what we now know

What we now know, after arriving at the hospital at 6:20AM and intercepting a doctor at 6:45, is that Mom's rash is definitely the result of the vancomycin-- yet another thing she's allergic to. She's going to be switched to daptomycin.

What we still don't know, frustratingly, is what her MRI and EEG results are. This was the reason why we chose to arrive at the hospital so early today: to learn those results. The doc assured us that he'd ask the relevant departments to get back to him with the data, but this is roughly the same assurance we'd gotten last night. I'm not hopeful.

Mom was asleep when we gowned up and walked into her room, but she woke up not long after we'd entered. She's still aphasic; when the doctor saw her, she was unable to say her own name. Strangely, she was able to whisper my name, and the name of the current president. She couldn't tell us what the month or year was, but when the doc asked, "How many fingers am I holding up?", she immediately gave the correct answer: "Two." The doc says this sort of aphasia is to be expected, given the parts of the brain that have been affected by the tumor, its resection, the subsequent infection, and the second surgery. The stoppage of Mom's anti-seizure meds probably didn't help matters. I think they're going to start her on those again, or they already have done so. (UPDATE, 11:56AM: They did start her up again.)

It promises to be another long day.


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