Friday, December 22, 2006

Not sure how you want to post this and I know its super long, but here's the story....Damon

Although we are about 3 weeks into it, I'll try to add a detailed description of how this all began so that all can know the soup to nuts. (no pun intended). I mean, who really wants to walk into a movie after missing the beginning? I applaud you all for sticking around for this entire” motion picture" even after missing the opening acts, but I guess you've invested already, the story was that compelling, or you have TIVO. Well, allow me to press rewind...- The night before...Mark, according to many sources, was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed coming off of his work day. This may very well have been the first sign that went unnoticed.- The early morning of...I went to bed before Mark came home, but woke up in the middle of the early morning for no reason at all. My sleep cycle has been off for quite a while, but enough about me. I remember him making the usual overnight trip to the restroom. I heard a little extra noise, but nothing that necessarily set off any car alarms or incited any howling dogs. I eventually went back to bed and woke up around 7:30-8am. While in my room banging around on my mac, I heard through my far from sound-proof door the usual morning movement from my 2 roommates, Mark being one. They both leave right around the same time on most mornings. After all the commotion, I could only hear myself typing again. I realized around 8:30pm that I needed to grab an item out of Marks room, so I opened my door and walked straight into this room. His door was wide open. Through his partitioning IKEA shelving unit, I saw his bed, and then saw a pair of feet. I bent around to see and discovered that Mark was still in bed. I'm no detective, but it was certainly unusual for him to be in bed, asleep no less, with his door wide open. I had assumed he wasn't home, very little did I know. So, I inquired about his state, and why he wasn't out the door, or at least in the shower...- drama escalation...He began telling me about a very strange dream that occurred the night before. He told me that in the middle of this dream a woman who was initially pleasing to the eye became instantly demonic, though he doesn't believe in that stuff. He immediately awoke from this shocking moment with an intense headache, shortness of breath, and blurred vision. I think this is when he made his vertigo like trip to the rest room around 4-5 in the am. He went back to bed after this episode and more than likely left his door open because he was only trying to get right back to bed so that his symptoms would subside. We started talking about a few other topics, one of which was a conversation he had the night before with a mutual friend of ours, Derrick. He told me they both had a good laugh at my expense, but despite that, he loved me and he only makes fun because of this so-called "love", ha. I never doubted him, plus it works both ways. He firmly shook my hand and told me that he'd get up soon and make an attempt to go to work. - The second red flag showed up right about... now. As I assumed things were normal, I gestured to leave thinking the conversation was over, but Mark began to tell the same story about the dream he had, followed by the same story about how him and Derrick were making fun of me, followed by "I love you, you're a good friend"...He added this time to his dream episode that he really felt like he was going to die when he couldn't catch his breath and was experiencing intense pain. Then, he told these stories again... For a minute I thought that he was repeating the stories for emphasis, but it occurred to me that he was telling me these stories as if it were the first time he told them. I eventually offered to get him some Advil and o.j. - and my level of concern increased, but wasn't yet at high alert...After about 20 minutes, his trip to the bathroom was hardly successful. His balance was compromised to the point where he had to support himself on walls and countertops. It seemed as if his strength was far from 100%, and additionally his blurred vision only exacerbated his balance, or lack thereof. Plot thickens...When he began to stumble, I ran out of my room to help him, and brought him back into my room and sat him in my office chair to relax. I grabbed his damn near Xenon headlamp flash light from his desk and flashed it into his eyes to see if his pupils would respond. They didn’t. They were fixed, but not dilated. This could be good or it could be bad. He told me himself that if they were dilated and fixed, that’s bad. If they are differentiated, that's bad. But since they were small and fixed, it may not necessarily be a problem. We waited a while as Mark closed his eyes to try and dilate his pupils so that when flashed the beam I could visually see the response, but each time we tried we came up with the same result, which worried me even more. He then told me that this had happened before, and that it was no big deal. I told him I thought it was a big deal. He insisted that it wasn’t. I told him he needed to go to the hospital. He said well, do I go through the hassle just to find out that nothing is wrong like last time? I said yes, you do. He continued to be stubborn, so I let him call a few shots. He said, I’m going to back to bed to sleep this off. I helped him back to bed, and stayed nearby to monitor him.- late morning our mutual friend/jokester, Derrick, came over to work on a project with me, and I told him of Mark's condition. When he went upstairs he said mark was attempting to get up and go to the bathroom unsuccessfully. Now, with Derrick on my team & the upper hand, we made it a point to get Mark to the hospital. Derrick insisted on it. Called Chris to let her know he needed help, but didn't convey the level of severity since it was unknown. She said bring him to Lankanau to the ER since his regular Doc wasn't available. We helped him downstairs, into his truck, and to the ER immediately took him in, evaluated him (BP, Temp, EKG...) and moved him into a few more tests after hearing both sides of the story. After an MRI and a Brain Scan, the doctors said that they spotted intracranial bleeding and were waiting on the neurosurgeon for the actual diagnosis...As Derrick and I waited next to mark in one of the ER patient rooms, we noticed Mark's short term memory was getting worse and worse. Every 5 minutes he would look at us with his left eye a little crossed, hand extended to shake, and say "thank you for being here, I appreciate it". Much like earlier I initially thought the repetition was for emphasis, but it was clear that he had no recollection of saying it the first time. Though his balance was off, his memory was off, and his vision was off, one thing that remained in tact was his wit...Some of the funniest lines I've heard in my life occurred in the hours we spent at Lankanau. I'll list a few: 1. as his memory started to fade along with his vision, he forgot his surroundings. He pointed in our (Derrick and I) direction and said” who is that", I said its Damon and derrick, whereby he replied” okay, I could only make out 2 dark figures, one darker than the other" I responded by saying "yeah yeah, all black people look alike” and he smiled and extended his middle finger. He loves racial jokes. 2. A nurse came in to take his blood pressure, and he said to her” Where’s the pretty blonde nurse, why can't I get her?"3. His vision was not only blurred, but what he could see was doubled, so when an attractive nurse did eventually make his acquaintance, he said "oh, a pretty nurse, wait no....2 pretty nurses" then a second nurse came in to help wheel him out for some more tests, "Yes, FOUR pretty nurses"4. These same nurses brought him back and mark made some type of pass at the one nurse, and her response was "I don't think my husband would like that" whereby Marks replied "I hate to be the one to break it to you, but I don't care about your husband as much as you do"5. When the neurologist came in, he said to Mark "Hi Mr. Seymour”. Mark responded "Hi, How are you"? The Doctor said "I’m fine, I’m your neurologist", so Mark says "oh, well in that case, how am I?” So, that is pretty much how it all happened. From Lankanau, he was airlifted to Jefferson because they have a highly sophisticated Neuroscience Center.

4 comments:

Kelley said...

Thanks Damon, for being there, for insisting...for calling it right.

Anonymous said...

Damon and Derrick.....I also want to say thanks for being there and not letting that big hunk get his way.....otherwise....
Thank you for your courage and strength in the matter. Glad to see that there was at least 2 level heads between the 3 of you. he can really be a stubborn bugger when he wants.
Fondly,
Kit

Anonymous said...

Whew. Thank you both *SO* much for your persistence.

Anonymous said...

Damon,

Thanks for getting this all down se we can read it. I only ever heard the short version of that morning. Thanks for all the details.