Daddy had a busy day today! We started off this morning with another CT scan to see if the mannitol was able to stop the swelling from getting worse. The doctor was pleased to say that the swelling had not gotten worse and even improved a little in certain areas. While that was incredibly encouraging news we are still “deep in the woods” until tomorrow night. Our big prayer focus is that the swelling does not pick up again and will continue to decrease.
We’ve learned that stroke victims can lose their ability to swallow. This is dangerous, because if food/water goes down the wrong tube and into the lungs pneumonia can occur. So far daddy has failed two swallow tests. After talking with the doctor, he believes daddy might have an esophageal stricture, which means that his esophagus is narrow and restricted, making it hard to swallow. This would be a condition that daddy had prior to the stroke. We met with a gastroenterologist and tomorrow morning they are going to put a neonatal endoscope down his throat to see what’s going on. If it is a esophageal stricture they will dilate his esophagus using dilators of various sizes. If all goes well we'll have another swallow test in the next 24-48 hours. He hasn’t had anything to eat or drink since Thursday morning, only an IV. The prayer focus in this area is that this procedure will be successful and allow will allow daddy eat!
The highlight of the day was when the speech therapist came in. Daddy’s vocabulary mainly consists of “yeah” (which could mean “Yes” or “No”) and “well”. During the ten minutes the speech therapist was with him we heard daddy count to 10, recite the days of the week and even sing a verse of “Jesus Loves Me”. It was amazing and brought tears to our eyes! We’re looking forward to getting him through this critical time and into rehab where he can focus on getting his speech and movement back! The prayer focus in this area would be for daddy to not become discouraged and that he would have a strong determination to fight during rehab.
Daddy is a very determined man and is working hard. Thanks so much for all your continued prayers!
Jessica (aka #2)
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