Day 7: Afternoon Post, March 20, 2012

WARNING: We have posted some photos of Scott at the end of this post. The nature of the photos are somewhat graphic. 


I want to scream "He's awake" to the world.  I can't really give that animated and vigorous a response to today's events, but I can say he slightly opened his eyes and is following more complex commands today.  Again, another very significant step.  We continue to have daily victories in our progress forward!  I am more in love with therapists than ever because they got him moving today, which stimulated him to "wake him up" enough that he opened his eyes.  It wasn't a vigorous motion, it was much more with his left eye than his right (his right eye has sustained so much damage, it's no surprise.), and there was no real indication of recognition/no facial expression/etc. But... he did open his eyes and that is super awesome!

So... here's how therapy went today.  It took 4 of them (PT, OT, PT aide, and RN) to orchestrate the effort of sitting him up in bed, standing up, and transferring to a chair beside the bed.  One person was required just for "tubes" management.  But... I'm impressed they were able to sit, stand and transfer an unconscious patient at all.  New research is showing the benefit  (faster and better progress) of getting unconscious patients upright and sitting as early as possible, basic reflexes are stimulated and they can often participate more than you would think.  That is definitely what we saw today.  He participated much more than I could have imagined.  He is able to follow commands consistently and vigorously now with his arms and legs.  No response to commands to move the mouth, face, head, etc....anything above the neck.  When he was lying in bed, they asked him to uncross his legs, which he promptly did.  Then they assisted him in sitting on the side of the bed.  They were propping him initially, but then they let go and he was able to hold his trunk up.  He could do a little head movement, but his head was mostly slumped forward.  He then tried to remove his arm sling by grabbing it and pulling it up and over head. Then they instructed him to push up through his legs, push off with his left arm, stand, pivot, and slowly sit down.  He was able to participate and assist with the process.  He sat in a special chair for over an hour, then they reversed the process.  He participated even more with the return trip to his bed.  The exertion aroused him so he opened his L>R eyes during the transfer.  They allowed Ashley and I to talk to him.  We looked directly at him with eyes open.  No nystagmus this time, but no indication of recognition, either.  He just stared straight forward.  But...did I mention, his eyes were open!  So...another victory for today.

He is now sleeping soundly.  They wore him out.  It was a lot of work for him to sit, to follow commands, and to hold himself up.

He is doing a lot more random little movements: rubbing his forehead, picking at his nose, rubbing his incisions, etc.   Today when Ashley held his hand, Scott began twirling her ring around her finger.  It was so sweet and tender.

We were able to see his right arm incision today for the first time when they changed the bandage.  It is the majority of the length of his forearm,...maybe 7 inches (a guess... Todd, I need your estimating skills!) with staples, but the incision looks great.  He has one hellacious road rash on the top side of his right forearm! Yikes, I thought all of the many others looked bad.  This one is especially bad.

His lungs are doing great.  He is breathing on his own today with the trach collar, without a hitch.  And they took his mitt off of his left hand today so he could participate better in his transfers.  They left it off, and he has been a good boy.  He has not tugged or pulled at any tubes yet, so they are going to try to leave it off.  Yeah.  He had been shaking his hand trying to rid himself of the mitt.

Sounds like it will be tomorrow instead of today that he transfers to Phoenix.  He is medically ready, but his insurance company's offices are on the east coast, so they couldn't get the authorization process completed in time.  So.. he is all ready to go except the authorization process, so... tomorrow am presumably.  He will be going to Select Medical LTAC at St. Joseph's.

Ashley and I have lifted hearts and spirits today.  These have been 2 good days back to back.  It gives us hope.   It gets hard sitting and waiting for him to show a sign...any sign.... that his brain is beginning to recover.  The days get long.  The emotions get heavy.  Hope seems a distant emotion.  And it has only been a week..... Imagine what families must feel who are in this stage for months. Egads, I feel for them!   We have had many kind people share examples of others who have pulled out of similar and sometimes worse injuries to return to normal lives.  That also gives us hope, but... brain injury is so variable and there are no guarantees, so... we don't really know what his final outcome will be.  Today and yesterday have given us hope, though, and the professionals are encouraging with their prognoses.  They, too, have been excited and giddy at his progress today and yesterday.  We know it will be a long haul and we know there will be some tough times, but.... having hope helps to give us stamina and the ability to persevere.  Scott's personality will also help the process and prognosis.  He has always been able to see the "lesson" in everything in life, so he has a tendency to embrace hardships and challenges and actually gets excited for the opportunity to grow.  This experience will really test him, and we don't know how much of his personality will remain in the beginning and end, but... I have confidence that he will meet the challenge head on.  It will be a struggle for him to slow down, for sure.  He typically runs hard and fast through his day.  He will have the opportunity to grow in a direction that he may never have grown had something not forced him to slow down.   It will be awesome to see how this awesome man grows even better!  (Okay,... yes, I am biased.  He is my son.  But... I do feel that he is an exceptional being.  It's always good to have mom on your side, I'm thinkin'!)

Oh... today at lunch Ashley said, "Ya' know when you hear people say, "Man, this has been quite a week!"  Well,.... we now have a new definition for "quite a week".

We finally pulled the pictures off of my camera.  We have included one of him sitting today, and one of him on day 1.  Hopefully, no one struggles with seeing the pictures.  We weren't quite sure if it was best to add them or not, but we decided that this is his journal, as well as our way to keep in touch with our loved ones throughout this ordeal....so we will add some pictures from time to time.  His face looks better than I imagined it would knowing that he took the brunt of the force through his face, that he has multiple facial fractures, etc... I expected him to be very mangled and globally bruised.  He really doesn't look bad, in my opinion, for what he has gone through.  You can see for yourself.

We love you all!

Patti

First photo taken the evening of the accident. March 13, 2012

Day 2.  March 14, 2012

The snow storm on Sunday March 18, 2012 (there was no snow when we first got here)

One Week after the accident. March 20, 2012 

Sitting in a chair for the first time following the accident. March 20, 2012
First day of slightly opening his eyes as well as having his trach collar on.
Holding hands with Ashley.