Nitty Gritty Details and Other Events

To answer a few questions that were asked today:

• Yes, Rach is seeing an Ophthalmologist Thursday (5/7/08). Since one of the issues with Susac's syndrome is retinal problems, an eye examine will essentially confirm that Rach has Susac's.
• Rach will be on the Solumedrol through tonight then start a tapering course of Prednisone.
• The course for chemo, being used as an immuno-suppressant, has not been decided. She will receive it on either a 7 day or 10 course.

Earlier, the rehab doctor wanted to show Liisa and me Rachael's MRI's and asked if it was OK for one of the nurses to watch Tala. We agreed since Tala knows all the nurses pretty well from hanging out up there for 3 weeks.

When we got back upstairs, from viewing the MRI's, all the nurses were gathered with horrified looks on their faces. As we turned the corner, from down the hall I heard, "Found her" and suddenly all the nurses and aids looked relieved. Being on a rehab unit with a lot of brain injuries, you soon discover that these people have a tendency to wander so we weren't alarmed. The extraordinary concern made sense when we saw that a security guard had Tala in tow. What? they hadn't lost a patient, they lost Tala from the time we left.

The nurse sealed her fate in losing Tala. She said, "do you want to go play?" In Tala's mind, play is play, and she has endured enough long hours there. So ANYONE suggesting something fun is going to get a full dose of fun. She immediately said to the nurse,"Sure, let's play hide and go seek".... and bolted for her favorite hiding spot. The nurse said she tried to "keep up with her" but when she rounded the corner Tala was "no where to be found."

They had every floor looking for Tala. Considering we were gone about 15 minutes, they were getting pretty concerned. One thing you have to understand about Tala is she is extremely diligent at hiding and she will not give away her hiding spot. She would never leave the floor, go into another patients room and just play in the lounge area, if not in moms room. I knew exactly where she had hidden because I had found her there earlier. To be honest, its probably one of the best hiding spots I've ever seen.

She was so proud as she was being escorted back... "Grandpa, we played hide and go seek and NO ONE could find me!" She didn't have a clue that she nearly had a hospital in lock down, it was a shining moment of hide and go seek victory for her.