Monday, March 10,2008

Today's visits both at 9AM and 1PM were very encouraging. Her nurse Patty said she settled down after physician rounds this AM. Her intracranial pressures while still on sedation have been between 5-11. Last evening the readings were heading towards 20. Davey and I (Jane) spoke to the neurosurgery resident regarding the CAT scan last pm. Dr.Neuro took me back to the computer to look at the comparison between the admission CAT scan and last pm. It was amazing to see the decrease in swelling. This is so positve. The ventricular drain was removed this AM becasue of the imrpovement. Her neurological exam is improving and that she, at this moment responds to commands. "MJ move your left foot......she moves it." The right side is much weaker, but she moves it. Remember, her brain injury was on her left. The left side of the brain controls the right and visa versa!


Her vital signs, lab work and xrays are all improving. She will remain on the ventilator until neurologically stable. MJ is still extremely swollen. Being confined to bed and that she received numerous amount of IV fluids during her immediate admission period results in this appearance. This is NOT unusual considering her injuries. Her heart, kidneys and lungs are all doing fine presently. Her right leg and ankle injuries(fracture) have been debrided, cleaned and stabilized.



Most of the family gang has left and will be in and out over time. Joe and I leave tomorrow. Amie and Davey each visited work today between MJ visits. This is good!
Amie will blog later and give you a phone number to call if you want to do anything for the family.

Sorry this is late, but I am computer challenged at times! love to all Jane

10:30 pm Sun 3/9

Today was a tough day. Our 5pm visit was brief because her pressures are too high and we had to leave because we worry we stimulate her too much and they had to take her away for a CAT scan due to the pressure is running at 30. We called in about 8pm and her pressure is at 20 and no results are back from CAT scan. We just got back from 9pm visit and pressures are down! Still no CAT scan result, so Mon will bring us more info. We are glad pressures are down to 7-8. We will sleep better.

I have to say that with such a rough emotional day there is an overhwhelming sense of calm now for us all. The prayer vigil at Cathedral of Immaculate Conception will be something that will carry me through not only this but will be in my heart forever. Words can not express that experience this evening. It took my breath away when I got out of the car to walk up the large entry steps into the cathedral and saw all the candles placed on the steps that lit this magical place up. Then, to walk in and see all the people there was truly uplifting. The music, the prayers and your kindness are so appreciated. Thank you Gina and others for coordinating this. For those of you who do not know the history, MJ and her 6 siblings spent our life in this parish. We were baptized and confirmed here. Being in there tonight was so emotional and powerful. I could go on and on about this but I will save that story and tell it all to MJ. I live in Atlanta and coming back to my home church is always special. But this one takes the prize.
Life is good!
Love, Cindy

Sun 1pm 3/9 visit

We were told to get prepared for this-but yesterday was so good that we were thrown for a little loop this morning. Mary Jo is messing with us. But we know her sweetness is going to return this afternoon. The original bolt on right forehead was having technical difficulties so they had to move to left side and shave her head a little and she is even a little more beautiful today :-) Sorry, I just got interrupted by an orange chiffon pie delivery. And we are tearing up over the delivery from four 8 or 9 year old ish girls in neighborhood who brought a ziploc baggie that had one lifesaver in it, a pecan in its shell and a dum dum pop with a note that says
"turn that frown upside down". I will defer interpretation of the 3 items.
She still is more sedated now and on ventilator and pressures a little more higher. They are doing another CAT scan and an MRI after our 1pm visit. We are just thrilled we could get in there to see her, whisper to her and love on her. We know she will rebound again. Cathetar was placed on her head to immediately drain pressure/fluids. If she stays stable with all this-they need to sit her up in bed/chair because of concern for pneumonia. Her neck still has brace on it because they have not been able to do MRI to rule out neck issues. They are due to refit her back brace also. We are looking forward to the 5pm visit and then prayer vigil after that.
Love, Cindy

