January 4, 2011

Dear Friends of Dwaine,

Writing tonight from Room 1215 at University Hospital with Dwaine snoozing softly right here.  He's had a very busy day and is just "worn out" as he says.  He had to have a shot of Thorazine to get his hiccups under control for his CT scan, so that made him even more "worn out" than ever!  So he's getting a well-deserved nap.

We started off with a CT scan and angiogram, but as I mentioned, Dwaine got a case of hiccups and had to reschedule for later in the day.  So we entertained lots of great visitors who all wanted to see The Guy and let him know how much they care and hope that he gets well soon.  His team of neurologists came in and did their usual tests which showed more strength returning.  He was able to grasp the doctor's hand pretty firmly, spread his fingers out, lift his arms and legs, push hard against the bed and basically looking good all over. 

The speech pathologist had a short time this morning, as they were going to take Dwaine to get his CT scan and angiogram.  But she was able to talk a little about how a stroke can impact the brain's ability to deal with problems, anticipate events, stay focused and undistracted and all sorts of other moment-by-moment events we encounter.  Dwaine's affect has been impacted by the stroke, in that he doesn't always display that quick easy smile he always had.  He doesn't always join in on laughing at a joke quite like he used to.  But it comes and goes - yesterday when friends Ron and Deb arrived, it was Dwaine who broke into the "Hello Party!" line he's always had.  He raised his hands up to dance and I saw a genuine smile on his face.  But that doesn't always happen, and I don't want anyone to feel he's not really appreciative of your visit if he doesn't.  He is aware of everything and comments on it all later.  Partly he just gets very, very tired and can't always keep up the energetic personality he's always had.  Partly, his brain is just working so hard to re-wire everything it used to do without a thought that it doesn't leave much energy left for anything else.  I'm confident that we'll get our Dwaine back in full force, because I can't imagine anything keeping THAT personality down for long!

Around 1:00, the neurologists came back with the results of the angiogram, and the results were . . . another exam.  Tomorrow he's scheduled for an arteriogram, which is a procedure that snakes a tiny camera up through an artery to get a close-up look at the problem spot to see what is going on.  They said that the angiogram seemed to show that the tear was healing, but not wide enough to allow for the right kind of blood flow.  So, while he may be getting stronger under the haparin, he won't progress as far as he should until that problem is fixed.  So, as soon as I hear anything, I'll send out another Dwaine-o-gram and let you all know.

So, now we get to deal with some of the insurance stuff and here's where I might need a little help.  Dwaine has Kaiser insurance, and University Hospital is outside the Kaiser network.  So that means at some point we'll be moving to St. Joseph's, which is a fine hospital too.  But University is in the top 10 in the country, and I'd like him to stay here as long as possible.  The doctors believe they are the only one's who can do the type of intervention work that Dwaine needs, so they think he'll be able to stay here until the rehabilitation phase.  If there's anyone out there who knows how to work with Kaiser to help make sure this happens, THAT is something I could really use.  If anyone deserves the best care in the world, it's our Dwaine.  I need a powerful advocate who can take his case if I need to. 

That's all for now.  He's still asleep, though he woke up for a minute and asked me to order him a cheeseburger.  I wonder if that's on his diet . . .