Well, Dawn has lots of updates from her evening of talking with the night nurse and reading to Dad from _The Shack_ (which I highly recommend!)...but I'll write what I can remember from my phone conversation with her, and she can add on whatever I forget.
The most exciting news was that they were able to elicit several pain responses from my dad! (That's very weird to write, actually. I'm excited that people are putting my dad in pain...????) Anyway, they "tickled" his feet and both legs jerked up at the knee. I'd actually seen that response on the right leg earlier in the day but wasn't quite sure whether to believe my eyes. They also elicited responses from both arms by pushing on his nailbeds -- the right arm rolled away, and the left arm rolled away a bit more strongly. And finally, the lower lids of his eyes flinched when they pressed a piece of gauze up against the eyeball. I personally am most excited about the eyelid response, because one of our previous nurses said that was the most basic pain-response and was worried that he couldn't get Dad to respond to that on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Now, I should put in a little caveat -- the nurses all say not to have false hope with these responses, because they are no indication of whether or not he'll have upper-brain functionality, and of course that's the part of my dad that really makes him him. Our response has been solid: our hope & faith rests in the Lord, not on these scientific tests...but it sure is nice to see some positive neural responses. In fact, Mom pointed out tonight that these are actually the first positive signs of neural activity that we've seen since the stroke on Monday. Praise be to the highest heavens!!!
We're certainly nowhere near being out of the woods yet. We're a bit concerned that Dad's been running a fever since Tuesday. It was sitting at about 100, which they weren't worried too much about, but last night and tonight it bumped up to 102. The fever isn't really reacting to the Tylenol that they're giving him, though they were able to bring his temperature down by placing ice packs in his armpits. There are no signs of infection -- they've sent off the cultures and nothing came back -- and so they think the fever is probably a symptom of the brain swelling. Prayers for a reduced fever would be much appreciated. And, of course & as usual, prayers for reduced brain swelling!!!
One item that has been an almost-constant concern is Dad's high blood pressure. He bumped up over 210 (the max that they've set for him) pretty often today, and they've started him on blood pressure medications. Some of the meds have been less effective than others, so prayers that they find the right combination for him. They kept him on sedatives for so long partly because the sedation meds were keeping his blood pressure lower, but the sedatives may have been part of why they couldn't get any pain responses from him, so we definitely want to keep him off of those. It's a delicate balance with the blood pressure -- it needs to be high enough to profuse the brain but not too high...sigh.
They kept Dad's feeding levels down at 20 ml/hr today (I swear the food-stuff looks just like eggnog, which Dad loves, so we've taken to saying "Yum yum Dad, here comes some more eggnog!"). Sedatives may have had a negative effect on his digestive abilities, too. We're pretty much stuck in a wait-and-see pattern there -- the night nurse was trying to get him to poop tonight (ha, TMI anyone? sorry), and see if that helps the rest of the digestion move along.
Today was actually a very quiet and peaceful day. Mom, Dawn, and I sat around Dad's room, chatted a bit, read a bit, laid hands on Dad a bit. I'll have a verrrrrry interesting post soon about what we learned & observed today after Pastor Steve taught us about chakras. Stay tuned, and thank you again for all of your prayers!!
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4 comments:
How wonderful that Ed is having these positive signs!! We will keep the prayers coming! How about if we start getting some meals together - we could just drop them by and if you get home later from the hospital you could heat them up! We don't want to be too pushy but if you are ready for some meals to be dropped off, just say the word! We will even bring some eggnog! Take care - we love you all. There are amazing stories of recovery from brain injuries and miracles every day and no one could deserve it more. Cathy
Outstanding news, giving God all the praise. I will continue to pray for Ed's healing, recovery and restoration. I will also pray for the family as well and that God may continue to grant you all grace through this journey. Remain encouraged and I will state the obvious God receives the glory for He is worthy of our praise.
Thank you all for taking the time to update the blog and keeping us informed.
In His Service
L.David Ashby
You can't imagine how much we are all praying for Ed. He means so much to all of us here on the cul de sac. (For those of you who don't know his nickname on our street is The Mayor!) We'll keep praying for your latest concerns, and will do so daily. We love you all just like family. "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see"...Hebrews 11:1 Jack and Cherry Shaler
Just got the news this morning and we are shocked and saddened.
Alice, Shane, Piper and I are praying for Ed's recovery and sending him positive thoughts...
We love you Ed! the Aweeka's
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