Lori's recovery and rehabilitation

Last month, my Mom, Lori Zurbruegg, came home from the store to find her boyfriend, John Grigalunas (better known to most as Hunter), completely unresponsive. He was rushed to Lourdes Hospital, where he was monitored and treated for over a week. In that time, my Mom spent hours at the hospital with him making him laugh and advocating for him.

On Thursday, May 19th, after being given the news that her fiance, dancing partner, motorcycle riding, partner in crime of 9 years would likely not make it, my Mom had a stroke.

From Lourdes she was airlifted to Albany Medical Center where she underwent brain surgery. A drain was placed in her brain to relieve the pressure of the excess blood and cerebral spinal fluid that her body couldn't regulate on its own due to the stroke. As a result, she also had trouble communitcating the right words with expressive aphasia and couldn't move the right side of her body.

After learning of my Mom's condition that night, I packed and left Pittsburgh at 5am Friday for the 7.5 hour drive to Albany while my sister stayed home to join Hunter at his bedside.

In the Neurological ICU, my Mom required monitoring around the clock to lower her blood pressure, relieve the stress on her brain, adjust her drain every time she repositioned in bed, and help her through the shock to her body and subsequent confusion.

Sunday, May 22nd, the day we all expected to be together to watch my sister graduate Binghamton University, Hunter died.

In my Mom's condition, she couldn't process the tragic, life altering news that I now had to share with her. The medical team recommended that I wait until she stablized and the drain was out. As her comprehension increased, so did her muscle memory and the desire for her routine. As many of you have experiened, my Mom is anything but an idle person. Under normal circumstances, she can be found in the garden, at a thrift store, rearranging the house, geocaching, painting her nails, hosting dinner parties, laughing and making new friends anywhere she goes. Sitting in bed all day in a dark ICU, having lost her independence unable to walk or move completely on her own, struggling to find the right word is surely her definition of torture.

I sat with my powerhouse of a Mom for 10 hours a day, two weeks straight, trying to soothe her during agitaion and reassure her during confusion. Reliving the details of her stroke nearly every day answering her questions and explaining her condition to her while deciphering what she was trying to communicate. All while seeing her spinal fluid steadily drip out of her head knowing I couldn't tell her about Hunter yet, being unable to even greive for him myself, unsure of what my Mom's future and quality of life going to be was an expereience that I can only describe as agony.

After nearly two weeks in the ICU, my Mom's condition stabilized and improved and the drain was able to come out. She spent another week in the hospital being monitored while determining a physical therapy facility. My Mom left Albany Medical Center last night, Thursday, June 9th, three weeks to the day that she had the stroke.

She can eat and drink, talk, and make the nurses laugh with her jokes and wit. Her cognition and comprehension have improved greatly and she holds conversations but is still affected by aphsia. She gained mobility and strength in her right arm and we're hopeful with physical therapy that she'll be up and moving soon.

But while she may regain her mobility, the life she shared with Hunter is gone. We as a family are still figuring out what her life will look like in the future. Unable to work and recovering from her stroke, my Mom won't be able to live independently at Grigabruegg Park; the home the she and Hunter lovingly created over the past 7 years of living together, complete with fairy gardens, an extensive globe collection, and countless memories of family gatherings, holidays, haywagon rides and celebrations.

Over the past three weeks, dozens of you have reached out to support and help. As we take things day by day, the only way I can think of to help right now is this donation campaign to support my Mom through medical expenses, travel, moving and storing her posessions, the costs and transition into to a new home after physical therapy, and sustaining until she is able to better sustain on her own.

Thank you all for your action, your support, well wishes and kind words. I've shared each of your sweet messages with my Mom and we are beyond grateful to have a such wonderful support system!

Thank you,

Maggie