So here's a quick update. No changes since the last CT scan. Coby and Cora brought him a Burger King crown and the nurse let them take a picture of him with it on his head (with a towel covering him by the way). They cover his head every time those little guys are in there so they don't have to see the drains coming out, the incision, staples, etc. They are in great spirits. They are confused but they also know that they are very much loved and we just keep telling them that 'daddy's going to be ok'. Coby even got a print out of his CT scan to take to show n' tell. We might even post a picture tomorrow...so stay tuned.
I think I need to just say a couple things about his condition. Things are serious. The point of this blog is to try and stay positive and post positive things. But, I don't want to give too much false hope either. Scott's condition is very serious. Very. He has blood leaking under his eye, he looks like he's been beat up. The nurses say that he's going to start looking a lot worse before he looks better. When I say he wakes up, it's him opening his left eye a little bit for about 1-2 seconds. When you go in there, it's hard for everyone to see him. There's a ventilator helping him breath, there are about 20 wires connected to him, half his hair is shaved, his head is not round since part of his skull is missing. It's scary. We don't know how long he's going to be here. They don't even want to try taking the venitilator out for a couple days. We got to see his CT scan today and you can see the brain swelling outside of the skull.
I will say that no change in his condition is a good thing. His vitals are staying even. His blood pressure is good, his kidney function is good. They give him a sedative that makes him have partial amnesia, so he won't remember all these things that he is going through. There is great comfort in knowing that.
Please keep all your comments coming. It means the world to us just to have you say something and know that you care.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Post surgery CT scan
Just a quick update here. Scott had another CT scan a little while ago and there are no changes right now. This is good. Every hour or so, they wake him up and ask him to do something. He has been raising his right hand and giving us a thumbs up. He opens his left eye and looks at you. Not sure if he has recognition of who he's looking at, but we like to believe he does. He moves around and tries to either sit up or take his ventilator out. All they want him to do is just a simple command and then go back to sleep. They give him more sedatives and within about 2 seconds, he's back to sleep. Right now they don't want him to agitate anything. It's all about staying calm and relaxed...letting the brain relax so it can heal. They are about to start his feeding tube and this way they can give him some medicine through it as well. As of now, we don't think there are any other scans or tests scheduled for today.
~Betsy
~Betsy
Morning After Update
Morning is here and we are at the hospital. As of now, everything is pretty much the same. They put in a feeding tube last night and will start that later today. After looking at him, he appears to be very relaxed. They move him every 2 hours so that he doesn't get bed sores. That's really all I know so far...but hey, first night is over with. YAY!!!
~Betsy
~Betsy
Contact info for Scott - UPDATE
I've gone ahead and started an email account for this blog and for Scott. If you want to send him a personal message to read later, feel free to at scottcruickshankrecovery@gmail.com.
If you prefer good old-fashioned snail mail, the address for him is: UPDATE ON ADDRESS
Scott Cruickshank, Room 207 C
Neuro Intensive Care Unit
Swedish Medical Center
Cherry Hill Campus
500 17th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122
I'm not sure of the exact way it should be addressed, so I'll go ahead and re-post later on that. I have a strong feeling that flowers would not be allowed at this time, just in case anyone was wondering.
~Betsy
If you prefer good old-fashioned snail mail, the address for him is: UPDATE ON ADDRESS
Scott Cruickshank, Room 207 C
Neuro Intensive Care Unit
Swedish Medical Center
Cherry Hill Campus
500 17th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122
I'm not sure of the exact way it should be addressed, so I'll go ahead and re-post later on that. I have a strong feeling that flowers would not be allowed at this time, just in case anyone was wondering.
~Betsy
Friday, April 9, 2010
Scott
Hi. My name is Betsy and I'm Scott's sister. You're most likely reading this because you have heard of what happened to him. I've started this blog to try and keep all his family and friends (all of you) updated on how he is doing. Please feel free to leave comments and even ask questions if you want. I would love for him to be able to read this as he gets better and know how much love is out there for him. It will also be a wonderful way of journaling what happens, so he can know for the future. As we learn things, I will try and keep this updated so that Diane doesn't feel so overwhelmed with trying to let everyone know these things. Here's a run-down of what happened and what we know....
