Tuesday, February 4, 2014

For family and friends not on Facebook

This afternoon my husband was admitted to hospital.

Tuesday night update:

We are home now, the surgeon told us to so we get some sleep. Rod  will go into surgery tonight, to have the blood clot removed. It is a sub-dural haematoma: they will cut a small hole in his skull. It is a good prognosis and better than if he had continued on without seeking medical assistance - he would have likely died in a couple of weeks. This is a trauma from the concussion he suffered in his second cycling accident, in late November. We had noticed he was a bit 'off" since he got home after nearly three weeks away but he had actually been compensating quite well until now. He saw the GP today because the headaches were getting worse and he was sent for an MRI.

The neurosurgeon will call me when he comes out of theatre, unless it is on the middle of the night (unless something goes wrong)

It is very possible - maybe likely - he will need a second surgery over the next few weeks. There will be some speech deficit because it is his left brain affected and his right arm and leg weakness will probably need therapy, so there will be rehab involved. He could be in hospital as long as two weeks but the doctor says he will hopefully be home next week.

I know family will be anxious to visit but I will ask you not to until we give the okay - he may be in ICU and his memory has been affected so he could be a bit confused and not need to be overwhelmed by people.

He is in the Alfred Hospital an hour's drive from home. At this stage, Kaitlyn is working tomorrow morning as planned and I will have Charlie. I expect we will probably go into the hospital in the afternoon, if he is up to seeing us. We will then take each day as it comes.

Your messages of support mean a lot. At this stage, I can't think of anything anyone can do to help but know I can ask if we do. Whether I can physically handle driving to and from the city daily I am not sure, but hopefully between the family we can juggle it.

Apart from being a little confused and forgetting things, he was in good spirits and under the impression this doesn't mean the end of cycling!! I would suggest he needs his head read!

We are actually quite calm and positive because he is in the right place with the right people and although there is risk, there isn't anywhere better to be taking that risk. The greater risk has surely been him carrying on as normal since December, driving to Adelaide and back and being on the road everyday for work!

I will update again as soon as I have news. (Facebook comes into its own as everyone except his parents is on here, so saves a lot of phone time.) keep wishing, praying, sending positive energy or whatever you are doing as I am sure it all helps.

1 comment:

Becky said...

Dear Yvette, I am sorry to hear that Rod is having such serious health problems. I hope that his physical fitness will give him an advantage.
I am sending you my prayers and good wishes at this time.
Love from Becky.