Mary Ann at home

Mary Ann graduated from the hospital to home. No, that doesn't mean she is all healed, it just means that in the slow process of overcoming the devastation of a stroke, she is now able to do all that she was doing at the hospital at home. She cannot walk on her own, she cannot feed herself, but she can talk in sentences and she can do exercises of both upper and lower body. She gets around with the use of a wheel chair. The next goal for Mary Ann is to use a walker with little or no assistance.

Sunday July 10 at 12:30, we are going to be in Midway to see our granddaughter get baptized in the pond at Hilma's home, which is just across the street from the Homestead. Hilma's home has been used as the headquarters for the Palmer Family Reunion during this past week.

Ada Palmer's baptism will be a big adventure for Mary Ann. After the ride from Provo and watching the baptism she will be able to rest on a bed at Hilma's to regenerate preparatory to returning to home.

July 1st

Yes, July 1st is an optimistic date set to get Mary Ann home. She is walking with a walker and two assistants helping her to make sure she stays balanced. She is doing 75% of the work. Very good progress from two months ago when she was lucky to blink and that was it.

The slogan on the floor reflects Mary Ann's great attitude, she is a real trooper trying so hard each day, so she can return home asap.

She has started to eat solid foods as of two days ago. Soft foods such as yogurt, apple sauce are her current mainstay foods; however, she is eating more and more solid foods each new day.

More Good News

Mary Ann moved from the Utah Valley Specialty Hospital to the Utah Valley Regional Medical Rehabilitation Center which is at the south end of the hospital. This is the main hospital on 5th West in Provo. They immediately removed her IV and catheter which now allows much more freedom of movement.

The goal for UVRMC Rehab Center is to ready her for returning home. It is intensive physical therapy (body strength), occupational therapy for personal readiness, meaning bathroom chores, getting dressed, etc. and speech therapy which is swallowing, eating, forming words, cognition and remembering.

She is in room 2677, and she can receive guests during the noon hour and after 3:30 PM until approximately 8 PM.

Good News

Mary Ann is progressing to the point that they were able to remove the tracheotomy tube from her throat yesterday afternoon. This is really good news. Mary Ann is making adjustments and is still not fully able to speak or mold words like you or I would normally expect; but it is happening little by little.

As you might note her hair is growing back quite quickly, nurses and every visitor notes that there are no grey hairs but just nice beautiful coloration of a red/brownish hue.

Birthday Bash May 29th

Mary Ann celebrated her birthday with cupcakes, flowers, good cheer, birthday song, birthday beads, birthday caps, banner, cards.

Jennifer Legas and Adam, Gunnar, Cooper, Mia and Kes. Gayle and Vic Deauvono added their bright smiles and beautiful voices to the Happy Birthday song plus the balloons and other birthday paraphernalia.

Connie Lee from our ward had a bunch of members sign her beautifully decorated and impeccably calligraphied birthday banner which graced the hospital wall with love.

The Baughman's who now serve as Mission Presidents in Budapest Hungary sent the beautiful flowers.

Patience

"You will learn the lesson of patience" said L. Tom Perry when he heard about Mary Ann's stroke. That is oh so true! Mary Ann continues to progress with lot's of activities towards reconnecting brain neurons leading her back to pre-stroke normalcy. She is advancing daily; it just doesn't feel like it when you contrast what happened in the morning with the evening. But, when you compare her today versus two weeks ago the difference is remarkable, especially considering it takes a baby a year to go from birth to crawling/walking.

Our daughter, Stephanie Blad and her daughter Addie are shown here comforting Mary Ann.

She had the Young Men and Young Women of the Grandview 21st Ward sing,

she had a gastrostomy tube inserted into her stomach for feeding rather than the tube through her nose, she walked 50 feet with a harness to hold her body frame, she walked in between the parallel bars, she passed the swallow test and now is breathing with a nose oxygen supply rather than a big respirator valve. If she continues on this pathway, she will be able to have the tracheotomy tube removed from her throat in a few more days. That will make everyone happy especially Mary Ann. Her hair is growing back fast since the operation on April 1st.

She is now at day 54 since the stroke occurred.

Jennifer Legas, our daughter here in Provo pose with "Grammy". Gunnar,

Cooper and Mia share in the joy of being with their grandmother. Because Mary Ann likes to hike, we celebrated the day before Mother's Day by hiking the "Y" mountain (even Sophie our dog made the climb).

75 FEET

Yes, Mary Ann piloted her wheel chair 75 feet yesterday. Slow and steady is what is happening in her progress, like mentioned before, 2% a day for 50 days is 100% better.

Her movements reflect a certain degree of awkwardness, yet she is really doing her exercises well. She is bicycling with her hands as one exercise, lifting her legs and a whole bunch of physical therapy challenges being exacted on her by a very competent staff here at the Utah Valley Specialty Hospital. Today they pushed her twice as hard, taking her to the gym once for 45 minutes working on her upper body and the second time her whole body for an hour. This was monumental. But all the activity wore her out and she has been doing a lot of resting this afternoon.

