Firstly, thank you to all of you who have sent messages of support and said prayers for my dear wife Ladan. This update is just to let you know the latest on her situation.
Until a few weeks ago Ladan was showing some very encouraging signs, she was looking around and focusing on people and text. A few days before Christmas her mother and grandmother were communicating with her, getting yes and no answers from the nodding and shaking of her head, and having smiles in response to promises of the meals that would be cooked for her when she was out of hospital. While this was encouraging Ladan was still experiencing moments of high heart rate and blood pressure, often accampanied by high fever, which were generally kept calm by administering a certain drug.
On Christmas Eve Ladan was getting very agitated and her heart rate and blood pressure again started to rise, the nurse was ordered, for no reason that we are aware of or were consulted on, by the doctors on duty not to administer the drug that calms her down and she developed an increasingly high fever. In the early hours of Christmas Day Ladan started having violent seizures (fits), these remained violent for about two and a half hours and continued at a lower level until midnight (nearly 24 hours). It is unusual to suddenly develop seizure activity 7 weeks after a bleed in the brain and so a CT scan was taken to see if there was any new damage or bleeding to explain the activity. We were told that the scan had shown no bleeds or other damage that could explain the activity.
Immediately following this Ladan has taken a major step backwards in terms of clinical responses. The seizures sent her back into a much deeper coma and a subsequent EEG (scan of electrical activity of the brain) showed very little activity. We have officially complained about the actions taken that night and that complaint is still being dealt with.
A few days ago we had a meeting with a consultant in which we were informed that the CT Scan taken early on Christmas morning shows that Ladan suffered another bleed in her cerebellum, though probably not of sufficient size to warrant an operation. It is believed that the underlying condition ( the vascular disease Churg-Strauss) which caused the first bleeds is well under control and it was conceded that the high blood pressure that was allowed to get out of control that night may have been the cause of this new bleed. On Friday an MRI scan was taken which confirms that the effects of the newer bleed are lessening but also shows some swelling around the all outer ridges of the brain, the radiologist who took the scan said that this pattern can be consistent with having had seizure activity.
As yet we have had no explanation or apology for what happened on Christmas Eve, but what is most important and most encouraging is that Ladan is showing continued signs of recovery from this new low point. Ladan is again responding to pain and more recently opening her eyes, though with less movement than before, and has moments, with increasing frequency, of seeming to understand what is said to her by way of trying to open eyes on request or a change of expression or breathing according to the subject being spoken about.
Below are some links to popular prayers which I recommend for use either fore Ladan or for other loved ones in need:
Link: Baha’i Short Healing Prayer
Link: Baha’i healing prayer for women
Link: Baha’i Long Healing Prayer
I also often find myself saying marriage prayers for Ladan and I as a prayer for a healthy and fruitful marriage in this world encompass the hope that Ladan should make a full recovery in order that we may go on to have children and a united future.
Link: A Baha’i marriage prayer
Ladan is a very sweet soul who has never really done anything wrong in her life, we can only hope that there may be a wisdom to this suffering she is undergoing and that her bright personality will be polished by it to shine even more radiantly than before.
Many thanks, James.