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July 28th, 2006

Mama

Mama had a fall in her room at home (she lives with my sister, brother-in-law and niece) a couple weeks ago. She caught herself on her dresser, scraped her arm a little and possibly hit her head. She seemed pretty okay, though.

As time went on, though, she developed a small bruise on the right side of her face, in front of her ear.

She finally went to have it checked out yesterday, since she was beginning to have a headache and such. They didn't find anything then, but on the way home she started having periods of non-lucidity and slurred speech (my niece was driving).

She went for a CT scan of her head this morning (it was scheduled anyway, just to be sure). She had a night of in-and-out of lucidity. My sister is a former nurse and a medical transcriptionist now. So she watched over Mama and checked on her every half hour all night. She helped get her ready for her appointment this morning. Usually Mama has been so independent, taking care of herself and all. This is so unlike her...

Anyway, Mama has a subdural hematoma (bleeding between the brain and skull). This could have happened even with a jar to the head, not even knocking it on something. She is in hospital now and the neurosurgeon is on the way. Then we will know if/when they are going to do surgery and drain the blood out, what the prognosis is and so on.

I sound calm now, but I think it might be all the prayers and thoughts from folks. If you-all would also do so, I'd appreciate it. Mama's first name is Emalene, she's 87 years old, and she is in a hospital on the outskirts of Tampa, Florida, USA.

Update on Mama

She is being admitted for observation. The neurosurgeon wants to wait two days and do another scan. He wants to see if it stabilizes or progresses. My sister says this is a logical call. They are going to make Mama comfortable and give her something for pain and also to reduce swelling (the brain is a little swollen in there).

More as more information comes along. Cat'r is here and Bunnicula is also, as always. :-)