Day 8: The Helicopter Ride #2, Day 8, March 21, 2012

Okay, we are in Phoenix now.  The Wi-Fi here is very sketchy and unpredictable, so I will do the best I can staying up with the blog.  It may only be once a day, just a head's up.

First "matter of business", we are still on hold for visitors.  We are hoping that in 2 weeks, we will be able to  accept visitors.  Just guessing...hoping....  Here's the deal.... head injuries are a difficult thing, as you might imagine.  We will need to progressively stimulate Scott's brain, but also need to avoid overstimulating and exhausting him.  Especially, during this early phase, rest is so critical to his progress, so visitors are limited.  We obviously, don't want to slow his progress in any way, shape or form.  In addition, he is not alert enough to interact, recognize people, etc.  The real support value for Scott and Ashley is likely going to be a bit down the road.  When he is awake, and he is going through his rehab, it will likely buoy him up to feel even a portion of the love and support that has been shown him this week.  (We are so very humbled and thankful for the out-pouring of love!)  In addition, there will likely be times when Ashley needs a break to go to the grocery store, etc....  It will be important for her to re-fuel herself, so she has the strength, stamina and patience that will be needed to endure this long recovery road ahead and to manage all of the physical, emotional, and behavioral challenges ahead.  We know it has to be hard to want to show your support right now while everything is so new and fresh, but his needs will likely be greatest as they progress through the ensuing stages.  We hate to ask you to be patient, and we hate to have to be patient, too, but... that is what is best for Scott.

When he is able to accept visitors, we will need to develop a schedule so we don't have too many visitors at once.  Again, we are counseled to avoid overstimulating and exhausting him.  We look forward to the day, but we know we need to be smart about it so it helps Scott rather than exhausting him.  As we are adjusting to a new place and new needs, and are closer to Scott and Ashley's home, friends, and support systems, we may find some needs periodically.  For instance, we may want someone to come and sit with him while we go shower periodically.  We are grateful to know that we have so much help available to us.  As we figure out our needs, we will let you know.  Right now, honestly, we are simply just trying to adjust to the new surroundings and methods.  Big day today, change-wise.  We knew he was given stellar attention and care in Flagstaff, but we are especially appreciative of the level of care and level of competence we experienced there.  ICU nurses only attend to 2 patients at a time, so it got us spoiled!  Plus, we really loved how they interacted with Scott, always talking to him as if he were fully conscious.  They were purposely stimulating his brain, calming his fears/confusion, and treating him with respect with one simple task.  Anyway,... it's an adjustment.  We feel that someone needs to be with him constantly now.  Before, we just wanted to be with him constantly. We'll adjust with time.  I am liking the night crew better than the day crew.  Almost every person on the ICU staff instilled us with immediate confidence and took great effort in educating us.  I know this is day 1 here, but... I was in ICU in day 1, too.... and had a different experience..... We know it is a top notch facility, just adjusting....

Ashley was able to ride with Scott on the helicopter ride here.  This is 2 helicopter rides in 1 week, and sadly Scott won't remember either of them.  He would have loved the ride!  Ashley said the scenery was beautiful!  He tolerated the ride much better than we anticipated.  We wondered how he would tolerate the noise (we are asked to talk in hushed tones/and they are not able to place ear plugs in ears following a had injury.)  and the bouncing/vibration ( rib fractures, etc.)  But.. Ashley said his behavior was not any different on the ride.  So .... yeah!

He almost looks like himself already (well, himself with a row of staples along the right side of his head)!  His jaw swelling finally starting decreasing yesterday, but we awoke this morning to an almost normal looking jaw line.  Wow!  What an amazing transformation in such a short period of time.  The swelling in his right hand is also nearing normal...no more sausage fingers.

Yesterday, he went the full day without pain meds.  That is amazing to me, regarding all of his fractures, surgeries, and head injuries.  When they took him off of IV pain meds, they put him on prn (as needed) pain meds.  My question was, "Prn? He is unconscious, how do yo know when he is in pain?"  The answer was "grimacing".  But.. I have also seen one nurse, place his fingers in Scott's hand and ask him to squeeze if he was experiencing pain.  Then ask him to squeeze hard if the pain is high, light if the pain is low, and medium if the pain is medium.  He responded with squeezing medium.   He does rub his head a lot, but otherwise, I do not see a lot of non-verbal behaviors that would indicate that he is in a lot of pain. I could just only imagine that he must be...or at a minimum have a horrible headache.

So... today has been all about getting him settled in and new assessments.   We do see him moving more and more.  His left side moves A LOT!  He is able to move is right side, but we do not see him do it very often....only to command typically.  He is very consistent at following commands now, except eyes and face.  He is opening his eyes more often, but it is still only occasional through the day.  And... he doesn't really show any recognition or visual tracking.  He has a very vacant stare.  his eyes look straight forward.  If we stand right in front of him, he shows no recognition that he can see us or knows us.  But... this am, Ashley placed her hand in front of his face when his eyes were open, and told Scott that he could hold her hand if he wanted.  He reached his left hand directly to her outstretched hand and held it.  This evening, she placed her hand in front of his face without verbally cueing him and he still reached for her hand and held it.  He is being very tactile right now. He seems to really want to touch things and he is figuring out his environment via touching.  His touch is a very light, gentle touch.  It's quite sweet!...and very interesting to watch him investigate his surroundings.

One thing here that I think is a good fall risk prevention strategy is that they changed his bed out for a bed that lowers really low, and they have placed mats on either side of his bed.  They say to expect that he will become even more active as he awakens more.

Well,... gotta' go do some planning for tomorrow....  "Talk" to ya' then!

We love you all!
Patti