Welcome!

"Healing Hands for Arianne" has been set up by friends and family of Arianne Jones, a young woman who suffered a ruptured aneurysm which resulted in subarachnoid hemorrhage on the evening of May 19, 2013. As we support Ari on her long road of recovery, updates will be posted here to share with those interested in helping. Whether you choose to pray for her, offer monetary support, or simply spread the word... we appreciate that you've stopped by. To donate to her benefit fund, please click the link below her picture on the right.

Friday, May 31, 2013

Donations Can Now Be Made!

We're very grateful to those who have asked how you can make donations to help Ari, since she will have mounting expenses while she is unable to work or care for herself.  Amy, Ari's sister in law, had set up a bank account for the sole purpose of a Benefit Fund.  We have linked that bank account to a specific PayPal account so that funds can be managed easily, and "administrative costs" can be kept to a minimum.

Look to the right hand side of the blog, and under Arianne's picture, you'll see the link for donations.

If you prefer to donate in person, please go to Amegy Bank and specify that you'd like to donate to the Benefit Fund for Arianne Jones.  You will not need the account number.

Her friends and family thank you from the bottom of our hearts.  It'll be a much smoother road to recovery if we can lessen this burden for Ari's family.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

May 30 Update: Ari needs rest. She's sedated again, it's best not to visit right now.

First update:

Well it was a rough day, the reports that I received were that Ari was more sleepy and having some right sided weakness the nurse and RT were concerned. They called the neuro-surgeons back in and they agreed that she seemed worse. They did a CT scan which was unchanged (a good thing) but wanted to get a better look, so they want to do another angiogram.

Unfortunately due to another emergency she got pushed back and they will do her first thing this morning. She is sedated and on the breathing tube again, mostly because she was going to go to surgery anyway but also to "protect the airway" should her Neuro status decline further. They also now have her on continuous EEG monitoring to make sure she is not having seizures. Mostly they feel this is related to the Vasospasms. I can't say it enough but I am so grateful to the Hospital Staff for doing such a great job.

Second Update:

Ari had her angiogram today and they did an angioplasty which is when they try to dilate the blood vessels with the balloon. She is going to remain intubated and sedated for the next 3 days and they want her to rest. I encouraged her parents to use this time to do the same. Patt said that the doctor told her that the vaso-spasms can be life-threatening and we have "wait and see."......And Pray.

--Amy's updates from today, posted by Kasey.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

The first week or so...

Arianne's sister in law, Amy, kept everyone up to speed via Facebook posts.  Here's a quick rundown of the first few updates:

1: She had a brain bleed that was repaired yesterday (coil placed via angiogram). She remains in ICU. She is sedated but She squeezed the nurse's hand today on command and when asked if Her name was "smith" she shook her head no. 

2: Still feeling optimistic but as the doctor said today she is still very sick... They are closely watching her heart and lungs as they have some fluid on them. This is still a very long road. She smiled though when we arrived today and opened her eyes, she was responding to the nurse's questions. She has the tube in assisting her breathing, but she was making her "fish lip" face for us and giving the thumbs up! She was trying to talk but can't because of the tube which I am sure is very frustrating especially for Ari.

3: No major changes really, we got some great education by the nurses today. She is still a "sick chic" basically the vessels in the brain can spasm from the blood that was on the brain, these spasms can lead to further neurological damage. They are doing everything possible to prevent this obviously but it is still a risk.. The heart seems to be getting a little better, but they are still watching that too. They let up on her sedation and I asked to see her pretty green eyes, she opened them for me. I told her she's gone viral on Facebook and that all of you are praying for her, she gave me a little smile. She's quite uncomfortable when they pause the sedation so they turned it back on.

4: (From May 24) Today at 3 pm I got a call that they detected that Ari was having Cerebral Vasospasms (spasms of the arteries in the brain) this is the complication they were watching out for, so tonight she had another angiogram to see the severity of the spasm. When I spoke to the nurse he said it was a slight spasm and they placed her on a couple of new meds to help with the spasms. Otherwise her vital signs were good. As of now they were not able to check her neuro status because she just got out of surgery.

5: (May 25) She got her breathing tube out.. She is awake and talking! Still on heavy meds, and gets confused but she knows who we all are! She still has many tubes and wires and is quite uncomfortable, so we are trying to make her rest. We are all so excited to see her awake but we are trying not to overload her.

6: (May 27) We had a good visit with Arianne today, I managed to detangle the crazy bird nest lady hair and get her some cute braids. She was sitting up in a chair contraption today. She no longer has the breathing tube nor the feeding tube nor the chest tube. She is still having vaso-spasms which they are giving her meds for. She is on pain meds but it is hard to tell whether it is that or brain issues that make her "goofy" sometimes. Her night nurse said the pressure in the head is up tonight and she is more sleepy, so pray for the pressure to go down.


For more information on what's happening with Ari's body, I've linked to reputable sources on the different conditions.  At the outset of this whole ordeal, the doctors said she'd be in ICU for 1-2 weeks at least, so we are still kind of in the predictable pathway.  We simply don't know yet what to expect in the future, we're in "wait and see" mode.  We don't have a real prognosis yet.  We don't know if there is any neurological deficiency-- we don't know if her brain is damaged.

--Posted by Kasey