Angela

For friends of mine that want to know what happened to Angela....here is what we know.



I rec'd a call that Angela was on the floor in her house unresponsive a couple of days ago. Myself and my sister rushed over there to find her laying at the foot of her bed on the floor. She was unresponsive at that time and the bedroom and bathroom were covered with vomit and blood. (combined...no external injuries) I had my sister monitor her and try to get a response from her as her breathing was very irregular while I called 911.



Admitted to St.Thomas hospital until stable enough to be transferred to University hospital in London. At this point still unresponsive and sky-rocketing blood pressure. She had been seizuring at home as well as at the hospital.



Extensive tests done at U.H. and had to drill a hole in skull to relieve pressure build-up on the brain. E.E.G. done as well as a brain scan. It showed trauma throughout the brain as well as a shift in the brain itself.

Went in for surgery last night to remove some bone from her skull to allow more pressure relief from the brain. As the surgeon put it, " there is so much pressure on it that if I cut it open at the top of the skull, her brain would literally fly out of the opening."



All the while, Angela is in a coma....and this time it is not medically induced. Surgery was successful but the next couple of days will tell if the swelling will subside or not.



At the time of writing, Angela is still in a coma and is unresponsive to any testing done by the staff. The prognosis is not very promising. If in fact Angela comes out of this alive, it is more than likely she will have extensive brain damage and will never be the same again. At this point also, she is unable to support her own basic body functions and is still on life support.



I will attempt to update as any news becomes available. Please keep her and our family in your thoughts and prayers.



Note: The medical team is still unsure as of the root cause of all of this.




Feb 20/11 : As of last night, Angela is still in the same condition, the brain swelling is still an issue and it has been determined that she did have a couple of small hemmorages in the front left lobe of the brain. She is currently taking up to 10 breaths per minute on her own. The staff did some pain stimulus testing last night but said the only recieved a very small amount of response. The Neuro team will be doing thier rounds this morning and hopefully I can provide more details later today.




Feb 21/11 : Well unfortunately not too much positive to report. I just got home from the hospital (what a crappy drive) and things still seem to be status quo. With it being the weekend and today Family Day, there is not a lot of staff available for the extensive testing of the brain etc. Hopefully early in the week we can get back to business. Angela is still in a coma and unable to support her own body functions. My ealier comment about her being able to take up to 10 breaths per minute was incorrect. I guess I misinterpreted that one. She still requires the ventilator all the time. There are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding all this but them seem to be pointing the finger towards un-checked high blood pressure being the major contributor to her condition. More Cat Scans and MRIs will hopefully show the extent of the brain damage and we can go from there. As crazy as my family can be at times, I am happy to say that we are all 110% focused on Angela and have been very supportive of one another during this trying time. Thank you also to each and every one of you who has shown thier support during all of this.



Feb 21/11 1:15pm: Just got a call that Angela's kidneys are shutting down and they are beginning dialysis.. :(