Most mornings walking into the hospital it felt like I was on autopilot, the same scenery, some of the same people, same path, same elevator, same room in the ICU, same everything...sort of.
About the first week in October, Dr. Reichman was back in town and said he was surprised with her progress, he even ventured to say that, "She looks a 1000 x better!" And I am sure he would never exaggerate:) He certainly had a knack for keeping comments positive and noticing the 'good' going on. This is a powerful quality as a Dr. because many times, especially in the ICU, these are life/death situations where the person and family need to have hope for more.
I believe that medical staffs have more power for good than they may realize at times. You definitely run across those that have more empathy and compassion than others, and they can be a 'light in the darkness' for good.
About 2 weeks after her surgery, she couldn't even show facial movements (even small things like a smile), we had two doctors share startling opinions at her bedside. Brianne had her eyes open, Grandma Bartlett, Joyce, and I was standing at her bedside talking with her when the doctors came into the room. The first doctor said he wanted us to be prepared that Brianne would likely never walk or talk again. The other doctor chimed in with more details and looooooong statistics. And more. And more.
Within a short time of talking, Joyce was incredibly upset and I had to try to calm her down. I told her, "Other people have had to use wheelchairs and we will do anything needed to take care of her." Once I calmed Joyce down, the doctors had to leave for other duties.
I turned back around to see how Brianne was doing because I felt strongly that she knew exactly was going on all the time but she just couldn't respond. I almost had the wind knocked out of me.
Brianne's face scrunched up and tears were flowing uncontrollably!!
I ran over and said, "They are just sharing what their experiences are, they didn't weigh God in the equation and everything is possible with Him." I held her hand and talked with her more until the tears stopped and she fell asleep again. I was just hoping that angels were giving her comfort and peace after hearing such things. Here she is unable to create a distraction for the negative thoughts put into her mind and how dare they do this in front of her!
I first talked to the doctor from the Neuro ICU and shared what happened. He then backtracked by telling me, "She has been one of our sickest patients in the Neuro ICU but she has had incredible improvement. Etc, Etc." I told him that I am glad we were on the 'same page' of thinking and that he was welcome to talk to me anytime BUT in her room... everything was to be POSITIVE!!
Then I talked to the other doctor, at that time it was Brianne's Brother-in-Law and a Neurosurgeon (who originally thought her headaches were just stress and not a tumor....hummmmm). I told *Fred the same things I shared with the other doctor. *Fred looked dumbfounded, and said, "If you are not going to tell her the truth, what are you going to tell her!???"
I stated clearly, "I will tell her that sky is the limit, she can do anything possible!" We never saw him again in her room for the next couple of months, which is fine if he can't be there to support her.
I posted a sign on her door after sharing this with the other staff in the ICU.
"Only POSITIVE words allowed here!"
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