Vigil

Day thirteen: I bring Laura coffecito and a banana, which helps relieve her stomachache and constipation. PT comes in and has Laura marching in place. She helps her into a chair where we continue our discussion of images from a book of design. Shannon comes in and conditions and combs out Laura’s hair. An assistant braids it. We try resuming our discussion but Laura is in obvious pain. Her sacrum hurts from lying in bed for almost two weeks now. She attempts to leave the chair and transfer into bed. I applaud the effort but it’s a chance I’m not willing to take. She gives me a look like: don’t be such as wuss .. I don’t need no nurses. I manage to stall her until Shannon arrives. She falls asleep immediately. The physical therapist will be in tomorrow to show me some bed exercises we can do to help relieve the soreness in her tailbone. 

Dr. Kamilla Vagnerova from the ICU surgical team comes in for an extended visit. On a high definition monitor she shows me Laura’s CAT scans from day one. I see the injury site. It was a nasty hemorrhage. 4 on a scale of 1 to 4. She bled in the space between the brain and skull. The surgery was a success but blood and cerebrospinal fluid don’t mix. It interferes with the drain action in the ventricles. I see the results on the scan. The endoscope procedure tomorrow should relieve this. She shows me the site of the ischemic stroke Dr. Dogen told me about. She re-affirms what he said ..it’s not in a significant location. OK. She also re-affirms what Dr. Hardaway said ..the vaso-constriction is mild and limited to one vessel. 

While Laura sleeps I take one of my many walks through the forest outside. 

This evening while Shannon wheels out the dinner tray, Laura bolts upright and shouts: “Hey, what about him ..?” meaning where’s my dinner and what kind of host are you. We laugh and I assure her I’ve already been taken care of. After this Laura insists on sharing her meals with me. Very Laura-like.