Walkies today at 7 Sisters

Madi's still doing really well, a bit bored with the lack of activity, so we went to a seven sisters for a walk today... cold and windy but invigorating.

She's back at Uni mornings only at the moment and feels she's fine to do her point location exam on Feb 2nd.

We both get tired more easily than usual, so we're sleeping more... probably a wise thing. It will take a while for Time to do its magic thing of fading away past fears and pains and allowing us to return to the comforting illusion that "all will be fine". (I know it kinda is... regardless but also, it kinda ain't, since "fine" is always  temporary for us all.) Oh shit, I'd better stop the existential drift here!

Xx

In the woods

Bit by bit...

Ok, enough flowers and cards...

Madi's doing really well... We aren't any closer to finding the cause though...

Hop, skip & jump... Madi showing off :)

http://youtu.be/KUxQ-XF2oQI

Walkies... Outside for the first time...

Come visit...

Madi's fine to have short visits... So if you'd like to see her for 10 mins or so, let me know when you want to come. Best not to have a large number or a constant barrage, but she does love seeing you, and it lifts her spirits. Xxm

Wriggly night, resting

I don't know if it's the fact that Madi's usually so physically active that she got the wriggles last night, but she was very restless and couldn't get comfortable last night.

What helped was to get up, stand and to shake her limbs. I'm guessing g it's like that itchy lactic acid thing one gets on ones legs late sometimes, and you get this impulse to suddenly bend or straighten your legs. Anyhow, she eventually got a good sleep and had 3 eggs on toast for brunch... Good job Madi! She's sleeping now, I'm a captive pillow.

Madi and Alish exercise

Pumping iron

Munching Naomi's delicious fish pie...

Yum!

Still tired but getting stronger

Madi's doing well, still low energy with fluffy head, a bit head-achy, but stronger.

Alish and I think she'd do well with some SHORT & CHEERFUL visits... So let me know if and when you plan on popping in so she's not overwhelmed.

Love and xxx'es

Resting at home

Madi's having a good rest at home, the 24hour ECG is about to be removed and she'll have a nice long bath.

She was a bit dizzy last night but probably all the chemicals they pumped her with to do the CT angoigram yesterday afternoon. Now she has a bit of a fluffy head, but no pain anywhere and very happy to be home.

She wants quiet at home before being visited, but maybe tomorrow or Monday... Xx

A reflection from home...

On the first day of this ordeal Madi was told she was going to have an experimental procedure to remove the clot from her brain, and she was scared she may die or become a vegetable. She asked "universe to help me", and she was told she needed some strong spirit to guide her. The spirit of one of her acupuncture teachers, Elio Bazagne appeared and told her to press all the vital points below the belly button along the Ren Mai channel. With her right hand she used her left, non functioning hand, to press into those points.... And it helped, both physically and mentally. Thank you darling Elio and all my ICOM family!

Two thumbs up!

Awesome news... Home Tonight !!

Madi's still having her scan but the doctor tells me there's no need to keep her since the one test only has results next week and they can't act on them, regardless of the results, for at least two weeks...
The other test is back logged for 6 weeks and we'll come back in February to have that.

In the meantime she'll take her meds and that will be that. What I hope for is for something to be found which tells us what happened, but which also shows it won't happen again.

Woo hooo, photo of Madi's happy face to follow... Xx

Poser poses before scan

Waiting and waiting and waiting for tests...

Now that Madi's not critical, it seems the system slows to a horrible crawl, NOTHING HAS HAPPENED in two days.

She has a 24h ECG attached, which took a few minutes to attach, and is waiting till God knows when for two more tests.

It's Friday, and there is a good chance they will only be able to do these tests in Monday... And that only hopefully thinking, they may not be able to do them then, and they can only be done as an in patient.

There's a bunch of geriatric patients here, the agents of doom in black cloaks come and read prayers to them, and the one woman CONSTANTLY calls "help... Help... Help..." all of which makes being here unpleasant for Madi.

She desperately wants to get out of here, but these tests are important. The one is to check for holes in the heart, the other is a CT Angiogram which is to check out the vessels in her neck and head for issues... All to try find the darned cause.

As I wrote the doctor I'd complained to, got her expedited to the one test now, see photo of her standing to get into wheelchair to go off for CT Angiogram. One down one to go... Great!

There will be some clot preventing pulls she'll take for life...  UNLESS they find something else they can fix.

We're all a bit impatient, but she WILL be home soon... Xx

Family almost back together again...

"Connecting" for quick recovery

Madi's resting, eating, had lovely chicken soup made by vania, I HAD to help her (^_-) But she's eating and going to the loo by herself, and all in all doing better...

They want to do a 24 hour ECG to see if that's all ok, and also another MRI to check. The nice Lebanese consultant here said they still want to find a cause, but I don't know how they plan doing that given Madi rarely has palpitations so they're unlikely to have any results there, and they still have not started that 24 hour period, so she won't be coming out tomorrow. Also they can't do a MRI with that ECG gear on.

