Meeting with the Doctor

Mom, Dad, Andrea & Ken T met with Mom's rehabilitation doctor this morning. He told them that they believe the vasculitis is a byproduct of the encephalitis (viral infection) she had last year. The immune system was attacking the lesions on her brain and also the blood vessels. She is currently on high doses of prednisone (a steroid) and will be on some sort of strong steroid for at least the next six months, at which point another MRI will be done to see how she is doing. She is also taking aricept (also used to treat alzheimer's) to help with her cognition and short-term memory. She is no longer on the anti-seizure medication as the seizure was a result of the swelling. Now that she is on steroids, the swelling/seizures shouldn't be an issue. The really good news is that she will get to go home next Tuesday. Once home, she will not require home health care as she did last time but will start outpatient therapy right away.

The doctor pointed out one big difference between last time and this time. In November, she had trouble "processing," meaning it was more difficult to make her body do what it needed to. However, this time around, he said she is perfectly fine from the neck down and has little trouble following instructions. One downfall in this is that she "thinks" she can do anything and doesn't like to be told not to. This explains why she is much more frustrated this time around--she thinks she is fine and doesn't like being treated as a child, since she is an adult. She doesn't see that she jumps from topic to topic and can't stay on one task. Her short-term memory still isn't what it should be and her order of recent events is a little off. She speaks and moves very well but will just need more work to get her cognitive abilities up to par.