Judy (Kornblatt) and I met with the chief of neurosurgery, who operated on Mom, and also the neurology critical care specialist who took care of her for the past week.  We went over the outcome scenarios, which are not functionally very encouraging, as well as options that we have for short and long term therapy.

The long term function is very hard to predict, but it is unlikely that Mom will walk or speak.  She is also unlikely to understand very effectively what is said to her. Even getting to that level may be a lot of hard work on her part.

On the other hand, her improvement has not reached a plateau, and in fact when we came back into the room, her eyes were open.  Perhaps she even responded to some of our exhortations, such as “raise your hand”.

The doctors and nurses will continue “tuning her up”, while we explore the possible choices of where she may go next.