Madi says she is very grateful for the people who were so effective in speedily calling the ambulance... Delaying things further could have caused a bigger and or fatal stroke.

Madi says she'd like to wait till she gets home before she sees her friends... So keep the messages coming!

BTW, if you post anonymously, write your name! Xx
Xxx

8:45 am phonecall

For some reason this hospital allows no visitors at all, not even me, till 3. So Idiotic and authoritarian yuk!
It's a huge ward six beds in a space about 9x the size of the ward in London, which also had 6 beds, and people are not in as criticality ill... The St George's crew seemed flexible but these seem to be making up restrictive rules just because they can.

Madi had a good night, a nurse who spoke to Madi's nurse tells me, the doctors haven't done their rounds yet, so there'll be more to report later. I am concerned she had such a bad migraine, and will ask why her headache got worse and why she got no alternative to paracetamol or ibuprofen.

I'll walk bonzo... If this rain stops. Xx

22h50 call to East Surrey hospital

Pretty bloody frustrating. When I left madi at about 8:15pm, Madi had been complaining of a severe headache for half an hour. She asked me to bring some pills that begin with a "C" tomorrow because the paracetamol she got at 1pm wasn't helpful. I had been asking the nurse to give her something else/stronger but the nurse didn't do anything, said she buzzed the doctor. I just called now and the nurse said the doctor hasn't seen her, she gave madi paracetamol again... Anyhow it seems madi has been sleeping, which is the most important thing, but jeez this government is screwing up the NHS with lack of funds.

There is no visiting at all before 3pm at that hospital, and I'll ask tomorrow to see if she wants/can have visitors... Xx

Madi at East Surrey hospital 19h55

First photo is on ambulance sleeping, and in new ward

She has a very bad migraine at the moment, perhaps the 1 hour journey in the ambulance.

She's very tired. I will ask about visiting hours and will post tomorrow if it's ok for her to receive visitors. It's more later back here, hopefully they'll leave her long enough to get decent sleep.

Xx

Physio said... 4pm

She's doing well, but not recommended for home just yet. Partially for safety, or at least their sign off for safety, and also to be active with local physio team via Redhill hospital which is much closer to our home. I will push hard to be out tomorrow.

Madi is snoozing now, when we're en route to Redhill in ambulance, I'll ask if she is ok with general close friends and family tomorrow. I'll let you know.

Walking again...

Snoozing beauty

Nut case managed a smile for you, 13:17pm

Madi's doing pretty well, her left face still a bit unresponsive to use like talking, eating etc.

I saw doctor, there isn't concern about drug she took, apparently Madi herself had brought that up with the doctor before I had arrived. It wasn't a hormone but some other thing. The clot has been found, they will analyse it! W'ell get copies of the ct scan and blood tests. All good.

Madi tried to get up and walk to the toilet without any permission from nurses and still attached to the drip. She demanded her slippers. I helped her stand though we were very quickly told to sit her down. She's still very wobbly on her legs, not safe at all, but she'll get there. Her mind is all there, perfect, and her feelings towards technology are unchanged... sadly (^_-)

Moving to Redhill today

Good news she's going to move closer to home, which means they are less concerned. She was awake all morning apparently, now is sleeping, I have not spoken to her yet.

She still has headaches and did take some medication for it.

The doctors are "too busy"  to talk to me, I wanted to tell them about our new thoughts about a possible cause and getting the clot and test results. Madi had taken some strong hormone stuff to try alleviate her intense beast pains, mastitis. This medicine was from Uzbekistan and is not legal in the UK.

Good sleep, Wednesday morning chat

Hi guys,

I was allowed to speak to Madi this morning on the phone, she sounded like she'd had some good rest, and was repetitively answering my questions about whether there was anything she wanted me to bring... Home, home, home...
I told her we need to get her strength up a bit more as she still hasn't eaten, she agreed in a voice that sounded like she was really saying "I know what I need, but I will say yes to keep you quiet". The good news is she slept and rested well. All she wanted were a pair of our guest slippers... I guess she plans to walk today... Lets hope she does!

Today I will see what I can do to get the clot back, get copies of scans etc to send to Tashkent. With our family there we are likely to get a far more thorough investigation... Though my current thought is this was a freak incident, because there are zero factors which indicate increased risk of stroke.

I will be there in less than an hour so will report again soon.

Comment here if you like, I will read them to her. I will let you all know when she can take visits and calls. Also, no Facebook please, I don't think she'd like that.

Xxxm

10pm check in

Madi still sleeping, a very good thing considering how little she has slept so far. She still hasn't eaten, today only a glass of orange juice and a small yogurt. But she's had a glass of water and is going to be put on a hydration drip overnight.

Goodnight all, speak tomorrow.

End of day 2 what the doctor said

Hi all,
So we eventually spoke to a doctor after making a forceful request every half an hour!

She said a few things.

The clot was large, stuck in the right cerebral artery. Affecting mostly her moment as opposed to memory or thinking or anything like that!

