Hi folks, so sorry for the lack of updates over the weekend...Mom kept me hoppin' putting away the Christmas decorations! She could give Mrs Claus a run for her money, I tell ya.
So, just the basics: Dad kept his ICP (brain pressure) steady all weekend long -- they didn't open his brain drain even once -- so on Monday morning they took the drain out! That means he doesn't have to have a shunt put in, which we are soooooo relieved about. It also means they could take his head bandage off, so we could finally see him without his "turban"...my dad is going to have some seriously awesome scars. ;)
They also took Dad off of the ventilator on Sunday morning yay! They now just have what amounts to an oxygen mask on his trach. That's so awesome! His hiccups have also totally disappeared! :)
Since they didn't need to put in a shunt, the doctors went ahead and put in the PEG feeding tube (which goes directly into his stomach) this morning, and removed the feeding tube that was going up his nose down his throat to his stomach. So now everyone can see his whole face unencumbered, yay how nice!
Those are the major updates. Dad's also made some nice baby-step improvements over the past few days. On Saturday, Brian was telling some Chuck Norris jokes, and we all noticed that on the particularly funny ones (ok, the ones *I* thought were funny...), Dad seemed to flinch both of his arms&shoulders when we were all laughing aloud. He also started to move his head a fair amount, and reacts pretty strongly when Mom runs her finger down the right side of his face (none of the rest of us can get that reaction from him, isn't that odd?). We also noticed that he would close his eyelids on his own -- after the nurses check for pupil dilation, they used to have to firmly close his eyelids, but now he does it! He has also started "fluttering" his eyelids occasionally, which makes him look like he's dreaming. :)
I flew home to Portland last night, but I'll be continuing the blog based on updates from Mom & Dawn. :)
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3 comments:
Oh, thank God everything is okay!!! We were so worried at work when there hadn't been any new blogs. Usually they say no news is good news, but none of us really believed that to be the case. It sounds like he taking baby steps in the right direction and that is great news! Thank you again for keeping up this site, it's been great to know what's going on with your dad without having to continually bug you guys. Thanks again, and I pray for your continued strength and amazingly optimistic spirit (you've definitely got your dad's cheery disposition!) (:
Your web site is great. Thank you so much for keeping us informed. We at Boeing are praying
for your dad's recovery. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and Ed every day.
We miss you Ed!!!
Diane Allshouse
Its wonderful that Uncle Ed is making progress! The whole family here is praying and pulling for him. Thanks for the updates!
Jaye, Chuck and the girls.
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