Sunday morning visit 9:00am 3/9/08

She was getting a CAT scan when we arrived so we could not get in to see her. Two doctors came out to talk to us and explain what was going on. the bolt in her head (that measures the pressure/swelling) was showing high readings however the CAT scan was not showing any additional swelling. They thought the bolt was not reading right so they replaced the bolt. It also showed a high reading. Minutes ago we received a call from the doctor and there is some some swelling and fluid buildup. and pressure is increasing- they are heavily sedating her doing some procedure to help relieve this. Some family left immediately to go to the hospital to be with MJ. The procedure, which I think is making a small hole in the skull across from where the bolt is, will be done at her bedside and not in the operating room. Davey took the call and he wanted to get up to the hospital so we did not press him. She was responding to commands this morning to the doctors with her left side and was off her sedation but they put her back on sedation during all this. When we get details we will update. We could not have made it this far without your love, support and prayers. Please keep them coming. With much love...Frank

9pm visit

OK we got excited, so we need to calm down. She pulled her ventilator out right before 9pm visit , they had to re intibate her and put her back on sedation . Her pressures got too high during this visit-she got to 30- We had to stop speaking because it got too high. Hard to say goodbye tonight because we are feeling she is wanting to communicate and can't. The roller coaster begins, we want to help-just whispering to her we feel she is struggling and gets anxious so we have to leave. Her face is looking more alert and controlled and full of life compared to a sedated look. Today was a gift, we remain hopeful.

Thanks again to all of you! You continue to give us strength. Thanks Dixie for your daily treats. And thanks to so many of you for all the wonderful food.

Cindy

Saturday night 5:00pm visit

We are elated! She is 100% OFF sedation and her pressure is stable. She is still on ventilator and on pain medication. She will be getting anti-anxiety medicine after we get ours first. This will help her stay calm. Progress is good and it is amazing the energy we are feeling right now. Little steps are HUGE for us. She opened her eyes very briefly @ 10 seconds after Davey said he loved her. Then we felt she was trying to come off the bed to hug him! This is brief because the 9pm team is leaving now and we can not wait to report their uplifting news. Also, one thing I am thinking of is if anyone wants to video the prayer vigil Sun night at Cathedral of Immaculate Conception at 6:30pm that would be great to have for her at a later time.
Love,
Cindy

Open Prayer Vigil

Wanted to let everyone know that Gina Epperson is organizing a prayer vigil for MJ.

When: Sunday, March 9
Location: Immaculate Conception Cathedral on Central Ave in Memphis TN
Time: 6:30 pm

Sat 9am visit

Sat 9am visit

We have changed for the better. Davey, Amie, Laura (sister-in-law), and Lauren (niece) went to see MJ this morning. The Neuro docs wanted to reduce her sedation this morning and the trauma docs weren’t sure so they asked the nurse who’s been attending to Mom; she thought it would be a good idea because she was doing so well; so they reduced her from 15 to 10 (do not know if it is mg or CC or what…doesn’t matter because she is being cut back).

When we arrived, there was more movement in her legs and arms…at times she wanted to open her eyes but could not. I spoke with the nurse about what was going on and this is the plan:
· They lowered her sedation this morning to 10
· They were going to lower it to 5 around 11am
· If she was stable at 5 then they were/are going to take her completely off sedation (it takes 15 to 30 minutes to clear out of the system)
· She still is on pain meds
· When she is off sedation, they are going to wean her off the ventilator and try to get her off of that ASAP
· Once she is off sedation, ventilator out, and is stable, they will take out the bolt; this may happen as soon as tomorrow

Around 9:45, the wonderful nurse lowered her sedation to 5 while we were there. Around 10:05 we started to seem lots of movements. She was lifting her legs up, moving her head, trying to open her eyes and lift her head off the bed. Her ICP rate started going above 20 and she was moving more. Davey was at her left side and Laura and Lauren were at her right, I was sometimes at the left side and feet area. Things were starting to get scary so I stepped out to find the nurse who was standing there the whole time watching what was going on…I could not be in there because it was scary yet encouraging.

Davey saw her eyes open as did I and she wanted to look over at him/us but could not; it was decided that it was best that we leave because she was very disoriented and was not understanding what was going on; she needed to rest so she could start to understand where she was. She heard and saw us and as you know, she just cannot lay there without tending to what we need and talk to us.

Everyone – This is GREAT news!! She is doing so much better than they anticipated. We will not know if they increased her sedation until we go back this afternoon and please pray that she has calmed down and does not need it. She is in great care and I am relieved to know that she is being watched like a hawk. Thanks for all your prayers, thought and positive energy because we are definitely seeing God work in healing her body.

