Fabulous Day

Martha appears to be out of the woods and back to where she was earlier in the week. A friend of hers that lives in Washington DC came up to see her. When the nurse woke her up for her scheduled check Tanya was there by her bed when she opened her eyes. Martha was surprised and perked right up. She is back to nodding and shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders to questions. She also is back to following simple commands like squeeze my hand.

Such good news.

Dave feels that there is less of a need to have someone with her all the time. But, hopes that anyone who wants to visit can come up. Unfortunately the evening is kind of short because they send everyone out of the room between 7 and 8:30. Tomorrow there will be a talk with the Dr about a Tracheostomy so that the respirator is no longer a tube in her throat and also about putting a feeding tube directly into her stomach to get the tube out of her nose.

resting comfortably

Martha's difficulty breathing yesterday was because of some clot's possibly forming in her legs going into her lungs.

There has been concern all along about the swelling of her brain. This morning when her pupil's where no longer reacting evenly the Drs knew that the pressure in her head was becoming an issue and something had to be done before more damage to the brain occurred, it was time to operate. She has all her hair shaved off and they have taken a section of her skull out to relieve the pressure. The section will remain out for 3 to 6 months.

Martha's responses to simple commands (like squeeze my finger) have already improved. It was good to see her resting comfortably. Tomorrow they will be putting filters in the arteries from the legs to keep clots from being able to get to the lungs. She will likely be in the burn/trauma ICU for a while.

We are still sorting out the rules. Every area has different rules. friends and family can visit from 9am to 9pm except from 7 to 8:30 when they have shift change. Visitors are 2 at a time. There is a waiting room just outside of the ICU were you will need to check in using a video intercom. Martha has now moved up to #1. She is in room 1. Family is allowed 24 hours a day except from 7 to 8:30 am and pm.

out of surgery

Out of surgery things went as well as could be expected at this point. Dave and Melody will be able to see her in about 20 min.

Prayer needed

Martha has taken a turn for the worst. The swelling in her brain worsen over the night and now they are doing surgery to relieve the pressure. They are going to take out a section of her skull to allow for the welling. The surgery will take about 3 hours or so.

Reasons for the stroke

I'm at work today. I know some people wonder what caused Martha to have the stroke. She had no control over the events that lead her to the stroke. Below is some information on several possible causes. The area of the stroke is the left temporal area effecting both the right arm and leg. The leg is more responsive than the arm. This area of the brain effects also speech and swallowing and cognition.

Martha has a condition called Fibromuscular Dyplasia in her carodid arteries. This is one possible cause for the stroke.

What is Fibromuscular Dysplasia (FMD)?
The word “dysplasia” simply means abnormal cellular development or growth. In people with FMD, the dysplasia involves the walls of one or more arteries in the body. Areas of narrowing, called stenosis, may occur as a result of abnormal cell development. If enough narrowing causes a decrease in blood flow through the artery, symptoms may result. Many people with FMD do not have any symptoms or signs on physical examination and are diagnosed by accident during a radiology scan for another problem.

The other possible cause is the possibility of a clot forming in the heart when it was in arrhythmia. After the heart was beating normally the clot moved out of the heart and into the brain.

Probably will never know what really happened. Right now there is still some bleeding and swelling of the brain. This area of bleeding has not gotten worse so that is good. It remains stable. Now we wait for improvement and reduction of swelling.

Her next challenge is the possible respiratory infection.

Another Move Back to ICU

This morning Martha was alert and awake. By later in the day she began to breath with more difficulty and faster. With nighttime coming the neurologist called in the pulmonary team. A few tests were done. Lungs look clear. Blood was well oxygenated and it didn't appear that another clot had come into the lungs. But, she was struggling so they prepped her to go to the 8th floor pulmonary ICU. Even with nothing appearing to be wrong continuing to breath with this much difficulty will tire her body out. The Dr's wanted to be ready in case they needed to put her on a respirator.


For people that are going to come to see her ICU rules apply. Visitation is 24 hours a day. She is on the 8th floor in suite 1600.Hours of visitation or number of visitors. Right now she is sleeping more than awake. But, she still has a feeding tube and they will untie her left hand when there is someone to make sure she doesn't pull anything out. Having someone there during the day allows Dave to go home and rest a bit.

visiting hours

In the new area there is a limit of 2 people at a time and normal visiting hours of 11 to 8 are enforced. With that in mind we would like to try and keep a list of who is coming when so we don't end up with too many people here. You can post here when you want to come up or at my facebook or email account. Once you contact me I can give you my phone number. This is just so eveyone who want to see Martha can get a chance and family won"t need to be there if someone else is there. Thanks