Luv Shawna: Part 5 of accdent recovery

After Andrew started talking a lot of things changed. Up until then we had no idea what if any damage the stroke had caused. The good new was that for sure without a doubt Andrew was awake and functioning.

In the beginning of this new stage Andrew often got confused. When asked how old he was he would say he was 23. Then they would ask him when he was born, January 3rd 1980 (the right answer). Then they would tell him it was 2010 and re-ask his age and he would still say he was 23. He knew Avery and Miles were his childrens' names but would say he had 4 children. He gave his dad's home address when asked what his home address was.

Sometimes he was searching for words. However, we were usually impressed at what he would come up with as a replacement. For example Andrew wanted his dad to shut the window shades and said "Can you help me with my outdoor illumination?"

Next step was to get into Craig Hospital. We found a giant hurdle. Even though Andrew was mental ready for Craig Hospital his body was not. His muscle tone was so tight he could barely move even with physical therapy. This was because of the stroke. The doctors increased a muscle relaxer called Baclofen and that seemed to help with the muscle tone. Andrew's doctor discussed the possibility of a Baclofen pump. This pump would be inserted into his abdomen and the medication would be delivered into his spine. This way the medication would not have to travel through the blood stream when he would take it orally.

Andrew decided to go for it. The first steps of this process were horrible. University Hospital was going to do the surgery and there was some miscommunication with Kindred. University told Kindred that Andrew should not have any Balcofen in his system so they could do a test to see if the pump would work. Instead of stepping the dose down slowly they took Andrew off the medication all at once. They did not inform us that they were going to do this. It was horrible, Andrew going through withdrawl. He was hallucinating and getting angry that we did not believe him. We were so angry when we learned why he was this way.

The good new was the test showed Andrew was a good candidate for the pump. He was back on the medication and we waited for the the surgery. Finally in October the pump was in, the surgery healed and Andrew was on his way to Craig Hospital. Memory was improving even though is was not perfect. Things were getting there.