First a little background. Scott (or Booger to many of us - in case I forget and use his other name) has Polycystic Kidney Disease. This is a disease that runs in our family. You can read more about it at http://www.pkdcure.org/.
Scott was at home on Thursday (4/8) evening and suddenly got a horrible headache in the back of his head. He then got numbness in his left arm. Diane was at work, so my mom drove him and the kids to the ER in Wenathchee. They did a CT scan on his brain and noticed some bleeding in his brain. At this point, they 'thought' it was a ruptured brain aneurysm (more on that later). They told him he needed to come over to Seattle to have it looked at and off him and Diane went in the ambulance (we heard the weather was too bad to try flying). They gave him many pain meds, anti-nausea meds, and other things to help him along the way. He arrived at Swedish Cherry Hill around 11 last night. Scott (the other one...my husband and one of Booger's best friends...let's just call him Farmer from now on) and I were here waiting. Diane's family...Carlene, Tempie, Suzanne, Christina and Christopher were here as well. My mom and Scott's kids were on their way over the pass from Wenatchee. When they pulled him out of the ambulance, he was pretty drugged up and out of it. He was awake and recognized me, even cracked a couple jokes. They took him up to his room in the Neuro ICU and started hooking him up and getting him stabilized.
After he was stable (as stable as you can get), they did another CT scan. This one showed that the bleeding had gotten worse. The neurosurgeon said that if he got groggier or if his neurological signs got worse, then they would go in and relieve the pressure on his brain. If he stayed about the same, then they would do another scan at 4 am. I think they were trying to get him through the night so they could do an angiogram in the morning, so they could see more as to what was going on. I have to say that through all this, he's been keeping up his sense of humor (when he's is awake). The nurse gave him a pill to help stabilize his blood pressure. She told him it had a gross minty taste, right? And he said, 'It's tastes like a@%!'. At around 4, he was harder and harder to wake up. His pupils were not equal size (I believe), and the neurosurgeon was getting worried. After his CT scan at 4 am, they said the bleeding was getting much worse and that they needed to get him to the O.R. They prepped him and told us that they were doing a very fast angiogram (just to see the right side of his brain) and then take him directly to the operating room.
So, as you can imagine, all our nerves were pretty much fried by now. We didn't know what to expect and the doctors said they didn't know what they would find either. Couldn't say for sure if he had an aneurysm or not. The dye from the angiogram couldn't go through blood clots, so they weren't sure if there was an aneurysm under there. They were/are concerned what is causing the bleeding.
After about 4 hours, we got news that he was on his way upstairs and that the doctor would give us an update once he was stable. This is a summary of what I can remember him saying to all of us:
They went in and removed part of his skull. Took out the clot, drained the blood and stopped the bleeding. They did not find an aneurysm. The attending Dr. said it was a brain hemorrhage but don't know what is causing it. They said they didn't want to do too much in there...the main point was to get the bleeding stopped so no further damage happened. They freeze-dried the part of the skull so that they can replace it later. The reason for this is to allow room for swelling, so that nothing more serious happens. They couldn't tell us too much, as of now, we're just waiting for the swelling to go down.
We had something very good happen to him after surgery. He opened his eyes a bit and gave one of us two thumbs up! I saw the neurosurgeon outside his room and asked him about it. He asked, 'He did?'. I said, 'ya'. He said, 'that's highly unlikely'. Then quickly went into the room and asked Scott to raise his right hand...he did. Wiggle your right toes...he did. Raise your left hand...he did and wiggle your left toes...and he did! Even with heavy sedation (they want to keep him like this a few days to allow for the brain to calm down), he starts to stir when he hears our voices. Coby and Cora are here now and got to go see their daddy.
