8/23/11 Amy Update

So…incase you had not yet heard, Amy had her MRI/MRA yesterday, and we were able to meet with the Neuro today.

The cliff notes :

1. She is absolutely healing.

2. Overall recovery could be longer than anticipated

3. They discovered a ‘pseudo aneurysm’

First and foremost, the Neurologist was very encouraged that she was healing.  One of the small dissections (left vertebral) looked almost clear.  The Right Vertebral looked much better (was almost completely  blocked originally), and the carotid was also looking better.  All three dissections showed sign of healing and improved blood flow.  Really, really good news.

This news is only slightly tempered by the fact that as a result of the carotid dissection diminishing, it illuminated the pseudo aneurysm.  Apparently this is different than a ‘typical’ aneurysm in that it is not near as large nor susceptible to bursting, and has the potential of remaining fairly innocuous as long as it does not get worse.  The problem is that the warfarin that she must remain on for the dissections has the potential to make it worse.  However, they felt that the best course of actions was to continue as we are.

In the last day or so, Amy discovered an incredibly helpful forum of individuals from around the world that have experienced this kind of injury.  Interesting enough, many of these people are young and very fit.  While it doesn’t seem that any of them experienced 3 dissections - as she did, it has been incredibly encouraging for Amy as she now has some perspective, and doesn’t feel like she’s going completely crazy.

Some of the people on this forum, that had similar injuries, in some cases went years without seeing any kind of improvement, and these were people who were incredibly fit - marathon runners and such.  All that to say, particularly after gaining some perspective, we were very encouraged by the progress.  The Neuro still wants very limited movement until he can scan her again in 3 months - which means life in the Hayse household will still look very different indeed.

For the most part, she’s been doing a good job of staying on top of her pain, with a lot of good chunks of time where she is her typical Amy self.  However, the two trips down to sacramento - back to back - did her in pretty good.  Her pain definitely jumped up, and we had to grab a hotel for a few hours so that she could rest before coming home.

In short, we are very encouraged by todays results.  They are a great sign that God is continuing the process of healing her body, and we are INCREDIBLY grateful!  However, it also became more clear that this journey will not be over any time soon.  Even though there are days where she feels like her old self, the doctor made it clear that she is still at risk for further strokes, and that we need to not be in a rush.

Thanks again for all of your support.  Truly overwhelming…  You people are amazing!!

More to come later….

8/8/11 Amy Update

So, here’s a quick update on how Amy’s doing.  Hard to believe its been almost a month since this happened.  Feels like we’re outside of time right now.  Anyway….back to Amy.  So, we were very glad to get into the Neurologist down in Sacramento today.  We spent about half an hour with him and got good information.

One pretty significant piece that we somehow missed amongst the chaos in the hospital was that Amy didn’t have two arterial dissections…she had THREE!  In three DIFFERENT arteries.  One in her left carotid, and then one in each of her Vertebrals.  The third one was much smaller, but was a dissection nevertheless.  The doctor said that Amy’s case came up at a recent Neuro Conference.  She’s a celebrity…and didn’t even get a chance to sign autographs!

Other than that piece, there wasn’t a lot of new information today.  They want to wait until her next MRI/MRA in September to make any real significant decisions about what the long term future holds.  Until then, they want her to stay the course - which at this point means limited activity, no driving, and no real lifting of even semi heavy or awkward objects…including putting Addie down in her crib or even bouncing her for that matter.  Our prayer is that when they do the MRI, they will find the clots dissipating/healing/disappearing.

With the exception of a few days, she’s been on top of her pain and nausea.  She has vomited a couple of times, but it was truly the most graceful episode of vomiting I’ve ever seen…and so it didn’t cause any more damage.  Her walks are getting longer (past the mail box that is  ), and her overall demeanor is getting better every day.  Still a long road ahead of us, but we’re moving in the right direction.

On a side note; it should be a standardized rule that kids are not allowed to be sick while mommy’s down!  Our boys have pretty much taken turns being sick…back and forth…for the past 8 days (including little Addie).  Daddy’s…even on our best days…are a far cry from mommy when your sick.  Thank God for Nanna’s…