We are still wishing she was doing better with her swallowing. Her speech therapist gives her tests that determine whether or not she can swallow without aspirating the small amounts of liquid colored with blue kool aid. Sometimes she does really well and other times she fails. It is frustrating to her and to us as onlookers. As Dr.Reichman, the surgeon who operated on her said, sometimes two steps forward and another step backwards, that is what we should be prepared to witness. He is right. But we are happier than ever with her progress.

Thank You!

Fast Sunday has come and gone. We are again and again amazed by your kindness. Not a day goes by without someone telling us they are praying for Mary Ann,  have fasted for her or put her name on a prayer roll. We thank you and are excited to tell you she continues to progress. Her doctors have always said from the beginning there would be many ups and downs and currently the doctors think it best that she only receive visits from family. Her days are full of therapy and she needs down time to focus on healing. Her arms and legs are getting stronger each day but she is still struggling to make progress  swallowing. Please continue to pray for her. We feel blessed and connected to so many through your well wishes and kindnesses. 

Great Week

Good news, the speech therapist in working with Mary Ann by-passed the tracheotomy to test her abilities to speak and it resulted in getting two words out yesterday, "David" (maybe it confirms that I am #1 in her life) and "Addie" (Stephanie's baby born six months ago).

She is exhausted each day because the hospital physical therapists are exercising her to her maximum. Her exercises include, today's standing in a contraption that holds her up over a tread mill that allows her to spend a few minutes in an upright position with lots of support attempting the motions of walking. Sitting on the side of bed with help in order to exercise her whole frame. She has three different types of therapists, physical (the whole body), upper body and speech.

Progress is happening each day, sometimes with some real frustrations. As Mary Ann's brain continues to heal and "awaken" it also brings headaches, anxiety and accidents. The other night she pulled out her feeding tube and tracheotomy tube which created a temporary problem, yet the next morning she was back working hard through her exercises with the therapists.

Mary Ann, your courage and strength are an inspiration!

All in all, the 2% formula mentioned last week still applies as she slowly mends. Her progress is like a roller coaster with ups and downs and yet achieving overall progress.

Also, all in all the power of prayers are sustaining her rehabilitation. The power of everyones love for her is palpable. She feels it and we the family feel it. Thank you very much for your prayers and prayer role submissions, submitted all over the world. A friend has added her name to his faith's 10,000 email prayer chain.

TWO PERCENT

Mary Ann's condition is improving by 2 % daily, in 50 days that means she will be 100% better. That is our hope. She is doing the hard work necessary to get her motor mechanisms working again.

Briefly, the hemorrhage occurred in her cerebellum which controls her motor functions of the body. Her mental acuity is as great as ever. Its got to be frustrating knowing you are locked in a body that you can't control.

The 30 second video will give you an idea as to how well she is doing. Keep up the good work Mary Ann. We all love you.

Ups and Downs This Week

Ups and downs were part of the predicted pathways, well that came about this week. Monday good day, Tuesday good and bad day--tried to remove respiratory tube and that didn't work, oxygen mask made for extremely labored breathing, tube reinserted. The good news was they were able to remove the drain tube from her brain.

Wednesday. interesting day, first thing a tracheotomy was performed to make sure her vocal chords wouldn't be damaged and also to assist in better breathing for the future. Rested throughout the morning, but in the afternoon she truly perked up and started to move her arms and toes better than ever. Thursday, continued improvement where it was determined that she could leave the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center (UVRMC). At 4PM she was transferred to Utah Valley Specialty Hospital in the Riverwoods area of Provo. The primary purpose is to strengthen her and wean her off of the respiratory assist. Utah Valley Specialty Hospital is located at 306 West River Bend Lane, Provo, Utah 84040. http://uvsh.ernesthealth.com/

The good news about this hospital is that she can have visitors and that she is making steady improvement. She was greeted by Vic Deauvono singing Maria from West Side Story and Gayle Deauvono giving her a coconut oil rub down. So many do so much, walk the dog, clean the house, read to her, assist in physical therapy, etc.

We love you all and again appreciate the words of encouragement, your prayers and all that you do in showing your love to Mary Ann.

New News

Here are just a few new updates that you might not have heard about. Tomorrow mom will, most likely, get the drain tube taken out of her head (I could tell you the technical term for it but then I'd have to kill you). The arterial line in her left arm came out a couple days ago because her blood pressure is normalized. That just leaves a line in her right arm, a feeding tube up her nose and a couple tubes down her throat to get rid of. Is it a lofty goal to be tube free by the end of the week? She is continuing to move toes and squeeze our hands, blink to yes and no questions, and she can open her mouth a little. The doctor assures us, as do the nurses, that she won't remember any of the unpleasantness of her ICU experience. She is poked and prodded all day and night; this is not the place to catch up on sleep.

