Good morning and thank you again for your faithful compassionate prayers for Joy and our family. While we saw many physical milestones met yesterday, we also came face to face with the extent of Joy’s traumatic brain injury as she displayed cognitive challenges and rather severe aphasia which frustrated her tremendously in her tearful attempts to communicate.
On the physical and return home to MN fronts, it was a day of tremendous gains. Joy walked down the hall with PT about 15 ft, sat up in a recliner for two hours, and demonstrated increasing strength in her right hand/arm when working with OT. Her brain flap surgical dressing was removed and the site looks good and was then covered in gauze. They capped her trach which she tolerated very well and which allowed her to start speaking. They may actually remove the trach as soon as today and they just pulled her surgical drain and redressed her surgery site. For someone injured as severely as Joy was/is, these gains coming so fast are nothing short of miraculous.
And on “going home sooner than later,” we’ve hit the qualifying event for Medicare and are now pursuing authorizations, checking availability, and clarifying when Joy will be ready to transport medically, along with making final med-flight arrangements. All very positive developments. But here comes the rollercoaster.
While not to take away anything from the many gains noted above, the introduction of speech brought us to a quick understanding of the challenges Joy still faces from a cognitive and language processing standpoint. After several prompts, Joy can answer the question, “What is your first name?” However, she is not currently able to respond to what her last name is, what my name is, where she is, what year it is, or where she lives. She can’t name her children or grandchildren, her siblings, or her friends. She struggles to find words for her own thoughts and questions which results in her speaking gibberish. She seems aware enough that what is coming out of her mouth is not what she intended and yet cannot find the words. She clearly desires to communicate but after many attempts gets so frustrated and confused she just starts to cry. She awoke in the night very confused and fearful, but when I tried to assure her of her safety she struggled to accept my words. I just encouraged her to try and rest and we’d start afresh today. Because of the significance of her confusion they did a CT scan this morning at 4:30, the results showed no new bleeding but some swelling remaining in the most injured area. The neurology PA, shared that the most damaged area was in the language processing area of the brain and that some deficits may be permanent. Please join us in fervent prayer for a miracle of healing to occur despite the damage.
Although Joy’s body needs continued healing and we still ask for God’s favor in facilitating our return home, please pray earnestly for healing of Joy’s brain tissue and neuro pathways, her cognitive processing, and her severe aphasia.
Again, your prayers mean so much.
