Monday, May 28, 2007

Hospital Visit

Last night, we went to Medical City to visit Tita San. She was in the ACSU, or the Acute Stroke Unit part of the ICU. When I went in, Tita San was wide awake. Elizza was with her, because Bang had left so that I could have my turn visiting.

Tita San had tubes connected to her arms and an oxygen tube in her nose. Her eyes were wide open and she looked at me and looked away, then looked at me again. The others had told me that she wasn't able to recognize a whole lot of people yet. Maybe it would take time to develop her recognition skills again, I don't know, I'm not sure.

It was sad to see her all connected to these tubes and stuff, and sadder to see this once vibrant person just laying there and trying to communicate with just her eyes. Elizza was off to the side, trying to control her sobs....ginormous tears were welling up in her eyes and she finally excused herself to go out, where, apparently, Boydee was consoling Bang. Group hug time, I was told :)

Anyway, Tita San is able to move her arms and legs a little bit. But from my understanding, these small movements are already HUGE steps when compared to how she was in Korea.

She kept moving her feet in irritation. I finally figured out that the monitor thing that the nurses clip to your finger was clipped to her big toe so that she couldn't remove it. It was pissing her off, that's for sure, and she kept trying to kick it off. Hehehe. Typical Tita San---good to know and SEE that she is still the same Tita San somehow.

Also, she kept pointing and pressing on a spot on her thigh. When I touched it, I guessed (correctly) that it was her catheter and like the monitor thingy on her toe, she was totally irritated with the darn thing. She seemed to calm down a bit when I bent to look at her catheter bag and remarked that she had nice-looking weewee, yellow with no traces of whatever (not like Dad's before when he was hospitalized).

Her vitals seemed good, but her heart rate would go up when a visitor would come in. I like to think of it as an acknowledgement that someone she knows is in the room with her. For most of the time that I was inside, her eyes kept darting to and fro. She would follow the people crossing the hallway across from her room. This is good, I think, that she can follow with her eyes. I also think she was looking to check if "her" boys would come in: Tito Lito, RJ and Robin.

When Tito Lito came in, her eyes lit up and she visibly relaxed. Maybe she was thinking, "at last, someone who can understand me and not these imbeciles who can't figure out what I want!" I think Tita San would think that, eh? Hehehe.

All in all, she looked pretty good, considering (from what Randy told me) how she seemed in shock the other night when they finally arrived here from Korea. I took a pic of Tita San while she was asleep, right before I left. This is mainly for the benefit of friends and relatives in the States, so that you'll at least know that Tita San is ok, and that she is finally surrounded by friends and family.

Sorry, grainy pic, I know. I took this with my cellphone which, if truth be told, is NOT allowed in the ICU. It was on silent and besides, I wanted to take a photo! So there! :) Will keep everyone posted as to any developments with Tita San!

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