I spoke with Tom this morning. His sister, Jackie, and I have set up a schedule that I call in the morning and she calls in the afternoon. When Jackie called yesterday, he was really feeling miserable (his word). When I called this morning, he was much better. He said that the headache was not bothering him for the first time this morning. The drain is still clamped off, and they are monitoring the pressure in his brain quite closely, according to his nurse. I always ask to speak to the nurse first and then to him directly. Yesterday, he received some candy from me and some cookies from L Jackie, but did not get the charger yet, and that is all he seems to care about. He quickly dismissed the other gifts saying that he tried one cookie and it made him sick, so we are not doing too well in the gift front. If anybody has any better ideas, please send them to him. He wants to go home, but of course, that is not possible yet. He lives alone and needs careful monitoring. I called back again after talking to him and had a long conversation with his nurse, who told me that he is eating the cookies and candy, but that they are monitoring his sodium and sugar levels, so he cannot have too much at one time. I also asked about the diagnosis and she said that whenever there is bleeding on the brain, it is classified as a hemorrhagic stroke. The bleeding on the brain is why he was admitted and the low sodium is just a side effect of bleeding on the brain, not the cause of it, as Tom thinks.
Since Tom seems to think that he will go home soon, I spoke to the nurse about this, too, and she said that he will not go directly home, but will go to a rehab facility when he is ready. I asked if that rehab facility could be on the West Coast, and she said yes, that the social worker will talk to us to make arrangements, but that will not be for quite a while. Jackie and I are discussing this. We want him back close to family.
