Yesterday, the right side of Tom's body became temporarily paralyzed on the way to the clinic around 8am. It subsided but returned a few hours later while still at the clinic. The doctor scheduled an MRI but Tom got tired of waiting and left. Later that afternoon the paralysis returned and my mom called me in a panic saying that he had lost all motor control. He had an "accident" in the bathroom - my mom cleaned him up, put his clothes in a trashbag, and managed to carry him a short distance to the couch. He was no longer able to stand up.
Fortunately, I was right around the corner at Katie's school so I was able rush home. When I arrived, Tom was in pretty bad shape. He wasn't talking. He was lying on the couch with towels under him and on top of him - he had just urinated. Everything was happening so fast. Tom is extremely thin so seeing him like that, no matter how often I do, always makes me gasp.
We called the clinic and they told us to take him to the emergency room. We were able to dress him and carry him to the car with the help of neighbors. We got to the ER, they put him in a room, gave him some medicine for his excruciating headache, took vitals, "interviewed" us, and finally admitted him to the Bone Marrow Transplant ward once again (same room he was in 3 weeks ago). I tell people it's our timeshare.
The doctors put him back on steroids - a double dose - as well as anti seizure medicine. They aren't yet sure what is going on. For now, he isn't on any other medicine. Before I left the hospital today, a radiologist wheeled a big machine into his room. She was about to take a carotid arteriogram. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/1152.htm
That's all I know. The nurse thinks he will come home tomorrow. He can't walk at all now so we will continue to have caregivers during the weekdays. Thanks to Tom's dad, my mom, and my aunt Norma for helping out - we really couldn't do it without you.
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