There is a bit higher chance of another stroke, but she'll be taking medication to thin blood etc...  This is despite the fact that they do not know the cause.

The sonar tests showed no irregularities in the heart, and there appears to be no restriction of flow in her arteries due to thickening or whatever. Also her blood contains very little cholesterol.

They are not going to analyse the clot, I think it's been sent to students to play with... But no information will come out way.

It looks like when Madi leaves depends on the rate of her recovery. She needs rest and sleep and that ward is so darn noisy and she is unable to sleep for any length of time due to incessant tests. I agree with Madi that she'd recover faster at home, but she'll benefit from all the physio and speech therapy (though that's improved a lot, and I'm hoping they'll throw in an elocution lesson or twelve (^_-).

The doctor said that she will have some physio tomorrow and depending on bed availability in Redhill she might be moved closer to home. Once at Redhill she will need some more physio before coming home for good!

Xx

15h08, physio been here

Still no doctors yet but they did a sonic heart scan, regulation, no problem that may have caused coagulation etc.

Physio came and they seated her on the edge of the bed, no standing yet. They said they'd try stand her tomorrow. She has good feeling in her left leg and arm but her left arm still lacks coordination and certainty of spacial position of fingers.

Madi keeps saying she wants to be home,  possibly not any more than I'd like that, but so long as there are concerns and tests to do, she needs to be here.

Apparently the physio guy said she was on a list to be moved back to local hospital, or maybe home given I can constantly be there, so Madi barked HOME!

Aah she is snoring again. They hardly give her a few minutes before they have to wake her for another test or something. Anyhow she looks like she is fast en route to returning to form, robowife with a golden heart. Perhaps her overdoing things had some effect? Who knows?

13h35 zzz

Madi is snoring... Heavenly Sounds... She needs it, she was very tired.

There are lots of random noises and conversations going on in here but with 5 minutes of snoring, things are looking good.

They say that during visiting hours the doctors are around for questions, so between 3 and 5 I should have a few more answers.

12h30 Tues

Madi is tired, didn't sleep at all last night she says, the nurses say she's only had a glass of orange juice so far today, she's not hungry and is now trying to sleep.

12pm Tuesday at hospital, no causes known

Madi's doing pretty well!
She's having some neck scan thing at the moment, but she's adamant she wants to go home today... Still has a weak left arm but can move the arm and all her fingers...

I haven't spoken to the doctors yet, I'll be mentioning to them the heart palpitations she'd been having, though nowhere near as often as mine and she says she had none on Monday. I don't know if they can or will find a cause. I will pursue the questions as far as I can.

What happened yesterday

Madi had had a flu with aches and pains and a cough for 10 days. She went to London on Sunday and came back with a new symptom, a sore throat. Madi woke on Monday Jan 5th with a headache and wasn't feeling well, but being the soldier she is, she went to university.

At about 1pm she was in the canteen with a friend and felt weak, so she sat down and her speech began slurring. She tried to get up but fell. An ambulance was called and Alex came to fetch me from home.

The ambulance tool 30 minutes to arrive then spent a while doing tests to see if it wasn't a heart issue, so they could decide which hospital to take her to. Madi was put in the ambulance and we went to Redhill hospital. There they ran tests and scans and saw the clot in the right side of her brain. They gave her some chemicals to try to dissolve the clot.

At this time madi was paralysed on her left side. She could not move her left arm or leg and her face was sagging on the left side.

The doctor explained to me that there was a chance this would dissolve the clot, but they had contacted St George's hospital in Tooting who do an experimental procedure. He explained if the chemicals did not work, she could never get that half of her body back, or worse, she could have a fatal stroke. He said they have been sent the scans and will shortly let him know if she meets the criteria for doing the procedure. A few minutes later they said Madi was a candidate for the procedure, so I agreed to go for it... so after a while we were back in the ambulance and off to London.

At St George's, they did an angiogram to check her arteries, and after 90 mins they came to say they had successfully removed the clot by passing a stent up her leg artery and into her brain, encapsulating the clot and dragging it out.

After another hour or so, we were allowed to see her. She was already vastly improved. She could move her left leg and arm, all her fingers, and her face had improved a lot too. Her speech had also improved a lot.

She refused painkillers and told me to track down the clot, so they could bottle it and send it to her dad, Iskander who is a professor of medicine on Uzbekistan.

Alish and my brother Greg met me at the hospital shortly after Madi had gone in, their presence was such a relief after an incredibly horrific day.

Hi friends of Madi

I apologise for the blog, but my wife is so loved, the constant correspondence is wonderful and moving, but also is exhausting for me, and more importantly, will be for madi once she's out... So please try to get as much basic info from this blog, and keep visits and conversations short and supportive. 

The latest today is she's been moved to the third floor out of intense care and will be seen by doctors this morning. We have no explanation of why this happened. I will try to find out so we can avoid this happening again. She will have another scan at about 1pm and we'll know how her brain is doing physically. 

I'm on the train and will be with her in an hour.