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Steve · Last edited by Steve on Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:04 pm; edited 2 times in total

Inova Fairfax Hospital is the largest sprawling public health care facility in the Northern Virginia area. Thankfully it has continued to improve as it's grown over the years and it has a very good reputation locally. It is a bit further away from the Manassas area in distance but a whole world away in care quality compared to our local Prince William Hospital. We're fortunate Marilee was moved to there.

Marilee is in what they call the Tower, but only on the 2nd floor. She's in the Neurological Intensive Care Section, basically the Stroke Ward. This is an area with large "No Cellphones Allowed" signs. Marilee is in the non-critical ICU, however visitors are kept to a minimum and visiting hours are only from 8PM to 9PM unless you're family. Access is tightly controlled and you have to talk through an intercom to the nurse and be buzzed into the area through a locked door.

Marilee is in Bed #7, a large open area that can be curtained off but has no doors. There's a large window wall with a view of another wing of the hospital. The whole section is hushed, dim lighting and lighted medical monitors hang everywhere. Bed #7 is a huge hospital bed that swallows up Marilee and makes her appear child sized. She's in that 3/4 propped up mode.

Her eyes are closed when I approach but she responds right away when I say her name. She recognizes me and smiles. The smile looks right, it's not crooked or anything out of the ordinary for her. She reaches out for my hand and that's a good sign that she doesn't have any physical impairments.

She starts to talk and its obvious she's had some kind of stroke, hopefully mild. But she's still in there and working on how to to get out.

She says "trick me and I talk good". I can see when she says something without thinking it comes out straight. But when she tries to communicate something requiring forethought it comes out like pig latin.

She stumbles over a phrase and then clearly mutters to herself, "No that won't do". Then she goes back to trying to build a block of words that make sense.

It's a limited conversation between us and I have to consider carefully what I'm saying: don't be cliche, confusing, stupid or use baby talk.

Her prime driver the whole time is clearly her cats. She wants to make sure we're taking care of them and she's very happy when I give her that assurance. "Thank you for taking care of Shiva and the other one". It's heartbreaking. I thought she called Shiva "Shadow" but don't know if that was me mishearing or her being incorrect.

I pass on the messages (and prayers) I've received from her LJ and book group friends. She is able to screw her smile in response to some things but I'm not sure if she can recognize any of the names. I ask her if she wants to give her LJ password to me to pass on to a trusted friend but she smiles wide and I don't think I'm connecting. Or maybe she's being canny.

She can't think of anybody she wants to get a message to and she doesn't want or need anything at the moment

She says they (the doctors) just wanted her to sleep sleep sleep at first and she wasn't happy about that. But now they want her awake more. It sounds like they've tried some therapy or at least ability measurements already.

I ask her about reading and if she is able to or hvave they tried her on that. She thinks for several seconds and says she didn't think she should.

Then she looks up and says (clearly) she feels another cluster headache coming on. I ask her if talking to me is giving her a headache and she says "Yah". I say okay and give her a gentle handsqueeze. She says thank you for taking care of the kitties one more.

I let the nurse know I've taken Marilee's house key and pass out of this somber secure zone. The visit lasted all of 7 minutes. It took me longer to walk in from the parking garage.

Susan · Guest

Steve, thanks so much for putting up this forum and for updating us on Marilee's condition.

AJ · Guest

Steve, I'd like to echo Susan's thanks. I've been worried all day about Marilee, and I'm very glad to have someplace to go to get updates.

Sandi Graves · Joined: 06 Mar 2009 Posts: 2

Thank you so much for the update. I've been quite worried about Marilee - she's been a dear friend for many years now. This latest bout of hers has me very concerned so I'm grateful for any updates I can get.
_________________
Sandra Graves
Isis Rising
Board member of Beading For A Cure

BeaderCat · Guest

Steve, thank you so much for checking on Marilee and keeping us updated on her conditions.

I hope and pray that she's going to pull through this ok.

PS: She wasn't confused about the name of her kitties, Shadow is the name of the other one.

Saby, one of her online friends from the All About Beads Forum

Guest · Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:06 am Post subject: Re: Thank you

BeaderCat · Guest

Susan · Guest

I think anything that frees Marilee from worry so she can concentrate on healing/treatment/therapy is extremely important.

Cathy Doyle · Guest

Steve thanks for setting this up and keeping us posted on Marilee's condition. I'm glad that you were able to recognize that she needed to call 911. Let us know if there's anything we can do.

Folks, according to the LJ birthday thingy Marilee's birthday is next Tuesday. Maybe we could all send cards to the hospital?

Cathy

Snippy (Kai Jones) · Guest

I'm grateful for the news you pass on about Marilee. Thanks for sharing it with us.