Day 3 - Post Coiling Surgery

Hi!

Today was kind of a stressful day. Jimmy looked nice and awake when I came in, so I was hoping for a good day. There was a little bleeding coming from his right EVD (brain drain), but the doctor didn't seem overly concerned about it because it hasn't really been working right anyway. Then Jim had another high fever spike, which was challenging for the nurse to try to bring down, and she was having difficulty getting him to respond to pain on his right side, so the doctor decided to go ahead and order a CT scan because his ICPs (brain pressure levels) were too high. The good thing is that Jimmy is getting lots of special attention, so the scan got read right away. It looked fine, except for a little bleeding around the site of the catheter, which wasn't really a concern. Shortly after that, he did begin responding to pain on both sides, so it might have been the fever spike that was causing that.

Poor Jimmy has bruises all over his chest area because they have to pinch him to get him to show them that his body can react to the pain reflex, which they call extending. They always apologize to him, so I hope he understands, but until he can move on his own accord, it's the only way they have to measure how he's doing.

I wish I had better news about his progress, but he's still not able to respond to any commands other than opening his eyes. They did another follow-up CT scan this evening, and everything still looks okay, and his fever and vitals were looking good when I left, but he'll probably have more of the same stuff to deal with again tomorrow. Nothing is showing up in regard to any infections, so they feel that it is a brain fever from the trauma. He slept through the whole afternoon, but at least he appeared to be comfortable. I keep trying to talk to him when his eyes are open, and I think he hears me, but it's hard to know what to talk about because I'm not sure how much he's comprehending or is aware of. I just keep trying to explain everything to him, and telling him who he is, and who I am, and where he is, and who his kids are, and what day it is, and so on ... I'm hoping that if he gets sick of me repeating myself enough he'll try to reach up and strangle me or mouth at me to 'shut up'. I would gladly take that kind of abuse!!

I'm not sure when they will try to do another MRI, but it will probably be sometime this week. I'm thinking that, with the little bit of bleeding that he had today, they might put it off until later this week. They can't do an MRI without removing his butterfly needle that is tapped into his shunt, and they don't want to risk that yet because the EVD on the other side is being so temperamental. As the doctor explained to me, they have to treat him the way that they are doing right now with the brain drains and the heparin blood thinner anyway, so the MRI isn't going to make them do anything differently. All the MRI will do is allow them to see if Jim has had any strokes that would explain his inability to move. If they can't find any evidence of that, then we can expect that it is more likely due to compression on the brain stem, which should be a temporary condition. Obviously, I am hoping that the compression is the issue and not a stroke. This make the MRI a double edged sword -- it can either give us very good news or very bad news. Therefore, I will not push the issue and just let it get done when the doctors decide to get it done.

Other than the relief I felt from the results of Jimmy's two CT scans, the highlight of the day was that one of my best friends, Diane Estes, surprised me this evening by showing up at the hospital! I was so surprised that I almost fell off the chair!! She came all the way from Florida just to hold my hand for the next few days. She'll be here until Wednesday. Poor Jimmy was so wiped out that he couldn't keep his eyes open for long to say 'hi', but I'm hoping he is feeling well enough to enjoy her company tomorrow. We chatted at the hotel and got caught up on some girl talk this evening, so I've been able to enjoy her already. I haven't seen Di-Di since December 2007, so this is a REALLY big treat -- thanks to Jon, Jessie, and Erica for sharing her with me! I treated her to a wonderful dinner at the hospital cafeteria, so I'm pretty sure that she will be successful at dragging me to some local restaurants for the rest of the time that she is here. I hope the nice weather holds.

Anyway, I'm going to drop off to bed again -- I haven't been sleeping all that well lately. I hope that I can have some wonderful news for all of us at some point during this week. I just want to know that Jimmy is expected to get better ... then I can be the most patient person in the world. Everytime that Jim has a test, I hold my breath, and so far, so good! The MRI will be a big one, but I will have faith that God won't let me down on that one either. So, please keep praying for our happy ending. This whole experience has been such a wonderful faith strengthener, that I can never regret going through it ... not that I won't be happy when it's behind us, though! Sweet dreams to all -- especially to my Jimmy!

Love,
Krissy