A Follow-up with Dr. Heide

If you have read this blog from the beginning, you will recognize Dr. Heide as a key player in this whole drama. I first met him via video hookup while Bettie was in the ER, the day it happened. Over the course of the last five and a half weeks, we have come to know, trust, and be thankful for this man.

Today was the Bettie's first follow-up visit after discharge. It took place at his facility, in Renton, near Valley General Hospital. It began with a new scan of Bettie's head, so that a comparison could be made with Day One. Then Bettie was weighed (104.2 lbs... down about 20 pounds from five weeks ago) and finally we saw our friend, Dr. Heide.

He showed us the scan on his computer screen, blown up to reveal startling detail (if you know what you are looking for). He pointed out that the original scan clearly (at least to him) showed the clot, right where speech and communication are processed.

Today's scan, did not show a clot there at all! Now before we get too excited, he wants to do a different kind of scan next week that will show different detail to confirm that the clot is, in fact, gone. If it is, that will considerably improve her prognosis.

Part of the doctor's routine involves asking Bettie her name. I don't think she has ever been able to answer that question for me ... but then I'm not a doctor. But for him, she says "Bettie Aitkins", like "Well duh". Seems like this happens too often to be a coincidence. Oh well.

An interesting part of the conversation with the doctor was about music. You may remember that my son Steve, suggested that we put headphones on Bettie and play her old but familiar music (See the post titled: The Sound of Music). She responded dramatically, singing along before she could speak or put other sentences together. Evidently, that idea of Steve's had not been explored by the medical community before. Dr. Heide says we are exploring new ground here and he is very interested in discovering the potential for communication with stroke patients via music.

He wants me to continue singing to, and with, Bettie. I told him I know a lot of songs, since I sing in a men's chorus (Northwest Sound). Unfortunately, I sing bass, so if Bettie starts croaking in a deep voice, blame me.

Before we left Dr. Heide's office and went out to set up the follow-on visits with his nutrition expert and others on his staff, he told me this: "After Bettie's stroke, I had a number of other patients with the same type of stroke. I have directed them to the Bettie's Challenge blog for help with dealing with the situation, and it has been very helpful. Very helpful."

I have to tell you, that gives me a big lump in the throat. We have known all through this that the Biblical promise (Rom. 8:28) that "... all things work together for good ... " is true. Dr. Heide's comment demonstrated one way that it is happening (and there are undoubtedly others as well). Very humbling.

If you are one of those refereed here by Dr. Heide because you too are traveling this road, know that you are not alone. Feel free to contact me directly if there is any way I could be of help, I'd be honored. Contact info is on the Profile page.

A final, but very important, point from the doctor. I asked him how he was coming on procuring a very expensive but promising piece of new technology that could be helpful in regenerating brain tissue. He said that, with the federal government proposing to take over the health care industry, it is currently impossible for any doctor to make a sensible business case for major equipment expenditures. Our elected officials in the executive and legislative branches of government are already having a negative effect on the medical profession, and they are only talking about what they want to do.

This blog is not about politics, but about the care of a stroke patient, my wife. My recommendation concerning the issue is this: ask your doctor what he/she thinks about the issue, then write or phone your representative and tell them your personal concerns, based on what you have learned. Would it be asking too much of your representative to insist that they read and understand the bill, at a minimum, before voting on it?

She "Gets It"

Visiting Bettie as often as I do, it is easy for me to miss the little improvements that are going on all the time. But for visitors who see her after a week or more absence the changes are profound. This was the case when old friends Ruth and Rich Medved saw her today. I arrived at 11:30 a.m. and found them still there, along with Dr. Sultana who was checking her progress, as he does each day.

Both the Medveds and Dr. Sultana were very impressed with her progress. Her right arm is moving further and more often for instance, and there are improvements in comprehension. At least we think so. This is the area that I am most concerned with. Dealing with whatever physical impairment might linger after her recovery is easily manageable compared to dealing with impaired comprehension.

She is so pleasant and trying so hard to please, that it is easy to just assume that she understands everything you say. But you will get a "Yes" response to just about anything that you ask if you ask it in an upbeat inflection and with a smile: "Today we're going to hold up the Brinks truck and we wonder if you'd like to help?" She'll give you a pleasant nod and say "Yes."

On the other hand, there are a number of indications that she "gets it". I think she is understanding key words in a communication and doing her best to respond to those. Words like "dressed" and "clothes" she responds to.

She likes to pick out what to wear from several choices and looks at her closet when you mention those words. While doing that yesterday, she kept repeating the word "right" when I was offering her the different things in her closet. She rejected every item in the closet with the comment: "No, right". Finally I noticed the pants and top that were not in the closet but on a shelf on the right side of it. That was what she wanted.

I was with her for both lunch and dinner, returning home for a few hours in between. She is eating better that when she first arrived here.

I left her by 6 o'clock because each Wednesday evening from 7 to 10 p.m. is the Northwest Sound chorus rehearsal. Though Bettie's stroke prevented me from traveling with my chorus brothers to compete for the international championship in Anaheim last week, she is stable enough now for me to attend weekly rehearsal.

It was good to be with the chorus again and to celebrate their inauguration officially into the category of "A" choruses. (Scoring over 80 in a competition constitutes the "A" category.) Our score of 81.2 placed us a respectable 19th out of 28, and one place ahead of our Evergreen District nemesis: the "Salem Senataires".

(In the Barbershop Harmony Society, the "Evergreen District" constitutes: Alaska, British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Western Montana.) It's kinda cool to be the best of our genre in that large an area.

As you can imagine, singing is good therapy for whatever ails you ... it sure helps me. Come to think of it, it seemed to have helped Bettie too.

The Sound of Music

I'm grateful to report that there is no apparent degradation over the big advances we noted yesterday evening. We still have major movement possible in the right leg and she can still repeat back most any short phrase. For example we counted to five and she repeated back each number. I would have gone further, but it turned out to be time for a little nap. (Honey, where are your manners?)

The big deal today, that brought both Steve and I to tears, was seeing her reaction to a suggestion of his. Steve came up with the brilliant idea of letting her listen to old songs she would know, and which he had loaded on his iPod. The first was the theme from "Sound of Music". We were completely undone as we watched her mouth the words "The hills are alive with the sound of music...". Later she actually sang/hummed the song out loud ... something she never does. (Later we talked with a speech therapist and asked if this was a good thing to do, and she confirmed that it was.)

We were with her from 9 to 12 p.m., hoping to catch Dr. Heide on his rounds. Unfortunately, we didn't make contact with him this time, so we'll have to leave that report for later. She did have a head scan again today and his report will include that analysis.

We have now reached the 72-hour point. One doctor told us that at this point most of the critical changes have taken place, both positive and negative. From here on it is recovery and therapy to get back what has been lost. We'll see about that.

It would be wonderful to have someone with her when I need to attend to other things. I'm typically there from about 9 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m.

A big Thank You to everyone who as been so supportive. This is not something anyone should attempt alone.

I'll post more when I hear from the doctor or after the evening visit.