Review

Since this is going to be a long haul I decided to create a blog for Jeanne.  The following is just a review of what has gone on.

Saturday, Feb 8, 2020, Jeanne noticed some tingling in her fingers.  It soon progressed to numbness and  some weakness.  Jay took her to the Ely hospital on Sunday.  She felt a little unsteady when she was walking in.  They ran a bunch of tests but nothing came up.  They tried to send her home but by then she  could  no longer walk.  So they had Jay drive her to the Duluth hospital with the diagnosis of Guillain-Barre Syndrome on Monday.  

Guillain-Barré (gee-YAH-buh-RAY) syndrome is a rare disorder in which your body's immune system attacks your nerves. Weakness and tingling in your extremities are usually the first symptoms. These sensations can quickly spread, eventually paralyzing your whole body.  If you want to find out more go to the Mayo Clinic site.  Usually there is complete recovery but it is very slow.

She was admitted to  the St Mary's Medical Center Neurotrauma ICU.  They started her on 5 treatments of IVIG (intravenous immunoglobulin).  By Friday 14th she could no longer move anything and she had to be intubated because she wasn't breathing well.   This also meant that she was sedated and was not communicating. 

Sunday, Feb 16th she came down with pneumonia.  Jay has been by her side constantly.  Laura (their daughter) arrive on the 15th.  She can only stay a few days.  She also started plasmapheresis treatments.  She will have 5 of them, one every other day for 14 days.  She is sedated more during that treatment.  Jay has been able to get back to Ely, while Laura has been around.

Tuesday, Feb 18 she has started gaining some movement in her arms.  Still no grip but she has movement.  She can shake her head for yes and no.  They are talking about doing a tracheotomy but no decisions about that as yet.

Tomorrow I will head off to Duluth to be with Jeanne.  I will update more then.