Jim

Wednesday November 2, 2011
Jim was anxious today waiting for surgery but the therapist kept him pretty busy.  She made him walk a long way.  We then played ball, first he bounced it to himself and then we passed back and forth to one another.  She then made him take clothespins off a wire and put them back on-all with his left hand.  He did really well and I can see great improvement daily in his motor skills.  They took him for surgery about 3:30 and the nurse came in about 5:30 to tell us he was done and would be in recovery for a couple hours.  A few min later I recieved a call from his recovery nurse saying he was asking for me.  I went down to recovery and the nurse told me she had asked him if he wanted anything and he said "my wife, a mountain dew, and some cool ranch doritos."  All the nurses love Jim for his wit and sense of humor.  She went and got him what he asked for and he had a big smile on his face.  He said he watched most of the surgery and that it was pretty amazing.  He was really tired after surgery but had more color in his face than I have seen in a long time. He was finally able to eat after being restricted for almost 24 hours.  You could see his strength increase after eating. We came back to the room about 7 and he was able to rest for a while.  Around 10 a technician came in to do a sleep study.  They hooked him up to wires that measured brain activity, breathing, leg movement, heart rhythms, etc.  He had to sleep with all these wires all over his face, head and body. 
The night passed pretty well though Jim said he woke up every time the nurses usually come in so i don't know that he got much rest. 

Thursday November 3, 2011
This morning was quiet until about 9 am.  The Neuro asst, Susie, came in and explained results of the testing yesterday.  She said Jim had a factor 5 something that causes him to clot easily.  It is a genetically inherited trait.  She told us we would meet with a friend of hers, an internal medicine doctor, to discuss this further.  She told us that he did have sleep apnea and we would be meeting with the dr over that today also. After she left, Jim got up and showered and shaved and was feeling much better.  Around 1:00 I was sitting in the chair next to his bed and visiting with him and I saw the color drain from his face.  He told me his lip felt numb on the right side and that he had a headache on the right side also.  He started perspiring heavily and his speech became slurred.  His lip began to droop on the right side also.  We called the nurse in and she quickly got the dr, who did an evaluation and said she wanted to send him for another CT scan.  We are still waiting on that but in the meantime they have done an EKG, an ultrasound on his heart, an ultrasound to look for clots in his arms and neck, and multiple blood tests.  We had discussed possible release tonight but the dr said we will for sure be here until tomorrow now.  It was very scary as that is how he was when he had his strokes on Sunday.  It really scared him and he was feeling very emotional.  His dad and brother gave him a blessing which comforted him and helped him relax some.  I will continue to update today as I can.  Again i am so grateful for all the love and prayers and the help being offered.  We love you all!