Dot`sThoughts

Friday, May 24, 2008
Medical Thoughts

A blogger friend once wrote about what he went thru after each stroke in hopes he could help others to understand more what their loved ones might be experiencing after they had a stroke. As he said, every case is different, but what he experienced sure opened my eyes to a better understanding of strokes. Having my oldest brother going thru many strokes over the past few years just made his blog even more important to me. I heard yesterday that this last stroke has left my brother completely paralyzed. Him and his wife spend the winters at one of their sons homes -who lives in Georgia. So, now this last stroke will mean he can no longer make the long trip back home near us in New York.
I have carried this terrible feeling every since they left last Fall that I would never see my brother again. I also heard that he was crying because he didn`t wish to go south for last winter. But, I also heard that the Dr had told my sister-in-law that If he even caught a cold, he probably wouldn`t have enough strength to fight it and that was why she insisted they had to leave here before the hard winter set in. While my mind can understand she was doing what she felt was best for my brothers health, my heart also understands why he wanted to stay up north where all his family could visit him. All his other children and great grandchildren live in New Jersey and so they could drive to New York in a few hours, or spend a week-end up here with him, while they would have to chance losing their job if they took off enough time to make the trip all the way to Georgia.So, up here was easier for his family to see him, but he would be risking his life to stay here thru the cold damp winter.

As for the wonderful friend who wrote the blog, many of you might remember our wonderful caring, thoughtful friend Denny Shane. His stroke information blog was titled "NOT SO NORMAL NEWS ".
The last time I heard anything was months ago when he had another stroke and this one left him in the same condition that it has now left my brother , so he was no longer able to keep in touch with anyone. I miss hearing from him and hope his wishes come true, that others would read his stroke blog and that they might benefit from it. Some of you who knew Denny have probably already read his stroke blog,

I wish to say "Thank you to Denny for all he went thru trying to publish the information. If you read his blog, then you will see how hard it became for him, but he still kept writing in it for as long as he was able. I know his regular blog was closed, but the last time I checked his stroke blog was still on the net for anyone to read. He was hoping people from all over the world might benefit from the information on his stroke blog. If you have never read it, I hope you do. You will be surprised at all the information you will learn about what some go thru during and after having a stroke.

Now for another medical topic: Comas.

Most people probably already know that people in a coma can still hear everything that is being said around them.
I remember my Mother once asking me if I thought they could hear and I told her yes. Her next words to me were "Then they ( meaning the people in her Hospital room) shouldn`t have been talking about her like she was already gone.

Here are three of the reasons I know they must have heard what I said.

The first time was when I was working in the Hospital and one of the patients had been in the hospital for a very long time. When she got worse she had special nurses so I no longer helped take care of her. But, since I had always stopped to speak to her when I came to work every afternoon as 3pm, I asked the special nurses if they minded if I continued checking in with her when I came on and was told yes. Well, this one day as I reached her room, the nurse on duty with her motioned for me to stay outside. Then she came out to tell me she wanted to tell me that the patient had gone into a coma shortly after I left at 11pm the night before. When I said I would still like to stop and speak to her, like I had been doing, the nurse agreed. While talking to the coma patient, she suddenly said "Dorothy" in a questionable style voice.She was still in the coma and never woke up, nor did she ever say another word after that. I told her, yes it was me, Dorothy. The nurse wanted to tell her family about her saying my name till I asked her not to. She wondered why until I told her it would probably hurt her family to know her last word was of me and not one of her family. I felt that would hurt them more. This patient passed away after I went off duty that night. This patient was a very intelligent person and had been a Teacher in a College for many years until retiring. She was such a warm loving type of person that I have never forgotten her and this happened back in 1950. I got married in Dec. 1951 and stopped working to care for a step daughter from my husbands first marriage.

The next time was many years later. it was one of my Aunts that was the patient. She had been in the coma for a couple days and I went to see her every morning for the weeks she was in the hospital, while most of the family worked days and could only go in the evening. This one day I could see she wasn`t going to live much longer. I had spoke to her daughter shortly before going to the hospital and her daughter said she would probably meet me there a little later. So, I happened to mention to my Aunt to hang on- that Thelma would be there shortly. I saw my Aunt suddenly start breathing so hard like she was fighting to hang on till her daughter arrived. After a few minutes I could no longer stand seeing her working so hard so I told her it was ok that Thelma would understand and that Thelma wouldn`t want her to go thru so much pain. I told her to stop fighting so hard and she went back to her normal breathing.

Another time is was another Aunt who had cancer and went into a coma which lasted for a few days. I also went to the Hospital every morning to be with her till others showed up. I told her that I would give anything to see one of her beautiful smiles again. She started crying so hard that the tears were flowing down her cheeks. This made me feel so bad. So, I told her it was ok because God and I could see her smiling on the inside. Then she relaxed and stopped crying. It was about this Aunt that my mother had asked me if I thought comatose patients heard what visitors said while in the same room. I told her about the Teacher from Albany State teachers College, but not about either of the Aunts because these Aunts were her sisters and I was worried that telling my mother might upset her even more. She had heard one of her other sisters talking to another family member about this Aunt like she was dying soon. I knew this was bothering my mother and worried it would bother her even more if I told her about the crying.

Today it is my oldest brother that has me worrying. He was still alert this morning, but unable to move or speak. So, my mind is still telling me that we could lose him at any time. But, my heart hates to give in and accept his condition as final stages. Too many strokes over the past few years. I am glad I spoke to him on the phone before this last stroke so I was able to tell him how much I loved and missed him. One of my younger sisters has been in the Hospital since last Thusday and it took over a week before they could find why she was having such a hard time breathing. X-rays showed nothing. Finally , yesterday they did an MRI which showed she had pneumonia in both lungs. This morning they took her to the or and used a probe to clean out her lungs. Hopefully she will be feeling better soon. In the room next to my sister is my only living Uncle who has also been in for over a week. He is 91 and hasn`t been doing good for a couple years now. He looked a little better yesterday, but his problems are mostly age ones that no one can do anything about. So, we all just keep hoping. His wife is 88 and not doing too good either, and they have been married for 67 years. I can`t see either of them making out without the other one.

They say it never rains, but it pours and that`s how I feel right now. At least we have good news about our sister. So, it isn`t all bad news right now. We must thank God for helping them find what was making my sister so ill so they could start working on a cure to make her well again.