Early yesterday, B had a seizure and the right side of her face went into convulsions.
This bulletin describes how that started but this news itself may be enough for some who
are following this saga. It was a such a jarring experience for me that I wanted to put
down this account of the onset.
On Tuesday, July 27, we were scheduled for our first meeting with Dr. Timothy Chan,
radiation oncologist. We were to learn the proposed schedule of radiation/chemo treatments for Barbara.
On the day, I woke up quite early but Barbara had gotten up before me and was in the
bathroom. I asked if she were up for the day and got no response. I repeated the question - still no answer. So I proceeded with the making of coffee.
When B emerged from the bathroom she headed for bed and I followed to ask her again
whether she was ready for coffee. She was standing by the bed with the right side of her
face convulsing periodically. The worst part was the bewildered look on her face. She
could not speak. She lay down on the bed.
The literature I had read suggested that seizure victims should lie on their sides to
facilitate breathing and I tried to persuade her to turn on her side without success. She
whispered something but it was inaudible.
I had read that that if the seizure lasted more that five minutes, one should get emergency
assistance. But the paper on which the relevant information such as the emergency number
was not where it had been. I called Sloan-Kettering and, after a couple of tries, got the
right number and reached a doctor whose name I did not hear. He said I should get her
to the nearest ER. That is NYU for us but, as that is fairly near to S-K, we agreed that I
should take her there. I called some friends who have cars who would certainly have been
glad to hear from me at 7:00 on a July morning, but reached no one. We had taken an
ambulance on our previous trip to an ER and, though it was competently handled by the
EMT, it was preceded by some necessary (?) red tape. So I decided to try for a cab.
I dressed quickly and decided to just cover Barbara with a very light rain coat. But I
found her struggling to put on a stocking. I tried to persuade her that this was not the
time for stockings but she ignored me. So I put the second stocking in my pocket. And
she agreed to come along.
With support, she was able to walk to the elevator and we got out of the building. We
stood there for about five minutes when an unoccupied cab came by. But he did not stop.
He must have wanted to avoid complications. After a few more minutes another free taxi
came along and this one took the situation in and was happy to take us. He took us on a fine ride up first avenue and when we got to the entrance of S-K, he ran in and brought
out a wheel chair. That was a real mensch.
By afternoon, B was in the neuro-surveillance ward where she had gone after her operation two weeks previously. As you can imagine, everything that happened that day has been burned into my memory but I won't continue in this detailed way. We saw lots of doctors, were helped by many nurses and other staff and received the usual assurances of
hopeful prognoses. Sister Mimi helped out and stayed till the end of visiting hours at 8:00.
I had to pack it in shortly after 7. By that time, B was trying hard to speak and did get
out some sounds but neither of us could get the words.
This is being written during the course of the morning of Wednesday, July 28. B has
slept most of the time but, in her waking moments, has gotten out a very few words. The
homonyms are tricky of course since there is no context in which to guess their meaning.
The there/their dichotomy fooled me for a while but I later thought it was really they. The
mother of the patient in the next alcove is a speech therapist and has dropped in to help
to help also. But it is uphill all the way.
