Not your everyday welcome home. Forgive the spelling and terrible grammar. Very tired but so many people want to know whats been going on.
My last post was done in Singapore. All was going well, but Age had another headache and was feeling pretty drained.
its been a very emotional 24 hours.. Since landing back in Aus...considering too, the last time I slept was Friday very early am in London. As far as eating.. I think I had something in Dubai.. I dont even remember.
Anyway....Some background and hindsight gives more clues.. as it always does. Age had been getting headaches for about two weeks, they came in waves but manageable with nurophen... But alot of it. And again, I didnt realise how much till now..We didn't think too much of it as I had been getting migraines too - all emotionally based responses.. As well as we both had fevers and coughs- flu perhaps? And were effected by motion sickness from the boat. So bla bla.. Lots of reasons why we didnt think to much about them as being more serious than it was .
Back to the last 24 hours...
About an hour into the flight to Brisbane from Singapore, Adrian's migraine got worse, so he chugged the new megga dose ibufren tablets I picked up in Dubai.. I shudder to think how much he had in his bloodstream. I forced him to drink lots of water but he got dizzy and delusional. He says he doesn't remember much at all.
One of the air-hostesses suggested dome oxygen would help and over the next few hours as he slipped in and out of conciousness, Age was hooked up on a mask and bottle with regular obs with the medical team on the ground in Brisbane.
There really wasnt much else to go but fly faster...
Though he seemed ok and refused to get further help when we landed, when I saw a spare wheel chair, i ordered him into it. Still protesting he was fine, after he nearly fell out of the wheelchair, i got a police escort through customs and into an ambulance. I knew this was no ordinary headache and something very wrong was going on.
The kids and I followed in the car.
At hospital they ran lots of tests and scans as he collapsed and looked like he had a stroke. He is in alot of pain so on huge doses of morphine and something else. It was heart wrenching to watch and be so helpless - but knew he was in good hands.
The kids were dead on their feet but wree really good about it sll.
the CT scans came back with very bad news. Significant brain swelling very very bad. He became unresponsive except for a squeeze of a hand in mine every so often as a yes to a question i may ask on what he wanted to do. But soon after, he was totally unresponsive.
He was on steroids as well to reduce swelling, but didnt respond to it well.
Back to kids.. it was 1 am..Mum and Dad rock. They drove up in the middle of the night to meet me in Willowbank. Age was in as stable condition as he could be and I needed to look after the kids welfare.
I did not want to leave Ages side but knew too I needed to get the kids away so I could focus on him 100%.
With the swelling continuing and Age in significant pain, the next step was to look at surgery to relieve the pressure. I called Lisa - Adrians beautiful cousin at 4 am to be with me. Earlier that night when hed been lucid, Id asked him who he wanted me to contact and she was top of the list. He hadnt wanted anyone else and was pretty agitated when I suggested others. I really felt I needed to respect what he wanted
Lis was and is amazing.
Age got wheeled off to an MRI and we believed onto surgery. A few hours later he was put into ICU and we sat with him. I was very happy the doctors were being cautious and not go straight in.
The swelling had abated and although things were - and are touch and go, every hour he improves.
He opened his eyes at about four pm and was able to answer some simple questions in single words. A huge leap in condition.
I got a few hours sleep in a nearby hotel and returned at nine pm. So glad to see him looking about and speaking slowly. He has his own nurse- who is lovely.. And he has shown his cheeky side and sense of humour.. All good things.
He is still not out of the woods, its 2.30 am and I cant sleep, waiting for a call anytime.
He has another MRI tomorrow morning and i will meet with the nuros for an update. Ill update the blog as I have more news.
Short visits are allowed, but he can't speak on phone. He is in intensive care unit on level four of the RBH, you need to go through security to gain access and permission to visit. I know hed love visitors with positive energy.
