I guess I finally got their attention! My follow up call to Mr. West produced a visit by a platoon of three women executives in prim business suits [no scrubs, no lab coats, no tennis shoes], including the head of Clarian Health Partners Risk Management, just to tell me that they have my letter, they take it seriously, and they are going to need a few more days to set up a real negotiating session which will include themselves, their in house defense lawyer, and representatives of Clarian's offshore captive insurance company covering I U Hospital for professional liability claims. Wow! Turns out Mr. West is merely the executive secretary to Cindy DeBord, head of risk management. They arrived together at Linda's hospital room about 1 pm Indianapolis time just to assure me we are not being ignored. I suppose there's a small army of paralegals in their in house law department who are now assigned to googling me on the internet and phoning the Chicago offices of their outside law firms to see whether I really am who I say I am, and to pore through Linda's hospital chart to ascertain whether the things I say happened really did happen. I do know from feedback on my internet sites that SOMEONE in Indianapolis has been visiting them multiple times since I sent the letter.
The younger of the two attending neurologists came by yesterday to assess Linda, based on what he told me were the "glowing" reports from the older attending about her recovery to date, which he said he needed to see for himself. His findings were so positive, he told me after his exam, that he wants to present her case to next month's morbidity and mortality conference on behalf of neurology, because their department so often has to bring bad news there, and Linda's case represents a rare opportunity for neurology to bring up a situation involving a miraculous recovery - his words.
Meanwhile, Linda continues to improve. She hasn't been completely weaned off the ventilator yet, but she is getting more and more comfortable with longer and longer trials of breathing on her own. Yesterday the pair of physical therapists who have been giving her the ultrasonic mist treatments for the bed sore on her coccyx showed me that the lesion has completely resolved. They are looking into switching her back onto a more comfortable, less noisy hospital bed now that the skin breakdown has been corrected. They hung around to help the other pair of physical therapists sit Linda up on the edge of her bed, where she was able to support herself unassisted for a minute or so, though she still has some trouble lifting her chin off her chest for any extended length of time. After the success of that experiment, the four of them got her into a standing position alongside the bed, even if only for a few seconds before she needed to sit back down. She's as determined as they come. She keeps mouthing that she wants to go home.
Linda's cognitive functioning is recovering faster than her motor skills, consistent with the MRI images which showed greater areas of hypoxic damage to her cerebellum compared with her cerebrum. Though her gross coordination and motor skills are rapidly getting better, when she is asleep there is still considerable restlessness and purposeless motion fidgeting with the bed linens and her hospital gown. At least, the tracheotomy has enabled the nursing staff to take her out of the soft wrist restraints altogether now. She does sleep more comfortable, and for longer periods of time. She is watching House episodes on the DVD player her old friend Richard Rosenbaum sent her as her form of entertainment. Real TV is much too depressing.
Linda's reserves of strength and stamina have been sorely tested during her slow walk back from two weeks in a coma, but she's still making every effort to recover, and still smiling at those caregivers she recognizes as helping her get better, no matter how painful or tiring her encounters with them must be to accomplish that purpose. She laughs at their jokes as they work with her. She thanks them as they leave her room, and nods appreciatively when they tell her they will be back tomorrow. Every time she does this it brings fresh tears to my eyes.
The visits, cards and gifts from you guys have all added to her emotional and spiritual strength throughout her ordeal. Linda and I could never get through this on our own without your love, prayers and support. Thanks for being there. I'll continue to keep you all posted!
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