Tuesday, October 14, 2003 

Hey Y'all, I really don't have good news at all today.  We saw a few of her doctors today and both of them indicated that she really had a large stroke.  It has affected all portions of her left brain.  They, and us, were all disappointed to hear that.  They really have no clue what her progress or outcome may be.  They say that all strokes are different and we have (at this time) no idea about Mom. 

Today she was not awake at all when we were there.  She did open her eyes 2 times today for the nurse as they transferred her to a chair and then back to the bed. She will squeeze your hand and she still moves her left leg, left arm and a little of the right leg.  But she was not awake at all for us. 

Today they had her in a really cool chair.  It makes a flat bed, then turns into a chair and they just slide her over into the chair.  Well, when she was in the chair, Dad was so cute, he was kissing the back of her neck  (her head was tilted foward and this is good, it streches the muscles and keeps her more limber).  Joan told dad, that he hasn't kissed her this much in the past ten years.  He also leans down and kisses her hand too. 

Oh, yea I forgot to tell you that we found out yesterday, they did not give her that clot busting drug, like we thought.  They said since she had the surgery so soon, they couldn't give that to her.  One of the doctors thinks that Mom had a bunch of plaque in one of the major arteries/veins that supply blood to the brain broke off and that is what caused the stroke, not a blood clot like they thought at first.  The doctor said that if she had developed an antibody to the heparin (by the way that test was negative and she did not develop that antibody), she would have had small stokes all over the brain and not on one side like she did. 

Well, this will be my last update and I am turning over the torch to Anna tomorrow.  I will fly back to Houston tomorrow and Joan will drive back to Atlanta. Love,  Anna, Joan, Dad and me