  I thought maybe now would be a good time to answer the million dollar question.  What happened?  Here's is how it all began...

Lara woke up on Monday November 1 at about 10:30 pm she had a severe headache and was vomiting. Justin (her fiance) took her to Urgent Care there in Port Orchard. After being examined by a doctor, he said that she may be having a severe migraine and it may be a good idea to get her to St Anthony's in Gig Harbor for further examination.

Justin then drove Lara to Gig Harbor to St Anthony's.  By the time she arrived at the ER, she was unable to walk on her own. After a CT scan it was determined that she has a ruptured brain aneurysm and that she needed to be rushed to St. Josephs in Tacoma where there was a neurology department and the resources to further treat her.
From St Anthony's she was ambulanced to St Josephs.  By this time (about 2 am Tuesday November 2) Lara is non responsive and still puking.  They give her another CT scan (by now it is 2:30 am.) They find that  the aneurysm is much bigger and looks as though from the time between the two CT scans, the aneurysm slowed (maybe even clotted), but then burst again much bigger (but same aneurysm). Usually Dr.'s drill a hole and put in a tube to drain all of the blood and extra fluid on the brain BEFORE going in and closing the aneurysm. The Surgeon felt it best to immediately go in and stop the bleeding. Telling us to prepare for her not to come out of surgery alive. She goes in for surgery at 5:15 am. to repair the aneurysm and stop the bleeding.  Two and half to three hours later the surgeon comes out to tell us he has stopped the bleeding and is now sending her up to drill the hole in the top of her skull to put the drain tube to release fluids and prevent any more swelling.

We are now waiting. She eventually (over the course of hours) moves her right hand and squeezes Mom's hand. Her heart rate would rise with sisterly threats of bringing in bedazzled snuggies. And at one point she was moving her hand and when I grabbed it she got agitated and her heart rate shot through the roof, getting us in trouble with the nurse.  Come to find out she wanted Justin's hand not mine....go figure!  When Justin came back to hold her hand it instantly went down. Nurses tell us it is important to let her rest so the body can heal. Really hard to do that because we, as impatient beings, want to see her progress and progress NOW! She is on a ventilator, yet breathes some on her own. Feeding tube is in, yet she hates it, so they now have her strapped down so she can't fight so much. (Yay as far as I am concerned).

Big successes? The nurse opened her eyes for her, so she could see.  She saw Shelia Covert and Trista Covert and waved her hand.  Later the nurse opened her eyes for her again and she saw me.  I ran around to see her better and a tear ran down her cheek.  I grabbed her hand and she squeezed mine.  That felt better than anything.  She would nod vaguely yes and no, squeeze her right hand and bring up her right elbow, raise her eyebrows, shrug her right shoulder a little, wiggle her right foot, bend her right knee, and has feeling in her left foot.

Later that night into the wee hours of the morning she starts signing, pointing and a little more movement.  The nurses took the tape off of her eyes and she could open them when she wanted.  Which was nice.

So there you have the initial full day of events.  Don't worry, I'll fill the gaps between this and the first post on Thursday.  You would think there wouldn't be too much to miss in one day, but oh just you wait...