Today the news was broken to the family at the hospital.
I did a lot of driving.
Staten Island to Manhattan
Manhattan to Staten Island
Staten Island to Rockland
Rockland to Manhattan
Manhattan to Staten Island
Eventually we didn't get much done today.
Tomorrow we're pulling the plug and making funereal arrangements.
I still have no idea what to ask of the people who are offering help and
support. Any suggestions?
As of 3pm today, Mrs. Li had no brain activity. She is not technically
brain-dead yet, but if things do not change before tomorrow, she will
be.
Even if she does not die, it is vanishingly unlikely that she will ever wake from the coma that she is now in.
Even if she does not die, it is vanishingly unlikely that she will ever wake from the coma that she is now in.
Well, today didn't go so well. The arteries in Mrs. Li's brain started to
spasm, which is increasing cutting off the flow of blood to her brain. This
is very bad. Tonight they drilled a hole in the top of her head in order to
allow fluid to drain if this becomes a problem.
I think that if I understood the doctor properly today, at this point she has roughly a 20% chance of surviving without significant brain damage. It is a good indication that she arrived at the hospital in good condition, but the current problems may cancel it out.
I don't know what I can do at this point, but I am hoping hard as I can.
I think that if I understood the doctor properly today, at this point she has roughly a 20% chance of surviving without significant brain damage. It is a good indication that she arrived at the hospital in good condition, but the current problems may cancel it out.
I don't know what I can do at this point, but I am hoping hard as I can.
It seems like Mrs. Li is going to be at least mostly okay. She's still a bit
confused, there is still some blood in her brain, but her spinal fluid is
continuing to be re-absorbed, she's not in very much pain, and the doctor
didn't have anything interesting to report today. She did re-gain the use of
the right side of her body today, and she can move her legs, so apparently
she is healing as expected.
The one slightly unsettling thing is that she continues to speak mandarin to me rather than english. Considering that her mental faculties seem otherwise in relatively good condition, I am not sure whether to be honored or concerned.
The one slightly unsettling thing is that she continues to speak mandarin to me rather than english. Considering that her mental faculties seem otherwise in relatively good condition, I am not sure whether to be honored or concerned.
PyCon was excellent. I'm sorry I didn't post a writeup immediately. The Divmod unveiling was low-key but uniformly positive. The face-time gave us a good opportunity to work out some team issues. I got to have several wonderful discussions with Jim Fulton about possible Divmod/Twisted/Zope collaboration and I met with Mitch Kapor.
The week of work in NY that followed was also hugely productive. I didn't quite catch up to where I should be, but got very close.
As some of you have noticed, I've been scarce the last few days.
's mom had an aneurism (technically, she has several aneurisms, but one of them leaked blood into her brain) on Friday night and was immediately rushed to the hospital.
Once there, the next morning, she was treated with a procedure that involved inserting a coil into her brain to block off the blood flow leaking. Counter-intuitively, this was relatively noninvasive, and it did not involve opening up her head. The procedure was successful. However, it appears that some additional blood leaked into her brain - possibly because of the unusually strong reaction of asians to anti-coagulants, which the doctor may not have known about.
Now, she appears to be in relatively stable condition, but she is having some trouble moving the right side of her body, responding slightly slower than normal, and having a little trouble speaking. She also didn't quite recognize who I was today, and spoke to me in chinese. It is reasonable to believe this is all because of the sedatives and anesthetics that she was given for the surgery, and we are hoping that's what it is at this point.
Mrs. Li is at St. Vincent Hospital in Manhattan. I've been fulfilling my boyfriendly duties as chauffer and gopher. Ying's cousin Yang* and his wife have graciously provided us with lodging at their house on Staten Island.
* I'm not making this up, though their names are completely different from the words for "Yin" and "Yang" in chinese.
The week of work in NY that followed was also hugely productive. I didn't quite catch up to where I should be, but got very close.
As some of you have noticed, I've been scarce the last few days.
Once there, the next morning, she was treated with a procedure that involved inserting a coil into her brain to block off the blood flow leaking. Counter-intuitively, this was relatively noninvasive, and it did not involve opening up her head. The procedure was successful. However, it appears that some additional blood leaked into her brain - possibly because of the unusually strong reaction of asians to anti-coagulants, which the doctor may not have known about.
Now, she appears to be in relatively stable condition, but she is having some trouble moving the right side of her body, responding slightly slower than normal, and having a little trouble speaking. She also didn't quite recognize who I was today, and spoke to me in chinese. It is reasonable to believe this is all because of the sedatives and anesthetics that she was given for the surgery, and we are hoping that's what it is at this point.
Mrs. Li is at St. Vincent Hospital in Manhattan. I've been fulfilling my boyfriendly duties as chauffer and gopher. Ying's cousin Yang* and his wife have graciously provided us with lodging at their house on Staten Island.
* I'm not making this up, though their names are completely different from the words for "Yin" and "Yang" in chinese.