We have enjoyed all of your visits, cards, food, flowers, prayers, calls, gifts, songs, & LOVE. We love you!

Downs and Ups

Yesterday was a bit of a bummer. Mary Ann seemed hot and didn't do any of her tricks from the day before, wiggling toes and general alertness. Those were the downs of yesterday but today she's on the up and up again. She looks really good, more swelling having gone down in her neck and her eyes don't look as drowsy. She has had a lot more movement to report: toes, full leg (although the leg movement seems involuntary), and yes, drum roll please, she squeezed her hand! She seems comfortable and hasn't asked for additional pain meds. We've been reading to her, doing physical therapy, massaging legs and arms, and filling her in on the happenings outside of UVRMC. Overall, this has been a great day and after yesterday this is what we needed.
We need to apologize for ever letting a post go by where we fail to mention all the love, prayers, treats, care, well-wishes sent our way. We feel it, we appreciate all you have done for us and Mary Ann. We are (not Mary Ann, she rocks!) undeserving of the magnitude of love poured our way.

More Thank You's

Mary Ann's darling feet and fancy pedicure (we'll take color suggestions for her next pedicure, we need to mix things up!)

Like my dad stated, words cannot express how thankful we are to all of you for your prayers of healing and comfort. We really feel the good vibes coming our way and are thrilled at the progress that mom has made. Today she was very wakeful and can move her toes on command. She is also able to blink to yes and no questions. 
We'd like to mention some other fun things we are thankful for: permanent cosmetics (all the nurses are impressed), cool nurses, texas sheet cake, disco physical therapy moves, evening serenades, coconut oil (our lotion and massage oil of choice) and of course cute toes. 

THANKS TO EVERYONE

There have so many nice people conveying words of support and love, it is almost overwelming in such a nice and sweet way. We know that Heavenly Father answers prayers and those answers have come through people like you. Each of you are most appreciated by everyone in the family. Thank you seems so inadequate, but thanks anyway. David Pollei

Cognition & Movement

We got permission from Barb (her lovely nurse) to wake up mom again and bug her. We've been asking her to blink twice to questions and she is cognizant of what is going on, although the doctor said she won't remember between wakings. What we know: she prefers to wake to her girl's voices, she wants a pedicure, she can't move her hands or toes yet but has moved her legs, and the hospital has amazing chocolate malts.

Eyes Open!!!

Mary Ann has opened her eyes and recognizes us. She hasn't been able to squeeze our hand or wiggle her toes but she can blink answers. It is super exciting but we hope now she's out of the coma she isn't scared and overwhelmed.
Thank you for all your prayers!!! We are so happy with this big step forward.

Weekend Update

UVRMC we woke up to snow blanketing everything. so pretty even if it is spring!

You may not know this but mom is rocking the shaved head look (tempted to post a picture of her at the hospital but not sure if she would like). The weekend was restful and healing. Her doctor told us that coming out of the coma could take a day, a week, a few weeks. We remain hopeful that she will soon come to but if not we'll chalk it up to her brain needing more time to heal. We do know she fluttered her eyes open a couple of times. Yippee! Her color looks better everyday. 

Getting technical...

artist credit: Dr. Howard Reichman medium: light blue hospital flat sheet 

To the left is pictured an example of a normal functioning blood line including artery, capillaries, veins, with pressure amounts. Right is an example of what happened in mom's case. Due to the malformation the pressure was at 50% instead of 4% and hemorrhaged. I really don't know what I'm talking about so visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_arteriovenous_malformation. 
Thank you for the prayers!

Dear Friends and Family,

We thought we'd start a little blog to keep everyone updated on Mary Ann's progress.  

First of all, we can't thank you enough for all the kind words.  Your love, prayers and support have meant so much.  We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family.

The meals and treats have been so delicious, but the love you all have shown means more than you will ever know. 

Grammy had a cerebral hemorrhage on Friday morning.  Luckily she was able to call 911 in time for them to get her and rush her to the hospital.  She was taken to the emergency room at UVRMC.  We count it as a miracle that one of the premiere neurosurgeons in the world, Dr. Howard R. Reichman was at the hospital and was able to rush her into surgery.

She was in surgery for four hours to repair two ruptured blood vessels at the base of her brain.

The doctors said the surgery went as well as it possibly could.  She was placed in a medically induced coma for the next 48 hours.

This morning she was taken off the sedation.  She remains in a coma, but is not on life support.  She is breathing well on her own and her temperature and heart rate are fine.  Amy and Steph were able to fly out here to Provo right away.  The whole family, and many great friends have been with her the entire time as we wait for her to recover.

Once again, we just want to thank all of you so much for your love and support.  We love you all very much.  Check back as we will try to keep you posted as often as possible.