Notes--Tuesday

Here is my notes from Tuesday night:

Today was Dave's fifth day in the hospital. Dave seemed more responsive than he did on Monday. He opened his eyes, which he was not doing yesterday, and seemed more active in moving his limbs. His fever was down from his high of 104 degrees to a more normal temp.

I spoke to his attending physician, and told him that I found this encouraging. The doctor was less encouraged. He said that he expected more significant improvement by this point, with five days in intensive care. He was worried that some of the reflex movements that Dave was exhibiting might suggest significant damage to the brain. Dave was coughing quite a bit, and there was still quite a bit of crud in his lungs, which the doc thinks might have been caused when he might have aspirated after seizing. They ordered an X-ray for his chest and an MRI, but did not do them before this post. Since it seemed that Dave was no longer experiencing seizures, they had taken him off his anti-seizure medication, as well as his sedation, which we hoped would wake him up more. 

I spent the day reading to Dave and making snarky remarks about the text. Dave also likes zinging, so I hoped this might pull him in a bit more, but I'm not sure it was making much of an impact. 

Rounds occur twice daily, and on the second round, the attending observed that Dave seemed to be moving a bit more, perhaps as a result of the reduced sedation, and he seemed slightly more optimistic, although he was still very concerned about brain injury. He said we should continue to watch and see what happens. 

There is still a lot of cause for concern. The first is brain damage. While it was good that Dave was opening his eyes, he didn't seem to be focusing on any face or voice, and he wasn't responding to commands. Another concern was his lungs, since he seemed to have a lot of secretions down there, and the staff was suctioning him quite a bit. 

We now have a lot of people on site to offer a hand. Margo, Pete, Pam, Yvonne, and I are all there to try and help out. It's just frustrating, because there doesn't seem to be much we can do. Luckily, Margo has been a dynamo, and Yvonne is a nursing pro, so she actually knows what's happening and what should be happening. We're expecting more in a couple days.