Done the last two days (20130319 Tu - 20 We)

[mdlbear]

I had a long week the last two days. Tuesday evening, Colleen scared the heck out of me, driving off the path in her scooter, and reporting blurry vision and headache. She seemed really confused, as well. I gave her some aspirin, sudafed (she's been fighting a cold all week), and nose spray. It passed in about an hour, and she seemed perfectly normal by the time we went to bed, except for the headache.

I woke up at 3:30 am and was scared enough to dial 911.

She appeared to be having some kind of seizure. She was making incoherent noises, shaking, and had a little blood coming from the corner of her mouth which made me suspect (correctly) that she'd bitten her tongue.

The ambulance took her to Northwest, which is part of the UW system. She had another seizure in the ambulance, so there was no need to speculate on whether my initial guess had been correct.

I spent the rest of the long day in the hospital; she was transfered from the ER to the ICU a little before 9am. She spent the day with a breathing tube in place, unable to talk, although in the intervals when she wasn't heavily sedated it was clear that there really was a Colleen in there.

She had a CAT scan shortly after being brought in, which ruled out tumors, cancer, stroke, and aneurysm. With the really awful stuff ruled out, it looked as though the most likely cause was meningitis, so they started treating her with antibiotics and did a lumbar puncture to get a sample of her CSF to test. They also did an MRI, which was inconclusive.

The final results on the lumbar puncture came back this morning -- no meningitis. The MRI had some artifacts due to some wires in the breathing tube, but was clear enough for the neurologist to get a good idea of what was going on.

(TL;DR:) The most likely diagnosis at this point is something called Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (PRES) - a rare side effect of some immunosuppressant drugs, including the one she'd just increased the dosage of for her Crohn's disease, augmented by hypertension and low magnesium and potassium levels.

She's recovering well, and is currently in room 341 of Northwest Hospital in Seattle. She can have visitors. Norwescon is iffy.

But I was able to take a phone interview in the waiting room, and the interviewer said that he was going to recommend hiring me. So I have a 3-month contract at Amazon, Starting sometime next week.

0319 Tu
  * up 7:15ish; W=202.4; d, n, l; 
  * 9am (from 1:30 Mo) call from IID
    -> no match.  Needs big data.  Mongo, Cassandra, Hadoop, Map-reduce, Scala
       Since this was the one in Tacoma, I am somewhat relieved.
  * go over to N's and bring back the other box of boxes
  ~ Susan coming in the afternoon -> Th
  = buffet: 64", breakfront 72", both 19" wide.
  @ What PTSD is | Myke Cole (ysabetwordsmith)
  * located the HIPAA form for Colleen's coverage to send to Aetna; went to N's
    to fax it before heading down to the house with a load of boxes.
  * 6pm Direct Buy member orientation
    -> cabinetry appointment 11am next Wed.  
    Good prices on the toilets we want: KOHLER | K-3493 | Highline Classic Comfort Height two-piece elongated 1.4
    gpf toilet with Pressure Lite flushing technology 
  : Colleen scared the heck out of me coming in after DB -- dizzy and confused.
    Gave her afrin, aspirin, and sudafed; she seems to be doing better now.
    -> in retrospect I should have turned around and taken her in to the ER
    % 5am now beating myself up for waiting.  It's clear that she was in bad
      shape even then, but since she was recovering, no way to know.
    % but she *did* appear to recover.  Perfectly normal by bedtime.  So...

0320 We
  & 2:30ish am - Colleen had a seizure; called 911.  At NW Hospital ER.  DAMN!
    ! calm but scared.  Starting to beat myself up over not bringing her in sooner.
  : 4:30a intubated and sedated.  Being admitted to ICU.  No idea how I'm going
    to pay for this.  Trainwreck.
  @ A Softer World: 946
    " You and I will never be a great love story / That's OK / Let's see what
      kind of story we'll be " Don't forget to look at the mouseover text!
  : 6am - no word yet on where Colleen is.  IDIOT BEAR!
  : 7ish - appears to be meningitis.  Not stroke, thankfully.  And the ER doctor
    said there's no way I would have known to bring her in last night.  Helps.
  : Has had CAT scan; scheduled for MRI and lumbar puncture.
  x 8:15 checkin Radiology 10:00 Colleen - fluoroscopy -> called to cancel.
  @ Steubenville: this is rape culture's Abu Ghraib moment 
  : 12:30ish - Colleen up n ICU; still sedated.  The MRI will have to be redone
    because she apparently wasn't sedate _enough_, which is not surprising
    knowing Colleen.
  : Her RN is named Susan, and the volunteer greeter is Colleen.
  ~ 1pm Mike? of Bigfish called; was in the middle of taking Colleen's history;
    will call back tomorrow
  : 2:30 C. woke up, was scared.  not surprising.
  % bored and drowsy waiting for my 4:30 call.
  * 4:30 Amazon
    -> guy said he would recommend hiring me.  So... fingers crossed.
  * N. came by and stayed with Colleen during about half the call, then for a
    while afterward, and we had dinner in the caffeteria.  Colleen was awake for
    part of it.  Not a happy cat, but definitely _her_.  *so* good to know.

Comments

[auntie_m]

Whew! Glad that the word on Colleen is treatable. So although it was Very Scary and it will take her a while to recover, it can be recovered from.
Give her a hug and continue to send her healing thoughts.

[mdlbear]

Yup. Thanks, and I will.

[amaebi]

That sounds terrifying. I'm so sorry, for you and for Colleen!

[lemon_badgeress]

I'm so grateful she's recovering. Take care of yourself, too!

[hms42]

I am very glad to hear that Colleen is doing better. I saw the posts over on Facebook, that are being relayed. Good luck with the interviews/job.

[mdlbear]

Thanks! I actually did get the job; I'll be starting sometime next week.

[kayshapero]

Give Lady Colleen a hug for me.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

That must have been really scary - I'm very glad to hear that it's easily curable. My best wishes for Colleen. And congratulations to you - making a favorable impression on an interviewer, favorable enough to actually get the job, while in the ER waiting for word about Colleen!

[joecoustic.livejournal.com]

Good thoughts healthy vibes and *hugs* to both of you!! And hoping Amazon works out well!!

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

Dang, that sounds scary. Glad she's doing better, and I hope you're out of there soon.

Eep!

[ocelotn.livejournal.com]

I'm glad about the job and that Colleen is doing better, but still very scary. Here's hoping for steady improvement and no more surprises.

yikes!

[solarbird]

I hope it turns out as well as our surprise ER trip a couple of months ago. (Anna collapsed on the stairs and started, um, it wasn't pleasant; turned out to be a burst ulcer, entirely curable by antibiotics, went home fine a few days later. No after effects at all.) Hopefully it's something like that. Good luck!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Eeep! I'm glad Colleen is okay and things are looking up. Well done on the interview, and I hope the job works out well for you.

Thinking of you both and wishing Colleen a quick recovery!

[gorgeousgary]

Bleh on the hospital visit, but glad to hear Colleen is recovering well.

Good luck with the contract.

Re: yikes!

[mdlbear]

Pretty much -- they say that she can come home as soon as her BP stabilizes, and they've taken her off the offending medicine. But...