Details from the first two days

Friday, May 30

Judy and Dick traveled by car from W. Lafayette, IN to Fort Wayne Thursday night. They arrived just as the surgeon was emerging from surgery. Karen left her home at 2:30 am (CDT) driving from Manhattan, KS to Kansas City. She flew from KC to O’Hare (unfortunately experiencing a 2-hour delay in landing because of wind shear warnings), finally arriving by 10:00 am. Linda, Lee and Carl picked her up at O’Hare and they drove to Fort Wayne arriving by 4:00 pm (EDT).

The report from the surgeon right after surgery was that things had gone well. He removed a large clot from the outside of the cerebellum at the back of the head. He said it seemed to be as good a situation as could be expected. The cerebellum is the most “forgiving” of the areas of the brain, because traumas to that section can often be accommodated for by another part of that section. He said that recovery would be a long process. He did not put a drain in at that point, but completed some procedures that would make it simple to do so if necessary.

During that first day, family began to visit with Doreen around 7:30 a.m., about the time she roused from the anesthesia. Judy and Dick were the first to visit (after trying to sleep in the hospital hallway), and they found that she showed recognition when they first greeted her by trying to open her eyes and squeezing hands, in spite of having a breathing tube in her throat. She seemed to be somewhat less responsive after that, but each time a new family member came in the room and greeted her, she would turn toward that person to show recognition, even though she very rarely opened her eyes. She was clearly exhausted and still dealing with the after-effects of the operation and sedation. Because we had not slept the night before, all of the family members left the hospital around 11:00 pm and drove to N. Manchester for some sleep.