Stroke

We want to thank each of you who have taken time to pray for Colleen during this latest crisis. The movement in all extremities has returned- There is a bit of weakness in the left arm and leg but just slight and the doctors expect a full recovery.

  Colleen went for her weekly chemo treatment on friday. She had chemo in her port, chemo in her spine and transfusions of platelets and red blood cells. She was at clinic from 830 am to about 500pm. When she came home, she felt like her speech was slurring but Chelsea could not hear any problems with the speech. She took a nap until 8pm and when she woke up, her speech was incomprehesible. Chelsea called the doctors who recommended that she go to the ER. We arrived at er by 9pm but her speech had improved but was still a bit slurred. The er dr felt that this was  a side effect of the chemo vincristine which can affect the nerves in the face. She had a ct scan which showed a questionable area so she was kept overnight in the ER because there were no beds available. Chelsea stayed overnight with Colleen because i was on call in the recovery room at Annapolis. She was in the process of being discharged at noon when she began running into walls and staggering from weakness in the leg. She was then kept and an MRI was done at around 3pm. When she was done with the mri at 430 she was unable to move the left arm or leg and as time progressed, her left face was drooping, the tongue was no longer midline- This means that the facial nerves and all the nerves on the left side were being affected by a lack of oxgen to the brain or a stroke. The area of the brain which was affected was located off of a small artery so no blood clots were identified. We are unsure as to why this occured testing is still being done. One of the chemo drugs called esparagenase or PEG does cause strokes in one percent of cancer patients and we are suspecting that this may be the culprit. After the MRI, it was evident that she had a stroke so i wanted her placed in and icu immediately. There were no beds at Childrens or at U of M. The nurse practitioner called U of M and arranged a bed. Since the transport team at Childrens was tied up at Crittenon Hospital, the life flight team at U of M was going to fly down and pick up Colleen. We had been told that this was the plan and then there was a glitch with the bed-not sure what. Plan B went into effect. Fresh frozen plasma was given in an attempt to replace the clotting elements that are missing because of the chemo which somehow helps resolve the stroke.

 Colleen had not slept in the noisy er for over 24 hours so i told them to get a bed asap at the icu anywhere so she could rest. A bed then came available in the Pediatric ICU at Childrens so by about 100 am on Sunday we were finally in a room. The paralysis in Colleens left arm and leg lasted until about 5am on Sunday when she was able to move them slightly. The doctors in the icu felt recovery would probably last at least a few weeks. She stayed in the icu until 200 pm yesterday when she was transferred to 677 in the hematology oncology unit. I am pleased to report that she has probably 95 percent of the strength back in her arm and leg and with a bit of outpatient therapy they feel she will have a 100 percent recovery.  Chelsea read that this PEG chemo can cause this and recovery usually occurs within 2 days. We are thankful for Gods grace during this time. Even her primary doctor was really concerned about her status so thank you for praying. I am sorry for any confusion. The cell phones do not work in the ER but texting does. I just felt an urgency to inform everyone so they could begin praying.Thank you again we appreciate each of you and thank you to my nursing colleagues who picked up my on call time at Annapolis this weekend.