"A bridge of silver wings stretches from dead ashes of an unforgiving nightmare to the jeweled vision of a life started anew." (Aberjhani, The River of Winged Dreams)
Our sweet cherished Alysha Rose Smith is recovering from a post surgical complication that put her into cardiac arrest and into a coma for 7 days. She emerged from the coma with severe brain damage. This website was created to update friends and family of Alysha's progress along the road to recovery. Please join us as we support Alysha on her journey. (For earlier details, like the history behind this medical nightmare scroll to the bottom of the blog and click "older posts.")
NOTE: You can now expect weekly updates.
A Meeting with top administration at St. Michael's Hospital
Alysha and her family were invited to a meeting at St. Michael's Hospital to review her complete course of care within that institution. This meeting took place late in the week. Lisa, Rich, Justin, Ron and Alysha attended the meeting. From the hospital, the Vice President of the Hospital, the Chief of staff, the surgeon who performed Alysha's surgery and was her attending physician throughout her stay, and the patient advocate were in attendance.
The meeting was disappointing. The family was hoping for answers to the questions they continued to ask throughout Alysha's stay like, "What really happened down in the CT scan? How long was the delay between Alysha's heart stopping and the initiation of CPR? Why was Alysha discharged to a care floor that lacked the expertise in suctioning and other care strategies for a severely brain injured, non verbal, non mobile patient? Why did the hospital not help to facilitate Alysha's transfer to the brain injury floor the hospital is renowned for? What caused the huge red welt and swelling Alysha was sporting on her face when they returned her to the ICU after discharging her to a patient care floor the day before? What in fact happened in relation to the code blue that returned Alysha to the ICU in much worse shape than she was discharged the day before (in fact with what the family to believe further brain injury?) These questions were shared with the doctors and staff at the hospital in numerous prior multidisciplinary meetings and debriefings. The family was hoping to receive the long-awaited answers at this meeting. Unfortunately no meaningful answers were shared. At this meeting, the family heard the same accounts of Alysha's care they had heard before. When it came to the areas of care of particular interest, the family heard the same comments that were heard in previous meetings such as; "we are not sure, we are unaware, we will have to review the notes." The absence of Alysha's medical chart was a feature of this meeting as well as all of the other meetings, so once again the professionals lacked a quick, accurate reference when questions were asked and clarifications were sought.
The professionals at this meeting assured the family that this experience had impacted them and that they would look into possible improvements in the quality and safety of patient care at their hospital as a result of what they had learned from Alysha's case. This was very dissatisfying to the family. After 6 months of the hospital reviewing Alysha's care and her hospital chart and countless hours of feedback from Lisa, the family was hoping for some acknowledgement of the mistakes the hospital had made. The family was looking forward to hearing the plans the hospital was putting in place to ensure those mistakes didn't happen again. The professionals at this meeting shared no such acknowledgment or plans.
Alysha returns home permanently.
Finally, after 6 months of care in health care institutions, Alysha was discharged home from the Toronto Rehab Center on Thursday January 17th. It was with great relief and excitement that Alysha, Lisa, Rich, Justin and Ron packed up her room at the rehab center and drove up hwy 400 toward home.
At a multidisciplinary meeting on Wednesday of this week, the staff reflected on Alysha's success in their program. They all agreed that an earlier discharge date of January 17th was appropriate and well earned. For Alysha's final therapy session, the staff organized a finish line for Alysha to break through at the end of her walking practice. I have included some pictures with the permission of the staff at the rehab center. Please notice how Alysha requires much less support walking now than she did prior. (Compare by clicking this LINK to a previous post December 1st week 19)
This starts a new chapter in the rehab process for Alysha. Starting in another week Alysha and Lisa will drive to Toronto to the Rumsey Centre (another location of the Toronto Rehab Institute) to continue to receive rehab therapy as an outpatient. They will do this 2 times a week.
There will be a Welcome Home Party/ Open-house/ Pot-luck for Alysha at her home in Elmvale on Saturday January 26th from 1 pm to 6 pm. Everyone is welcome. Please drop in and see Alysha. Stay a short while or stay the entire time. All well wishers are welcome. Please bring a dish for a pot-luck meal if you will be staying over the dinner hour. RSVP to Lisa (705) 322-5372. You can leave a message on the answering machine. If you need directions please leave a message and your phone number and Lisa will call you back.
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| The Finish Line |
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| She Made It! A New Journey Begins. |
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| Alysha says goodbye to her therapists |
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