The latest update on my grandmother's condition: From what I can gather, my grandmother wasn't feeling very well on New Year's Eve so she spent most of the day resting in her bedroom. Nobody really thought much of it at first. At around 5:00, my mom went into my grandmother's bedroom to tell her it was almost time for dinner. My mom thought my grandmother was just sleeping at first, but soon realized things were not quite right when my grandmother would not respond...AT ALL! My mom called 911 and my grandmother was rushed by ambulance to Forsyth Hospital where it was determined that she had suffered 2 brain aneurysms and a bleeding stroke as a result of one of the aneurysms rupturing and causing a hemorrage. The good news is that my grandmother became a little bit more responsive over time at the ER. She still cannot talk but she opens her eyes a little bit when you get right in her face and call her name. After some debate about whether or not to do a procedure in which they insert a tube in her brain to drain the blood out and put a stent and a coil around the aneurysm so it doesn't bleed anymore, doctors decided to go ahead and do the procedure on the afternoon of New Year's Day. They were worried about the risks though. Fortunately, my grandmother got through the procedure okay and is now on a ventilator and she is still very minimally responsive--opening her eyes once in a while when people call her name and squirming her arms and legs when the doctors try to check her vitals or check the drainage of her various tubes. From what I have heard, she is starting to show signs of breathing on her own so the doctors have reduced the amount of assistance that the ventilator is providing. My grandmother has been placed in the Neuro-ICU and is expected to stay there for at least a couple of weeks. The doctors have basically done all they can at this point. They expect a few typical symptoms to arise over the next few days, but are unable to do any treatment until they see signs of those symptoms. The doctors have informed us that it could be anywhere from several days to several weeks before they can really determine how much damage has been done to my grandmother's brain and IF there is any chance of recovery or not. With the extent of blood that was collecting on the brain, they expect that my grandmother is on the "weeks" side of the spectrum rather than "days". However, the fact that my grandmotehr has made it this long is a GREAT sign. The doctor said that of all the people who are my grandmother's age and who endure what she has suffered so far, about 50% of them don't even make it to the ER. So we are hopeful that she will recover to some extent. Your prayers are greatly needed and appreciated at this time. Thanks, Lisa | 