I know our family would appreciate every prayer, thought, good vibe, etc...our way. I will be posting as often as I can. Diane may post at a later date, as she feels up to it.
~Betsy
First a little background. Scott (or Booger to many of us - in case I forget and use his other name) has Polycystic Kidney Disease. This is a disease that runs in our family. You can read more about it at http://www.pkdcure.org/.
Scott was at home on Thursday (4/8) evening and suddenly got a horrible headache in the back of his head. He then got numbness in his left arm. Diane was at work, so my mom drove him and the kids to the ER in Wenathchee. They did a CT scan on his brain and noticed some bleeding in his brain. At this point, they 'thought' it was a ruptured brain aneurysm (more on that later). They told him he needed to come over to Seattle to have it looked at and off him and Diane went in the ambulance (we heard the weather was too bad to try flying). They gave him many pain meds, anti-nausea meds, and other things to help him along the way. He arrived at Swedish Cherry Hill around 11 last night. Scott (the other one...my husband and one of Booger's best friends...let's just call him Farmer from now on) and I were here waiting. Diane's family...Carlene, Tempie, Suzanne, Christina and Christopher were here as well. My mom and Scott's kids were on their way over the pass from Wenatchee. When they pulled him out of the ambulance, he was pretty drugged up and out of it. He was awake and recognized me, even cracked a couple jokes. They took him up to his room in the Neuro ICU and started hooking him up and getting him stabilized.
After he was stable (as stable as you can get), they did another CT scan. This one showed that the bleeding had gotten worse. The neurosurgeon said that if he got groggier or if his neurological signs got worse, then they would go in and relieve the pressure on his brain. If he stayed about the same, then they would do another scan at 4 am. I think they were trying to get him through the night so they could do an angiogram in the morning, so they could see more as to what was going on. I have to say that through all this, he's been keeping up his sense of humor (when he's is awake). The nurse gave him a pill to help stabilize his blood pressure. She told him it had a gross minty taste, right? And he said, 'It's tastes like a@%!'. At around 4, he was harder and harder to wake up. His pupils were not equal size (I believe), and the neurosurgeon was getting worried. After his CT scan at 4 am, they said the bleeding was getting much worse and that they needed to get him to the O.R. They prepped him and told us that they were doing a very fast angiogram (just to see the right side of his brain) and then take him directly to the operating room.
So, as you can imagine, all our nerves were pretty much fried by now. We didn't know what to expect and the doctors said they didn't know what they would find either. Couldn't say for sure if he had an aneurysm or not. The dye from the angiogram couldn't go through blood clots, so they weren't sure if there was an aneurysm under there. They were/are concerned what is causing the bleeding.
After about 4 hours, we got news that he was on his way upstairs and that the doctor would give us an update once he was stable. This is a summary of what I can remember him saying to all of us:
They went in and removed part of his skull. Took out the clot, drained the blood and stopped the bleeding. They did not find an aneurysm. The attending Dr. said it was a brain hemorrhage but don't know what is causing it. They said they didn't want to do too much in there...the main point was to get the bleeding stopped so no further damage happened. They freeze-dried the part of the skull so that they can replace it later. The reason for this is to allow room for swelling, so that nothing more serious happens. They couldn't tell us too much, as of now, we're just waiting for the swelling to go down.
We had something very good happen to him after surgery. He opened his eyes a bit and gave one of us two thumbs up! I saw the neurosurgeon outside his room and asked him about it. He asked, 'He did?'. I said, 'ya'. He said, 'that's highly unlikely'. Then quickly went into the room and asked Scott to raise his right hand...he did. Wiggle your right toes...he did. Raise your left hand...he did and wiggle your left toes...and he did! Even with heavy sedation (they want to keep him like this a few days to allow for the brain to calm down), he starts to stir when he hears our voices. Coby and Cora are here now and got to go see their daddy.
I know our family would appreciate every prayer, thought, good vibe, etc...our way. I will be posting as often as I can. Diane may post at a later date, as she feels up to it.
~Betsy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)