We don't seem to have any photos from this month at all. Linc spent the first week or so with Gretchen in her acute care hospital room in Phoenix. Gretchen was mostly delirious, but still had her (apparently innate!) sense of humor, politeness and caring attitude towards others, despite being the focus of everyone's concern and attention as she slowly recovered from brain surgery. The sleep deprivation and psycho-active drugs and anti-seizure medications took a toll on Gretchen's ability to recognize reality, and Linc and family accumulated stories to tell her later about the things she said and did while she was in this post-recovery delirium. And, we all learned a ton of new medical terms and became pretty well versed in the intricacies of subarachnoid hemorrhages.
Thankfully and amazingly, Gretchen turned a corner back towards the living, and went into inpatient rehab in mid-November. Still temporarily blinded, she reported having many visual hallucinations, and continued to slowly recover from ICU psychosis, a state of delirium and paranoia that often accompanies long stays in intensive care. She made rapid progress regaining some strength and balance and started going for lots of walks around the facility with family members, and we all started planning for her return to her home in Flagstaff.
Back home, Jeanne and Linc caught up on a few winter preparations before Linc headed back to Flagstaff to wait for Gretchen and Bekah as they drove up from Phoenix.
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