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My Sister
i just thought i would update you on my sister in the accident in december (if you remeber) she was recently moved back to the ICU due to some sort of an infection at first they said menengitis but then they said a staff infection under the area they had just giving her a surgery. They had accidently tooken out the CSF Drain so they did a emergency surgery to drain some of the fluid. She had a servere allergic reaction to a antibiotic they were giving her. Yesterday they moved back to the TRACU, she has gotten a talking trach now, but they have not tried a plug beacuase she became to sick to try. She is reponding ok she still doesn't talk or it doesn't look like she is trying. She communicates very well with her right foot, she waves with it and back and forth for "yes" and up and down for "no" they origanally thought she was blind but they canceled that because she will hold up the same amount of fingers and the person testing her, they do think she may be seeing double vision so they have a patch on her eye and they said they will rotate it ocaaisonally. they are also going to put a shut in her head. if you ask her how old her sone is she will hold up 4 fingers or if u ask her how old she is she will hole up 2 and 2 scince she is 22. the nurses also say when she is in therepy she will do yes and no movements with her head and responds to about 90% of there commands. she coughs when they ask her too and moves in positions they ask her to. her movements are kind a sparatic , i mean like she trys but they arn't what a un-injured persons would be. she still kicks alot and seems to be annoyed. it seems like she should just be able to get up and talk and walk its werid, when i go visit her she is so responsive its like why is she not talking and why does she seem like she is just groggy or out of it? my question for you is, i know everyone is different but they say there is a usal pattern TBI patients follow is this "normal" to seem so there but not just all the way ??? She seems like she is traped and understands that and is upset about it. And also the shunt i know can has complications is it normally safe and relivent???
Answer:
Dr. Joshua
Hi and thanks for the update. I'm glad to hear she is responding and recovery has started. It's a long road for her - at this point all you can do is be patient and give her time. The first 6 months will give an idea of the extent of recovery, but improvement can happen even after a year or two.
A shunt has its risks, mainly because it's a mechanical device in a biological system - it may get clogged, infected, and so on. But neurosurgeons are used to dealing with shunt problems, and sometimes a patient will not recover without a shunt.
Please keep us posted on your sister's recovery, and feel free to ask more questions here.