Tonights visit was the same in terms of no change. She still looks beautiful! I wanted to clear up a visual you might be creating based on all the info we are providing. Some have been surprised in seeing her because they thought her head is crashed in. She looks normal yet with many tubes etc... She has a bolt with tube in it on her right forehead that will be there until her pressure remains stable. They say her pressure needs to stay below 20. When they turn her, take her in for CAT scan daily etc... her pressure goes to high even with all the sedation. The goal is to have her stay below 20 at all times. That supposedly may take days or months. Per nurse we all have ICP or Intracranial pressure-for example when we sneeze it goes off the charts. So we need to keep it low as they say on Deal No Deal. When we come in she is at 1 or 2 then we see it stay around 7-11 while we are there. We love kissing her, talking to her, praying to her, rubbing her feet, stroking her forehead and giving her words of encouragement that we need her, we love her and we miss her. Brian and Rachel got here after 2 days of travelling to get here from Alaska. Rachel got her 2 grandchildren on the phone so they could talk to their YaYa. She held the phone to MJ's ear and the kids told her they loved her. It is a stabbing pain in my heart being here in this house without her. We sat at dinner table last night and had dinner for first time together as a family between the 5 and 9 visit and let me tell you it is not the same without her being there with us. But, we know you ARE with us MJ we so miss you, love you and need you. The scrabble board is waiting for you too. Thanks Jennifer for the fabulous soups and food -we are so appreciative and grateful.
Each day we get these tidbits of info that we may face. We heard infection and pneumonia are possibilities yet we remain hopeful and positive -she is strong.
Thank you nephew Brad for setting this site up. Your postings are so powerful and your words of encouragement give us such strength and we know they will give MJ strength as she heals and recovers. Brad tells us he pulled up analytics on this and she has had 1000+ hits in past 24 hours from over 11 countries! We can pull up US map on this and see states shaded in where people are pulling this up.
Thank You again to everyone of you.
Much Love, Cindy

Friday night visit with MJ

We went by to see MJ and tell her how much she is loved by all. We had a great visit which allowed her son Brian and his wife Rachel to see her for the first time. She had just gottenback from another CAT scan which we will not get the results from until late tonight or maybe tomorrow. The good news is the nurses said she put up a fight, and even tried to pull her breathing tube out. That would not be good but was wonderful uplift to us that she was responding. When the doctors lowered her medication to give her a exam he got a thumbs up!!! Plus the nurse commented she saw movement in both legs...YES!!!!!!! Amie also saw her put her legs together. This is slow small progress but means so much. We can't wait for things to stabilize so her medication can be lowered and we find out more. Right now every time they lower her meds her ICP goes up (the pressure inside skull). The Doctors say we just need to hurry up and wait. We are just letting her rest and let the body heal itself. thanks for the comments and prayers because they really help. Love to all-from little brother Frank (okay...maybe not so little)

FRIDAY 11:00am

We saw MJ this morning and she looks so beautiful! even with tubes all over the place. We read her some prayers from her daily inspirational book. We feel she feels our presence. I definitely feel hers. She is an inspiration to us all and such a fighter. They started a feeding tube this am to help give her nourishment. They reduced her sedation again this am and again she responded with a squeeze with her left hand and no response on right. Her pressure goes up when they reduce the sedation so they only do it once a day and only for a very brief time. The trauma doctor and his team, the 3 neurosurgeons and her team and the orthopedic team of docs are all such a blessing to us and we remain soo grateful. They have been so available and so informative and we thank them all. The only other new pieces of info we heard was bleeding in brain stem area, frontal pneumocephalos and EDH or epidural hematoma and spinal fluid drainage out of the ear. No change in status really- Sat, Sun and Mon are days we hear are when changes may come. Trauma doc said some things that may be around corner are possible surgeries if pressure begins to mount more. They may drill more holes and or may remove sections of skull to alleviate pressure. Again, all a maybe/what if scenario.
So some say she does not know we are really there- however we have a funny tidbit to tell about that. This morning Me (sister-Cindy), Frank (brother) Davey (husband) and Amie (daughter) were in there talking to her and Amie and Davey were talking to nurse to update them about her height and yes WEIGHT- (MJ is sensitive as all of us women are about that topic) right about that time when a nurse mentioned a grossly inaccurate guesstimate her left arm jerked up high in the air and we all were elated to see a movement-and we reassured her that we corrected the nurse about how petite she is!! :-)
Thanks Thanks Thanks to all of you for your postings-we cry and laugh and it is so comforting. We know MJ will enjoy these and gain so much strength from these as we have.
Much Love, Cindy

