Dave had his follow up CT scan yesterday morning that was going to put my mind at ease that the brain injury he suffered in November was healing well. Well - I should know now to expect the unexpected! We no sooner got home when our phone rang - it was the neurosurgeon's office - I was to take Dave to the emergency room - there were "abnormal findings" and he needed observation. Surprise, surprise.
Dave had a headache beginning Sunday - but he didn't tell me about it. He mentioned it Monday late afternoon - and I knew we had the CT scan on Tuesday, so I suggested we make sure the doctor know about it. Well, turns out he had bilateral subdural hematomas now. On each side of his brain. The blood had apparently been seeping all along. But because of the "room" in his brain with the shrinkage he's already experienced from his FTD, there was quite a bit of buildup before he had the normal symptom of a headache - NOTE TO SELF: Suggest to the medical community that follow up scans be done sooner on someone who already has brain shrinkage due to FTD!!!
So yesterday afternoon, Dave had two burr holes drilled into his head - one on each side - to clean out the blood. The surgery went fine - he has two funny looking drains on each side of his head. His head is wrapped with gauze - he'll have an interesting haircut, I'm sure, when they remove the bandages! At this point, he kind of reminds me of the Breaking Bad guy - a little shaved area showing so far above his beard on each side - not sure what lies under the bandage!
He was scheduled for another CT scan some time over night - to see if there is still bleeding. Not sure what happens if it hasn't stopped. But I guess I'll know later today! Last night he was doing well - eating pizza and ice cream - watching TV - his headache is gone - kind of surprising with two holes in his head!
It's about 6:30 am - just got a call from his nurse from the neuro critical care unit - she said he did well all night - she gave him meds a couple of times for pain - he went at 5:30 for his CT scan - results should be in soon. I'm headed back to the hospital soon.
Silver lining? Well, at least this surgery and the first two days of his hospital stay are in 2014 - and we certainly already have met the out of pocket limit for this year. So my hope is all this new medical expense is covered 100%. Woo hoo!!! Gotta look for the small wins, right?
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