Saturday, October 13 2007

12:10am (Washington DC time! Which I guess is technically Sunday, but we haven't slept yet, so its still Saturday's post!!!)

Yesterday, when I first arrived at the hospital, my mom was a wreck and said she just talked to the neurosurgeon. I immediately chased down the neurosurgeon and his team in the hallway and asked him to repeat his information. He said, basically that with this kind of tramatic injury, the worst case scenario could be like a Terri Shriver situation. The best case scenario, could be he could live a fairly productive life, but not 100% back to normal. Those words were devastating to say the least. It wasn't until after he told us this that I saw David for the first time. I can't describe the pain I felt. Then this morning we got the news of possible blood clot and pneumonia, and also that his eyes weren't dialated the same anymore (one was a 3 and one was a 4). We just felt that we couldn't take any more bad news. We left the hospital when they took him to get the CAT scan and had lunch and sat at a park (with fake grass by the way!) . The fresh air was nice. Then we came back to the Hotel where we read all of your encouraging emails, comments, and found some real life examples of people who have come out of this situation successfully. We were especially encouraged by the story of Brian's friend, Clif. In fact, it helped so much, that we strongly encourage everyone to visit his site at http://www.clifshoemake.blogspot.com/ . We realized from reading his story that we may have a really long journey of ups and downs ahead of us, and he may never be 100%, but we are still hopeful for a good recovery. I think that Clif's story can help everyone realize the battle that may lay in front of David, and that it may take a long time. We also realized that every small thing like, moving a finger, overcoming his fever, taking a breath of his own over the respirator, keeping the pressure in his head regulated, keeping his blood pressure and heart rate normal, etc. are all signs of him recovering. I truly believe that God intervened during this time in our Hotel room and helped us put things into perspective. We left the Hotel with a renewed sense of hope and strength that we knew we were in for a long journey, but we felt ready for it. Then when we walked into the ICU, my mom and dad and I stopped to talk to the dr. while Laura and Kelli went in to see David. Laura came running back out (well, she is pregnant so I can't lie, it was a speedy waddle!), asking if David's arms were really in restraints. The dr. said that yes, when they took him to get the CT scan he tried to pull out his respirator tubes from his mouth!!! She said the people there saw him reach up with his right arm and pull on the tubes! We were overwhelmed with joy! This is the first intentional move he's made!!! She also said that the CT showed no sign of a blood clot in his lungs, which is wonderful, except that still leaves no explanation for this morning's episode of peaking vitals. She also said there is fluid in the lungs, which we knew already and there are tubes draining the fluid already, and he has been on antibiotics to help him from developing pneumonia. She also said that the pupils being dilated differently doesn't mean anything. She said her pupils were dilated differently too! I asked her about the broken pelvis and she explained that it is actually a displaced fracture on the pubis something rather, which isn't the big bone, but the small round one. She said this really isn't a big deal and won't affect his walking. She was so encouraging and said that there is no reason to start losing hope! When we were with David, holding his hands and rubbing his arms and massaging his feet, we felt him squeeze his hands. Both hands. It wasn't the same type of squeezing he did yesterday which was more of tensing up his whole body. This was a squeeze just of his hands. One at a time. He doesn't squeeze his hands because we ask him to, or when we ask him to. It is purely a sporadic thing. When I told him we were going to leave to get a quick bite to eat, he tensed up a little and then moved only his right thumb! We truly feel encouraged and like God is at work in David.
Christa