945 thursday night

First off, I would like to say that EVERY ONE has been wonderful!! Pitt, Barbara and Teresa are God Sent Saints and we are blessed to have them in our live and batting for MJ making sure that she has the best care and receiving the best attention possible...and believe me, she is. The doctors are answering all of our questions and will not leave until we completely understand her current condition.

She has been moved to the Trauma ICU and is under excellent care. This is the best place for her right now considering her condition and everything that is going on...all the right doctors are at arms reach.

There is more information on her actual condition that we will update in the morning....Aunt Cindy was diligently taking notes while Davey was relaying the phone conversation with the doctor to everyone.

Thanks for your comments, they are being read and re-read by all of us! It is comforting to know that she is in every ones thoughts and prayers.

On a side note, we use to think that Davey was a very popular, well known Memphian but come to find out...Davey is not the popular one, MJ is....it is just when he is with her, he gets all the attention maybe because of his hair?!?!?!?!!!!!!

Current needs - Cooler(s)....we need to keep the beer cold because we are using the fridge for the wonderful food that is being brought.

Love everyone and Thanks again!!

Amie

Update 3/6/08 4:00pm

THANK YOU! to all family and friends for the prayers, love, and support that has been overflowing for our sweet MJ. It means more than you will all ever know.

Due to all the misinformation during this time of crisis- we will begin with what we know happened and what we are speculating about.

From the beginning

Wednesday- March 5th

Last contact with MJ was @ 10am with Amie on cell phone. She called to tell her that she was on the way to the office after having to stop by her house. Amie kept watching the office cameras for her arrival but never saw her, she called but no answer. She did not think to worry because it was close to lunch time. A co-worker, Kim, voiced concern around 1pm and Amie started to be concerned as well. She noticed that she was not reading emails, other co-workers were trying to get a hold of her and she was not responding to phones calls or text messages.

Now for those of you that know MJ, that is VERY unusual behavior because it was a work day and the Hyde's were in town getting ready to go on their Spring Break vacation, for her not to be reachable was a huge sign that something was not right.

Around 2pm, Amie became worried and drove to Davey's shop to sound the alarm that something was not right. She retraced her drive to work since they drove the same way and he retraced her drive to the Hyde's house. We did not find anything. Amie asked Kim to call local hospitals and they did not find anything.

In the meantime, Kim talked to Barbara’s –MJ’s boss - Barbara contacted someone she knew about what we should do about finding MJ. They had connections to the Memphis police and an officer arrived to the office around 2:30 or 3:00 to talk to Amie who was told to head to the office ASAP. When Amie arrived, the officer was on the phone with Davey getting details on MJ. He called his Lieutenant after talking to Davey and was on the phone with him while he was questioning Amie; he was also on the radio with Dispatch having them search the local hospitals looking for her.

Long story short – the Memphis Police did a terrific job locating her; Amie was told by the officer at 3:05 that she was at the Med listed in serious condition but was upgraded from critical. Davey arrived at the office and John Pontius drove them to the Med to see her. She was listed as ‘Unknown Tra213” not as Mary Weakes which is why we did not find her when we called the hospitals. The paramedics were more concerned with saving her life than who she was. Thanks to the Memphis Police for sending help…but we still aren’t sure why the tags weren’t run to find out who she was; it does not matter now though. It looks as though she got there around 11am.

Amie then started contacting family members and the first person she could find was her aunt Jane and Jane spread the word to the family. When they got to the Hospital, MJ was highly sedated and we were greeted by all kinds of doctors telling us what test that were ran and what they were going to do. It was all overwhelming to them so Amie called Jane (who was a flight nurse for Vanderbilt) and she consoled her saying that MJ was in the perfect place and everything they were doing was normal.

She arrived at the Med at 11am and Davey and Amie arrived around 3:15.

