Briefly
Hail,
Sarah is probably coming home today. And her father progresses, if not by leaps and bounds, then by slow, physiotherapist assisted movements, because... (roll of drums) the neurologists have told us it is not a stroke.
(My apologies, by the by, to all who have been misinformed. All I can offer in my defence is the plea that I was misinformed by Sarah, who had in her turn been misinformed by another, and so on. Initially the neurologists had great difficulty seeing the stroke in the brainstem: that was partly because it's a hard area to image, and partly because it wasn't the best quality scan, and maybe a little bit due to the fact that the stroke wasn't there at all).
So what is it? It's Todd's paresis, which is a kind of paralysis or weakness that you get after a seizure. He's never had a seizure before, but they reckon he's decided to start now -and they're just working out what to do about that now. But the main thing is the MRI and the CT scan show no sign of a stroke, and because he's still improving.
Apparently he was able to support his weight standing yesterday.
Well, damn fine news. They say Todd's paresis is "often mistaken for a cerebrovascular event", and I am glad he managed to confuse the neurologists, because they confused me for half a year in medical school, and it's good to get our own back. Very good news.
He gets anti-epileptic medications, but no wheelchair.
I am grinning as I write this.
The big question, of course, is, if Stewart has Todd's paresis, who has Stewart's?
Sorry. Anyway, more information as it comes to hand.
Thanks for listening.
John
Sarah is probably coming home today. And her father progresses, if not by leaps and bounds, then by slow, physiotherapist assisted movements, because... (roll of drums) the neurologists have told us it is not a stroke.
(My apologies, by the by, to all who have been misinformed. All I can offer in my defence is the plea that I was misinformed by Sarah, who had in her turn been misinformed by another, and so on. Initially the neurologists had great difficulty seeing the stroke in the brainstem: that was partly because it's a hard area to image, and partly because it wasn't the best quality scan, and maybe a little bit due to the fact that the stroke wasn't there at all).
So what is it? It's Todd's paresis, which is a kind of paralysis or weakness that you get after a seizure. He's never had a seizure before, but they reckon he's decided to start now -and they're just working out what to do about that now. But the main thing is the MRI and the CT scan show no sign of a stroke, and because he's still improving.
Apparently he was able to support his weight standing yesterday.
Well, damn fine news. They say Todd's paresis is "often mistaken for a cerebrovascular event", and I am glad he managed to confuse the neurologists, because they confused me for half a year in medical school, and it's good to get our own back. Very good news.
He gets anti-epileptic medications, but no wheelchair.
I am grinning as I write this.
The big question, of course, is, if Stewart has Todd's paresis, who has Stewart's?
Sorry. Anyway, more information as it comes to hand.
Thanks for listening.
John
posted by Bronze John at 11:00 AM
11 Comments:
Brilliant news! we are relieved, and hope you are both going well. Amazing how you can still write so well in the face of these events - and we agree about the neurologists in 2nd yr.
J&R B.
Good News!
Also it looks like you are going to be a bit busy one Saturday afternoon in late September....
The Derby score is now 7 to 23!!!!
BMBDIDBGR = bugger my budgerigar?
That is good news, again! I've never heard of Todd's paresis, but I've never heard of a lot of things....so that's not surprising.
Good joke, btw.
Obviously, Laurita and I have the same sense of humor, because I liked that joke, too. Thanks for sharing the good news.
This is good news (not that I speak neurosurgeon any better than I speak jive), but I'm glad Stewart is doing well. I hope Sara is doing okay as well. Oh, and keep his eminence away from the cute little birdies. Hogs from me as well. Oink.
Dear Anonymous,
Thanks for the comment - now that I've got over the horror of hearing that another person I know reads this. From what I remember you were less confused than I was.
John
Cam',
Thanks for the hogs, enthusiastically recieved and probably devoured with gusto by Stewart. The whole thing seems little short of miraculous, actually - the difference between what we are seeing and what we feared. Thanks again
John
Hail Bene',
I'm not mentioning the football until the end of the round. I've become one of those superstitious people who won't even speak of [insert bit of blinding good fortune here] in case vengeful sprites come and punish their hubris.
But you lot this weekend, then who knows?
John
Dear Laurita,
Thanks for the good wishes. I had to look it up, too. There's a lot of those medical terms with names in front of them that refuse to stick in my mind. I remember in first year some woman in the ED coming in and saying "Yes, well, my son's got Osgood Schlatter Syndrome, but I suppose you worked that out as soon as you saw him".
And I nodded and looked wise and tried to remember if Osgood Schlatter Syndrome was one of the syndromes that would kill him before I had time to sidle off and look it up, and I guessed it wasn't, and it turned out that I was right.
Some of medicine is apparently a lot simpler - there is a skin disease called "itchy red bump disease" (IRBD), which consists of - you guessed it.
John
Hail Juanita,
Thanks for the good wishes. More bad humour on the way.
John
Hail, FW:
Good to hear from you. I have been recommending your blog to people everywhere. I did like the mental image of the neurologist speaking jive, too.
Thanks,
John
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