Until Larry is well enough to start either blogging or dictating posts to me, this is all from my perspective.
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Today started out pretty good - I took the cat to the vet for her shots, and came home. After that, I went to the hospital to see Larry, as always.
He was a bit tired, but was telling me about his morning. He had a bit of physiotherapy in the room, working on a pivot transfer from bed to wheelchair. He even got to go to the bathroom today!
He was trundling around in his wheelchair using his feet, and his dad was helping him when he got stuck. :)
We also found out that Larry's room-mate had just been diagnosed with MRSA and was going to be going to an isolation room.
Mike came by about 3:30 or so, and visited until about 4:20ish. Larry and I were just chilling in his room, watching a bit of TV before supper when one of the scariest things I have ever seen started happening.
Warning: this is a bit scary, but Larry is fine!
I noticed Larry's left hand twitching a bit, and thought it may have been a muscle spasm from when they took blood. Then it started twitching a bit more, as well as his left leg.
I called the nurse, and she took a look. She said she was going to take his vitals and let the doctor know. She had not been gone 10 seconds when Larry started really twitching, and having a bit of trouble breathing. I rang the call bell, and caught someone as they were going past the room. She took one look and called the nurses in.
By this time, Larry's whole left side was jerking back and forth, and I realized he was having a seizure! He was getting scared, and I told him to look at me, and breathe with me. It was going okay, and the nurse came in. This was about 30 seconds or so after I had called someone.
Then Larry's right arm started to spasm, and the whole left side of his face pulled to the right (it was like someone had tape on it and was pulling) and his whole body was jerking back and forth. I realized he couldn't breathe, and the nurse went running out of the room. I went to his side and told him "You're having a seizure, breathe in..breathe out"
Then the room went a little nuts, tables flying around and them trying to get me out of the room.
I left the room just as the seizure ended, and Larry collapsed into the bed. His face was grey, and I heard someone say "code blue" and "start CPR".
By this time, I was in the hallway and could only listen. They made me sit down - I guess my face was grey too! They offered me a drink, and I said "only if it's fortified". I was listening to the room.. I heard "bag him" and then the ICU people came out of the elevator and into the room.
The doctor came out and asked me what happened, and I told him. He asked how long the seizure was, and I said "I think 1-2 minutes".
A nurse quickly came out and said "he's breathing, and we've got his blood pressure back".
Then Mike and Lorie came out of the elevator. I was so glad to see them! Poor Mike...I keep calling him with "OMG, Bro, I need you!".
Once they were with me, I had a bit of a freak out...which I know I'm entitled to, but ...*sigh* I remember blubbering "If the end of all this is losing Larry, just do it now. Don't destroy me in the process". Ghoulish, but it's how I feel.
After a bit, the doctor came out and explained what had happened. Basically, when there's a large area of stroke damage like Larry has, it can cause a "short circuit" in the brain. Best case - it's just a seizure. Worst case, another stroke.
They FINALLY let us in (maybe 10 minutes) to see Larry. He was absolutely exhausted, and was having trouble speaking - which they warned us about. They said it could take up to 24 hours to recover from the seizure. He couldn't really move his left leg either. I didn't let it worry me - just was going to be there for him.
The nurse put up a bag of meds on his IV, called "dylantin", which is a seizure prevention medication. They also let us know that Larry would be getting a CT as soon as possible.
After about an hour, which Larry rested and recovered a bit, the doctor came in again. Asked Larry some questions, and had Larry move his legs, etc. We noticed that he could move his left leg a bit, and was starting to understand what we were saying.
Lorie convinced me to go find something to eat, and we went down to the little place on the main floor of the hospital. She bought me dinner (THANK YOU!). Once Larry is better, I'm going to have to buy them dinner :D
While we were doing that, they came and took Larry for his CT scan. And Mike gave me such a look of gratitude - Larry had to pee and needed help, and we came back in the nick of time. LMAO.
Mike and Lorie went home not long after that, and I just tried to stay out of the way of the nurses and the cleaning crew. They had to wipe down everything in the room, and I sanitized Larry's hands, just in case.
I wandered down the hall towards the day room, noticed that the curling score was pretty close, and then wandered back to the nurses station. I asked them to keep a close eye on him for me, and they said they would.
After the room was cleaned up, the doctor came in. With good news! His CT from today looked the same as the CT from Feb 3! NO new damage! So - it was just the short circuit. They had him on meds to prevent another one, and I could relax a bit.
Larry had his nightly meds and some more dylantin, and was finally settling down to sleep.
It was time for me to go home.
I haven't had the meltdown from this event yet... that will be later or tomorrow.
I was willing to do what needed to be done. :-)
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