Turning Corners

Daddy and mom had a long night last night, the nurses were continually monitoring his blood pressure and trying to get it down (it was 200+ over several readings). Typically it's checked every four hours but the nursing staff monitored it every 30 minutes throughout the night and administered several doses of different medicines.  While it came down a few times throughout the day it stayed consistently high and staff is still figuring out the right “cocktail” of meds. We are praying for some good rest for mom and daddy today and that we quickly find a way to control his blood pressure!

Highlight of the morning: I brought up my husband Brad’s electric razor and daddy gave himself a good shave! He even used a mirror to check the spots he missed. He’s still one handsome guy. Thankfully his indian genetics are working in his favor and his facial hair grows slowly!

The Occupational Therapists visited this morning and worked on bearing weight in the right hand and leg, sitting and standing. He has a trace of movement in his right arm and some slight movement in his right leg. Daddy sat up on his bed with no type of back support for about 15 minutes and was sitting in a chair for a good portion of the morning – that was great to see. The therapists keeps reiterating the importance of center of gravity and how good his is considering the injury, i.e., he sits up straight and tall, moves both his eyes together at the same time and reaches across his body to his “non-functional” side. We keep hearing “it’s not a muscle issue, it’s a brain connecting issue.” So the prayer focus here would be that daddy continues to work hard and that his brain reroutes and reacts. We know all things are possible through Christ!

The speech therapist worked on some hand signals including the “okay” sign and thumbs up and thumbs down to help him communicate. She also got the white board out (thank you to whoever brought that!) and wrote down multiple choice answers for several questions. For example, she asked him what he would like to drink and wrote down the options coffee, gin, paint and coke. He quickly pointed to coffee. She then asked him how he likes to take his coffee and she wrote down black, with cream or with cream/sugar. He pointed to black – which we ALL know is how he drinks his coffee! He was also able to point out the month he was born, what hospital he was at and the current day of the week. I don’t know that any of us would have gotten that one correct! He answered every question "correctly" which further evidences that his thoughts and understanding is in tact.

You can see daddy working really hard with his therapists, he is ready to have everything working again! We are praying that he can be checked into the Bernsen Rehab Center located at the hospital by Monday. One of the therapists gave us some information about a typical rehab day, which would consist of three hours of intense speech and physical therapy. We think daddy will react very well to the intensity of the program. You can tell that he is ready to get to work, even though he is hungry!

We got a visit from Dr. P., the gastroenterologist, and got a game plan for daddy’s nutrition. Since he's been unable to pass a swallow test they are going to put a feeding tube in his stomach tomorrow morning. We have to wait 24 hours after the procedure before we can use it so daddy will have his first “meal” Friday morning through his new shiny tube. It will have been eight days without food, we'll just say he’s been fasting for his own recovery J.

The doctor let us know that once we get a plan for nutrition (the feeding tube), wean him off the mannitol, and get his blood pressure under control then we could start working on discharge papers for the inpatient rehab facility. Best case scenario we'll be in rehab by Monday!

We thank you again for your continued prayers and support! Please feel free to share this blog with anyone you know – the more prayers the better!

God is good!

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