Update: Monday, 10/13/25, 8:00 pm report

 Ruth is having conversations that are usually intelligible but sometimes halted and interrupted. She’s scoring better in I’m calling the “Obvious Test” like questions about name, address, etc., but still gets to a point of being overwhelmed and demurring, “I don’t know.” 

She can walk without assistance, though very stiff and would not do well in an environment where she could get bumped. 

She showered and used the bathroom partly independently, but needed some of my help. 

It’s too early to claim that I see a pattern here, but she was fresher this morning than she is in the afternoon/evening. 

She clearly understands that we’re leaving in about 15 minutes to pick up Dietrich who spent the weekend in northern Michigan at a church youth group retreat and was spared much of the turmoil, and fortunately so. 

Ruth needed some time to re-learn how to manage the touch pad on her laptop, but still can’t figure out keystrokes. She can’t type and can’t write letters. 

The church and area friends are providing meal support and a walker to help her get around the house. 

We are blessed and thankful.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Update: Saturday, 10/11/25, 1:30 pm

  Parkview Regional Hospital Fort Wayne, IN Saturday, October 11, 2025, 10:30 am Friends and Family: Yesterday morning Ruth seemed to me loopy and unengaged. After failing some basic questions like today’s date, etc., I drove her to Parkview hospital where the doctors immediately performed a CT scan that reported no problems and then scheduled her for various tests through the rest of the day, including an EKG and MRI, which reported the same. This morning her neurologist delivered the good news that Ruth has no organic problem. That is, there is nothing wrong with her heart, her brain, or her body. There has been no stroke. There is no pill or therapy that the hospital can administer to help her condition, so they will discharge her after a shower and a change of clothes. At this point, doctors believe that Ruth suffered yesterday morning an episode of Transient Global Amnesia, which is something of a catch-all diagnosis of amnesia and some degree of aphasia. Doctors say...
Read more

Update: Wednesday, October 15, 2025.

At home. 4:34 pm Day 6 of Ruth’s recovery. Ruth can now text on her phone, though not as fluently. She still can’t muster the dexterity to write a pen, and can’t sign her name. She can’t type on a keyboard. She can walk independently but she’s slow and stiffer than she thinks or realizes. Her facial emotions are not completely restored, but much better. This was perhaps the scariest part of her initial condition, because as we occasionally mourned and cried with her, her facial reaction was blank and perplexed as if to ask, “What is wrong with you people?” Yesterday and today, she successfully recalled the names of all nine children, though it was work and delayed. This is a stark contrast in the past; in recent years when we have a reunion as a family for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, we have a contest about who can most quickly recite “Lydia, Peter, Micah, Gretchen, Colette, Jonas, John Michael, Dietrich, Calvin.” (I seem to recall that John Michael has the record at ...
Read more

Update: Saturday, 10/11/25, 10:11 pm

  Home at Fort Wayne, IN Saturday, October 11, 2025, 10:11 pm Friends and Family: Ruth is staying one more night to undergo a procedure that will more definitively rule out the possibility that Ruth suffered a stroke. The procure is called a Lumbar Puncture, which is described by AI below. The Lumbar Puncture is what Ruth has received when she delivered babies – its an epidural, only this time the objective is not to shoot pain-killers into her system, but to sample the fluid to study evidence of a stroke. Ruth will get the LP around 10:00 am tomorrow morning, Sunday. Assuming this proves what we suspect is the case – that Ruth did not experience a stroke Friday morning – then we’ll likely pack her bags and bring her home. The next decision, then, is to pick a therapy plan. Plan A is starting a schedule of taking Ruth to therapy appointments until she recovers. Plan B is to enroll her in an inpatient solution where she stays at a dedicated recovery facility to receive int...
Read more