Many rumors and still many unknowns about the accident. John and Amie went to site and went to see car Thurs am. Davey and Cindy passed on that trip. It looks as though she was exiting I40 onto Riverside Dr. She was in Miata with top down. We “heard” she did not brake and seat belt not on. John thinks per site visit-that is not true. He saw brake marks and she would have been ejected with no belt on. We “speculate” she released the seat belt to try and get out-even though she was unconscious? We also do not think she had stroke as rumored. We think it was a cell phone or some other distraction??

MJ is now on NITU Neuro Intensive Trauma unit. Davey, Cindy, Amie & John were able to see her at 9am visitation. She is in a sedated coma, on a ventilator and not aware we are there. We talk to her and love on her. It is very tough to see her this way. Bolt and tube coming out of her forehead and other tubes here and there. Still bloody and splint on her right ankle.

So here goes on the medical terms-forgive me medical professionals this is Cindy (sister) reporting. I will give you what is written on her white board and then give you my notes and memory of what we were told by 2 neurosurgeons this am. I am working on new scrabble terms to beat MJ in our next game. We are now at home after leaving her this am. The visitation times for family are very brief right now. 9am, 1pm, 5pm and 9pm. As soon as that changes we will let you know. Our #1 concern is her rest and recovery. We left at 11am and they were taking her to OR for surgery on her right ankle. She fractured it. They need to get in there and clean it-due to open wound also. They said she will require further surgery on that later.

The #1 critical situation is the trauma to the brain. Left Temporal Bone Fracture and Max sinus Fracture and Intravent Bleed. PRIMARY CONCERN is Intracranial Pressure. They are looking for Cerebral Profussion Pressure of 50 or more –she has 65-therefor getting blood to brain. CAT scan shows she is stable and not worse. The skull fracture is at base of skull. Air is getting in as result to that as a result to violation of the Dura-a leathery protective layer of the brain. The concern is when that heals problems can/may occur. The critical time frame is days 3-5 where Dr. said when problems would begin to show. There is a spinal fluid leak but “ok” for now. The area that is damaged is left side of brain. During exam this morning-Dr. reduced sedation to see responses. She responded to command to squeeze left hand- no response on right side commands.

The Dr’s indicated we will not know extent of what the damage to brain has done for awhile. She stated one time you guys need to take a deep breath and prepare yourselves for a long journey 6-12 months. We are in the 1^st 24 hours and do not have answers, because we do not and will not know for awhile what this will all bring to us. We do know this-she is loved by so many people-she is a fighter and she will survive and thrive from this with all our love and support!

We also feel blessed to have her in the best place she could be for this. We feel she is getting top notch care by nurses, doctors and all staff. We hope to update this at least once a day. As we can get to this and get new info, we will pass on.

Now –MJ is a Herring/Weakes and we know food is important. I am only doing this for her. We are keeping a diary of the wonderful food we are eating thanks to many of you. Today we had her favorite sandwich the Tuscan chicken ciabatta with a side or two of hummus, salad, fruit, meatloaf, pasta, asparagus, thai spaghetti and cookies.

Much Love

Update: 3/6/08 2:00pm

I spoke to Cynthia a little while ago. Here is what I
know on MJ:

1. Pressure on the brain is the number one concern.
She will stay in a medically induced coma for 3-5
days, until the swelling has been reduced. She is in
Neuro ICU at The Med in Memphis.

2. She has a broken back in the T12 area. She will be
put in a back brace today.

3. She has a broken foot with an open wound on it.
They are taking her out of Neuro ICU for a little
while today to attend to her foot.

4. She hit a wall and not a bridge as earlier thought.
She was exiting at the time. Not sure if she was
reaching for a cell phone or what. That is pure
speculation at this time.

5. The next 3-5 days are the most critical time. We
are not sure what can happen at this time. They do not
know right now about any long term affects this could
have (paralysis, speech, etc.) It is all too early to
tell.

6. She is getting the best possible care she can where
she is at. The Hyde family has gotten involved in
getting MJ the best doctors and care they can.

7. Cynthia and John got there this morning at 1:30
CST. Frank is due in today along with Mike, Laura and
Lauren.

8. Visitation is limited. Cindy, Davey, Amie, etc. can
only go in for few minutes at 9,1,5 and 9 during the
day.

That is all I know as of right now. I will keep al
posted as I get more information.

Steve